Yokai Monsters (1968)

[Drunk Monk]

Yokai Monsters is a trilogy by filmmaker Tetsuro Yoshida. I found the first installment with subs on Youtube - 100 Monsters - and will seek out the other 2. 

It's a period film that taps the Yokai world. There's an evil landlord who politically manuevers himself so he can demolish an obscure shrine and a tenenment building, plus capture the fair maiden. That's kinda Scooby Doo. And he would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddline Yokai. 

There are two ronin fishermen who don't heed a spooky monk telling them not to fish in the haunted pond. This leads to a genuinely creepy scene - one of the more disturbing Yokai - the long necked woman or rokurokubi - which is executed remakably well given the state of special effects back then. 

There's goofy umbrella demons or tsukomogami that lick the face of a developmentally disabled son of the villain like...well, like my puppers Yuki. I guess that's comic relief. This story arc dangles somewhat. 

There's a cool ronin that saves the day, with the help of all the yokai (not quite a 100, more like a dozen or so). The Yokai are traditional which are the coolest, mostly actualized through puppets or costumes (don't be put off by the opening cyclops yeti - that's bad tokusatsu and reminded me of the Yeti in the mornings before he's had his coffee dose). It ends with a Yokai sake barrel parade that looks like a lot of fun.

Mostly it's about the rokurokubi. Those always freaked me out. I've found that scene below (MAJOR SPOILER - don't watch if you look for this film):

The scene begins as the two Ronin eat the fish they caught at the haunted pond but the ronin's wife who prepared the fish pulls a Lady Macbeth and can't wash the blood from her hands. Later it is revealed that it was all a nightmarish hallucination and the ronin died by the pond. 

There is a sword fight but it's lame. DOOM recommended, mostly for cf and maybe ED too, who share my delight of Japanese cinema.

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Here's the film. It's free with subs - it just has some weird Vietnamese gambling site ads that aren't that obtrusive. 

[Drunk Monk]

Spook Warfare is the second film in the trilogy and it's disappointing. Where the first film was more like traditional yokai, this one starts with the unleashing of a Babylonian Daimon that's just an ugly bit of Tokusatsu. It has a tall forehead like Jedi council member Ki-adi-mundi and scaley arms and legs with prominent ribs and a belt with a few skulls hanging from it. And it's green. It doesn't look like much of anything, just a dopey monster (but it does go full kaiju at the end). It has a magic staff with a dragon head that spits fire. And it's vampiric, possessing mortals, including a local lord.

The lord goes home, kills his dog in front of his daughter and top samurai (which is a dead giveaway) and destroys all his altars. In the process, he kicks out a Kappa living in his pond. The Kappa retreats to a yokai shrine and to get his squad, but they don't beleive him until some kids come for help too after their parents are randomly killed by possessed samurai (what is it with bratty kids in tokusatsu?) The yokai eventually rally and wage war on the Daimon. 

This film is allegedly the inspiration for Miike's The Great Yokai War, which I could've sworn I reviewed here, but could only find this http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...11#pid1011. I remember enjoying that film but don't remember much about it beyond the lamp demon bailing out of something because he was only a lamp and a wall of eyes. I must revisit that soon.

This film felt like the crew saying 'Well, we've got all these yokai costumes from the first film. Let's make another!' and then not putting that much effort into it. 

The umbrella yokai - kasaobake - doesn't talk. It makes licky sounds, but like R2, everyone can understand what it's saying. Still reminds me of Yuki if Yuki was a janky puppet instead of a bitey puppers. 

There's a rokurokubi but she's not nearly as creepy. And now I know how to defeat them. Just tie a knot in their neck. Duh.

There's a sword fight but it's seen through the magic crystal ball like pot belly of a fox. Or maybe it's a badger. So it's not a very satisfying sword fight. Not DOOM recommended.

Found on Dailymotion. I'll probably search out the final installment of the trilogy - Along with Ghosts. But if I find something better, I'll go with that. 

[Drunk Monk]

YM: All the Ghosts was made a year after the other two and it’s disappointing Yōkai wise. It’s more of a classic chanbara. A clan kills some messengers carrying incriminating evidence despite warnings not to spill blood in yokai turf. They do anyway and a little girl is witness so they chase her. She gets help from a street kid and a kindly Ronin. There’s also an evil Ronin. The yokai appear intermittently and are just floppy headed costumes. No Rokurokubi or anything distinctively yokai. It’s a better chanbara than a yokai showcase.

Several swordfights of that typical chanbara style of the period, which isn't spectacular but not bad either. There’s a sense of realism inits sloppiness. Not DOOM recommended.