The Ghost of Yotsuya

The Ghost of Yotsuya
Original Title: Tôkaido Yotsuya kaidan
Directed by: Nobuo Nakagawa
Japan, 1959
Horror / Drama, 76min
Distributed by: Beam Entertainment / Eclipse Films OOP

Did you ever wonder where all those traits that defined the past decade of J-Horror came from? Because you didn’t really think that Koji Suzuki, Hideo Nakata and Takashi Shimizu where responsible for the pale faced, longhaired drowned woman spectre did you… Nah not really, because what they did was simply tap into their own cultural heritage and more or less just revamp one of the oldest and most iconic images of their past legends and mix it up with some classic Western horror storytelling.

The masterful Nobuo Nakagawa’s The Ghost of Yotsuya shows exactly where the inspiration for his impressive piece comes from straight off the bat. There’s no hiding the source at all here as the movie opens just like if it where a taping of Kabuki performance. The candles are lit, the curtains are drawn and the performance begins. A young samurai – Iemon Tamiya [Shigeru Amachi who starred in several of Nakagawa's movies] begs Samon [Shinjirô Asano] for his daughter Iwa’s hand. Unfortunately Iemon’s reputation act against him, and Samon once again rejects the love hungry samurai’s request for marriage. But the apparent gruff between the two is rooted in a deeper, previous conflict and sick of being humiliated by the hash words and name-calling, Iemon draws his sword and strikes down Samon and his crew… the camera delicately pulling behind and past the trees of the set to spare showing us bloodshed at this early point in the movie. Iemon’s servant Naosuke [Shuntarô Emi] offers to take care of the bodies and then continues his moment, by framing Ozawa Usaburo instead when he reminds Samon’s daughters that Usaburo once tried to rob their father once before… The sisters decide to postpone marriage plans between the elder sister Sode [Noriko Kitazawa – also a Nakagawa regular] and Yomoshichi [Ryûzaburô Nakamura] whilst they take time to avenge their murdered father…

Again a baleful twist is presented when Iwa turns to Iemon and asks him to join them on their journey of vengeance. Along the way, a second even more sinister plan is presented, as Iemon and his sidekick plan to do away with Yomoshichi so that they can each take a sister as wife! Again Naosuke manipulates the women with his lies, blames Usaburo and suggests that the split up with one sister each – Iemon with Iwa as she is sick, and Naosuke with Sode - to take up the hunt for Usaburo…

There’s almost a Shakespearean atmosphere holding the story in a firm grasp at this point in time. It’s a brilliant set up as the killer is appearing to get away with their murderous ways, and as an audience we are confused about who we should identify with as none of the leading male characters have yet to show any sympathetic traits. Time passes Iemon and Iwa now live in Edo. Iermon makes a living as a crafter of umbrellas and Iwa has given birth to their son. There’s a saddens and a bitterness in their relationship as Iwa misses her sister Sode and still awaits Iemon to avenge her father… still not knowing that it was he who slew him all those years ago. We also learn that Naosuke has more or less forced Sode into a complicated relationship where they pretend to married, but in reality she can’t stand him; although once vengeance is taken she has agreed to become Naosuke’s wife.

During a stroll Iemon stops a ruckus concerning a young woman and is rewarded by the Itô family for saving their reputation. Iemon falls head over heals in love with the daughter Ume [Junko Ikeuchi]. At home, Iwa’s constant complaining of the lack of funds, and the fact that Iemon still hasn’t taken the promised revenge, Iemon starts spending more and more time in te company of Ume. Iwa’s friend Takuetsu [Jun Ôtomo] alerts her to the facts of Iemon’s nightly activities with Ume, but Iwa refuses to believe him and rejects all rumours with a stern belief that Iemon wouldn’t do such a thing… Ohhh but he does, and once again it’s all due to the manipulative hand of Naosuke who reckons that it’s time for Iemon to move on up in the social ladder and their diabolical plan is set in motion… Frame Iwa with her friend Taketsu posing as her lover (every man has a price, even if the cash is coming from Imeaon) and then after renouncing Iwa, Iemon can wed Ume.

But it wouldn’t be viewed as classic piece of tragedy if there’s wasn’t some sardonic twist along the way. Taketsu can’t go through with the plan, and reveals Iemon’s evil scheme to Iwa, who at the time has already been poisoned by her husband. Iemon busts down the door, accuses Taketsu and Iwa, and slashes them both down with his sword. Moments later, Iemon and Naosuke dump the bodies in the swamp and Naosuke can’t contain his joy as they are now finally set to become rich. The movie shifts into its last act and that’s where the ghost part of the story takes a firm hold of the narrative. After her harrowing ordeal of poisoning, disfigurement and death, the spirit of Iwa returns to take her own vengeance on the men who did her so much wrong, and believe me they all get what is coming to them, as nothing holds a fury such as a woman scorned.

Nobuo Nakagawa’s The Ghost of Yotsuya is one of the definitive Kabuki ghost stories. Yes Kabuki, as this is where the Japanese horror has it’s roots - before Rampo Edogawa shook things up with his own style of Ero Groto that is... Since the 14th century the old theatrical art form Noh and Kabuki dealt with legend and folklore in one way or another. The Noh commonly used themes of ghosts out for revenge in the shuramono [ghosts] and shunen [revenge] genres, and the Kabuki had it’s Kaidan themes - themes of ghosts, mystery and horror. Within the Kabuki you find the two styles Wagoto, which tells romantic or comedic themed stories, and Aragot, which is the tougher variant that uses ghosts, vicious gods, demons and fearless warrior heroes. Mix them all together and you get the backbone of the Kaidan, the same ghost-horror-mystery stories that make up inspiration for the J-Horror genre.

The Ghost of Yotsuya is based on the writings of Tsurya Nanboku and is one of the finest interpretations of the story which has been made into a movie some whopping thirty times. The first being Japanese movie pioneer Shozu Makino’s version from 1912. And it’s here that the legend of Oiwa and Iemon is first found, and it’s Oiwa that I’m calling the template for all drowned female ghosts to come. The terrifying disgruntled female spirit, back from the dead to claim her revenge. Her strong characteristics always hold the same image code – the weary eye, the wet hair draped over her face, the disfigurement – the same that Rampo would take further within his own niche – it’s a frequent reoccurring image in most of those J-Horror pieces. Ringu, Ôdishin, Grudge, Tomie, and so on. Images that we look upon as the image of modern Japanese horror even though the gore drenched grotesque revival has had a damned good run these last couple of years.

Nobuo Nakagawa should absolutely be considered the grand master of the Japanese fantastic genre. More than your average straightforward ghost vengeance pieces, his movies frequently use some superb subplots to drive the narrative beyond the common Kaidan. In The Ghost of Yotsuya it’s obviously the greedy and obsessive servant/partner Naosuke who seizes the moment of Iemon’s initial frustration and uses it to achieve his own goals the whole way through. He’s also the character who more or less acts as Iemon’s conscious, even though he’s committed crimes equally vile to Iemon’s. It’s a great use of subplot and supporting characters that can be seen in many of Nakagawa’s Kaidan pieces.

His movies are extremely well crafted; they look astonishing and deal with some great themes that where pretty controversial at the time he made these movies. One such is his classic Jigoku (Hell) 1960 which instead of painting an imaginary image of hell takes the audience right into the fiery bowls themselves and serves up some delicious pre-splatter gore effects that still work their magic. And another thing that always impresses me with each Nakagawa ghost story I see is that he really knew how to deceive the eye with elegant tricks.

His ferocious style of editing and in camera tricks, which are very evident in his earlier movie Kaidan Kasane-ge-fuchi (The Ghost of Kasana Swamp) 1957 - which just like The Ghost of Yotsuya is based on classic Noh theatre - in The Ghost of Yotsuya, Nakagawa takes it up a notch, refines the traits he skilled himself at in previous movies, and also uses the colour schemes of his first horror in colour to shocking effect. Pasty blue grey spectres set against hard contrasting backgrounds that really have the compositions and imagery pop off the screen. It’s beautiful stuff indeed and very fitting for a masterpiece of Japanese cinema that comes highly recommended.

Image:
(2.35 : 1) presented in 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen.

Audio:
Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 Japanese Dialogue with optional English subtitles.

Extras:
Cast and Crew Biographies.

GOKE, The Bodysnatcher from Hell

GOKE, The Bodysnatcher from Hell

Original title: Kyuketsuki Gokimidoro
Directed by: Hajime Sato
Japan, 1968
Sci-Fi / Horror, 84min
Distributed by: Shochiku Home Video

Story:
A Japanese airplane smashes into the ground after being startled by an unidentified flying object that destroys their flight equipment. The plane crashes into an abandoned area and the surviving passengers start to show their true colours. At the same time the strange object that they saw in the sky has landed and progresses its plan for the annihilation of earth. When a passenger escapes the wreckage and enters the spaceship he is attacked and after the alien being enters his body though a slit in his forehead, he is turned into a bloodthirsty vampire who goes back to feed of the rest of the plane crash survivors…


Me:
Goke IS an amazing piece of Japanese cinema that definitely needs so much more exposure and exploration. It is indeed an entertaining movie with so much more going for it than a lot of contemporary sci-fi horrors of the time had. Remember this is the late 60’s and the main theme of Japanese Sci-Fi was focused on Godzilla, Gamera, The Giant Majin, Mothra and other giant monsters crushing those wonderful miniatures versions of major cities. There are obviously a some exceptions The X from Outer Space (1967) to name one, but then again, those movies focus more on the “good men” of earth defeating the alien invaders. But GOKE goes further; there’s political commentary, there’s alien invasion, there’s vampirism and then there’s the social commentary. Almost everyone in this movie is a bad ass, with nothing more in mind but themselves. From the wealthy corporate arms dealers to the assassin [Hideo Ko] who uses their products, through the bomb wielding terrorist to the widower in grief on her way to collect her husbands dead body, from the uncanny psychologist to the space biologist, they all are disturbing selfish son of a bitches. That is all apart from two, the co-pilot Sugisaka [Teruo Yoshida] and stewardess Kuzumi [Tomomi Sato]. They try their damnedest to get themselves and everyone else through their ordeal and back to civilisation, which is why the shocking downbeat ending blows you away.

There is so much going on in this film that it’s almost impossible to take it all in on one viewing. First there’s the initial setup where the airplane flies through those beautiful red clouds, encountering suicidal birds, not quite understanding what is wrong with the “blood red sky”, this is a premonition of the coming alien invasion, but also works as a kind of warning light for what is about to happen. The plot starts to thicken and gets more complex when we learn that a British minister in Japan recently was assassinated, this is discussed by an arms dealer and his prospect weapons factory owner. The flight centre reports that they have received a note declaring that there is a bomb on the plane, and as they search the passenger’s luggage they stumble upon a small arsenal belonging to the assassin. In the middle of the search as goodhearted Sugisaka and Kuzumi make up excuses for the search as not to alarm the passengers, the psychiatrist stands up and declares that they might be searching for a bomb! He does this for his own scientific (or perhaps sadistic) intentions as it gives him an extraordinary situation to study the human psyche when opposed to a deadly threat. Suddenly the flying saucer attacks the plane making all the technical equipment and motors burst into flames. This gives director Sato an excellent opportunity to use all that great Japanese miniature photography so frequently used in the Kaiju movies, to show a very realistic shot of the burning plane crashing though trees and slamming into the ground. Pretty soon after they crash the true “terrorist” is revealed as he flees the burning wreckage to hide his bomb he still has to use. Now we know that the passengers are all pretty dubious characters, those who have been introduced pre-crash are the ones still alive after impact. Only Sugisaka and Kuzumi take time to put blankets over the deceased, as the others start bickering over the little water supplies left. The US widow on her way to reclaim her husband’s body uses up all the water left to wash herself after the crash, leaving the rest of the passengers without valuable fluid.

At the same time the narrative progresses there is a political commentary running through out the movie, from the “in flight” discussion about the assassinated British minister to the final “you are doomed” comments from the alien which ends with a collage of atomic holocaust imagery. The statements made by the two businessmen are quite obviously references to how the rest of the world is rapidly degenerating, and at the time of the movie the cold war was at it’s peak, Vietnam was coming to it’s pinnacle just as the Korean war was ending, Japan obviously felt very vulnerable as they where in the middle of a world itching to scratch, and even though Japan tried it’s hardest to show up the brave face of a neutral country with no further ambitions to make war, but focus on putting their past behind them, the movie shows that under the surface Japan is just like everywhere else with it’s fair share of egocentrism, escalated violence, and political terrorism.

Anyhow, the plane has crashed, the anarchy and paranoia runs astray. The Hijacking assassin kidnaps Kuzumi and rushes out into the desert only to stumble upon the glowing alien spacecraft. Not being able to control the urge to investigate it he gets too close and the alien mind force draws him into the craft. There in a room full of dark brooding lights the alien creature, looking almost like molten mercury creates a split in the hijackers’ forehead. That split in his head is an area of discussion, because it mostly looks like a vagina, and is frequently referred to as that in other reviews, and I could divulge into an analytical rant about Vagnia Dentate. Symbolism and all that comes with that, but I won’t and I’ll just refer to it as a slit in his head where the alien being enters his body. The alien life form turns him into a vampire and pretty soon he’s back at the wreck feeding off the blood of the decreasing number of survivors. One by one they fall victim to the space vampire and we learn more and more about the unlikeable cast and their terrifying egocentrism. The weapon factory owner turns his head as his wife is groped and molested by the arms dealer, as the profits of the pending deal ahead is much more lucrative for him than his family values. Mrs Neal, the widower takes a gun to the survivors to get her way through, and as previously mentioned they all show their darkest traits when confronted with the stalking terror outside the plane wreckage. But still, Sugisaka and Kuzumi try to keep the survivors’ spirits high but one by one they fall victim to the space vampire. Finally Sugisaka and Kuzumi go up against the alien life form, and seem to defeat it, but in reality the alien has only moved to a new host, and they are faced no further options but to run, run as fast and as far as they can until they reach civilisation.

I love that all the major studios named their aspect ratios after themselves, i.e.: Tohoscpoe, Shintoscope, Nikkatsuscope and here GOKE produced by the Shochiku Company, shot in full glorious Shochiku Grandscope. On a pop cultural level, GOKE is yet another one of those movies that Quentin Tarantino nods his head to in his 2003 movie Kill Bill: Volume 1, just like the swordfight with is an obvious nod to Toshiyo Fujita’s Lady Snowblood from 1973. When the Bride [Uma Thurman] flies to Japan in Kill Bill: Volume 1, just check out those dramatically coloured skies to see what I’m talking about.

But if we’re going to talk about influences and references, it has to be pointed out that director Sato has stated that Mario Bava was a major influence on his career as a director, and it’s quite obvious when you see what art director Tadataka Yoshino and cinematographer Shizuo Hirase did with the amazing style and imagery of this movie. On more than one occasion does Planet of the Vampires come to mind. There’s also a lot of the pop-culture look and feeling of Seijuin Suzuki’s Nippon Noir movies in here too, with Hideo Ko's suave assassin turned hijacker in his white suit and black shades. Then there’s the wonderfully nihilistic reference similar to that found in The Planet of the Apes, as Sugisaka and Kuzumi finally manage to find their way get back to civilisation only to find out that the rest of the world has already gone to hell while they where missing. The camera pulls back showing a dying earth as the army of flying saucers proceeds to hover towards their latest conquest.

Unfortunately this was the last movie that Hajime Sato directed, although he did continue writing a few scripts. It’s a shame that he didn’t direct more movies because the few movies he did directed only get better and better with time, and when you start noticing all the influences and references there is a sublime indication that this director could have broken out and developed into a acknowledged master of the arts on par to Ishirô Honda, Jun Fukuda and Nobuo Nakagawa. But then again GOKE is an amazing movie to end your career on and in more than one way the swan song of a great director.

Image:
Shochiku Grandscope 2.35 : 1

Audio:
Japanese Language 2.0 Dolby Digital. English Subtitles optional

Extras:
No extras.

The Ghost of Kasane

Ghost of Kasane, The
Original Title: Kaidan Kasane-ge-fuchi
Directed by: Nobuo Nakagawa, Japan, 1957 Horror / Drama, 66 min, Black and White Distributed by: Beam Entertainment / Eclipse Films

Story:
Blind masseur Soetsu leaves his loving wife and infant daughter Rui one night and goes to collect a debt from a neighbour samurai. But the samurai is arrogant and refuses to pay up, and when Soetsu pushes him harder to repay the debt, the samurai nonchalantly swipes out his sword and murders Soetsu. Realising what he has done in his outburst of anger, the samurai drags Soetsu’s body to the nearby swamp where he buries it deep in the waters. Later the same night the ghost of Soetsu appears in front of the killer and scares him into madness. In his rage of fear and fury the samurai accidentally killing his wife. Which leaves the samurai with no choice but to take his own life. Twenty years later the now grown daughter or Soetsu, Rui [Kazuko Wakasugi], has fallen in love with a young man called Shinkichi [Takashi Wada], but she could never have known that he actually is the son of her father’s murderer.

Where their innocent love should bloom and evolve it quite rapidly becomes evident that Soetsu’s curse will continue for many generations and pretty soon everyone connected to the curse find them selves face to face with ghosts and terrifying death.

Me:
Based on author Enchô San'yuutei’s traditional horror novel Shinkei Kasane ga fuchi from 1859, which quickly became a popular favourite in Japan due to it’s what goes around comes around approach not to far from the eastern way of karmic philosophies. To date there have been some seven different versions of Shinkei Kasane ga fuchi spanning from 1928 to the early seventies, and there was also three TV serials based on the novel. Ghost of Kasane is an early Nakagawa film in many aspects, and his version of San'yuutei’s tale of humanity and revenge from beyond the grave is a wonderful early piece of cinema from in my opinion on of the really great Japanese “Horror” directors. Ok so it’s kind of wrong to label Nakagawa as a horror director as he directed some thirty plus films, but it’s his creepy low paced horror films of the later part of his career that he has come to be mostly know for. There are not too many shocks as we have grown accustomed to them during the last few years of Asian horror, but there are still a few very good moments. The effects are often quite few but when Nakagawa brings them on they work. You have to remember that this film was shot in 57, and being of that time period it’s very well crafted. The sudden shocking transformation of Kazuko Wakasugi from sombre Rui to the hideously deformed monster is very effective, and the restrained way that Nakagawa shows her to us, at first reflected in the waters, is a very good build up to the climactic finale.
The tale unravels in a nice controlled pace, the opening murders and death, the love plot between Rui and Shinkichi, and this is where Nakagawa chooses to focus on the empathy between the two and the people who know them and their forbidden feelings for each other. Obviously they are from different families and classes so their love doesn’t come without social complications. It’s Nakagawa’s focus on the empathy that makes this movie stick out. It’s honestly really a love story with a ghost curse delicately woven in to create a sad and spooky tale where the fate of the main characters has already been decided through the sins of their ancestors.

I probably wouldn’t recommend this movie for anyone trying to find “new” treats within the world of Asian horror, for that I’d probably tell you to check out The Ghost of Yotsuya from 1959 or the masterful Jigoku from 1960, but if you’ve been around the block a few times and want something you haven’t seen then this one might just be right up your street.

Image:
Black and White 4:3, Optional English Subtitles.

Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0

Extras:
Biograpies and Filmograpies, but in Japanese
This since long out of print version of The Ghost of Kasane, can be purchased through SASORI-41

Jigoku

Jigoku
Directed by: Nobou Nakagawa, Japan, 1960
Horror / Drama, 101 minutes
Distributed by: Criterion Collection

Story:
Theology student Shiro [Shigeru Amachi] is tormented by the fact that he and his friend Tamura [Yoichi Numata] accidentally killed a man in a hit and run accident one night. His life turns to the worse when one freak accident after another kills off all the people around him until he himself passes over to the other side, Hell, where all sinners get there final punishment for all eternity.

Me:
Nabou Nakagawa’s Jigoku is one of those movies that you have to see to believe. It is probably the most extreme Kaidan movie of the early sixties and seventies, and I’d even go as far to claim that Jigoku could be the first splatter/gore movie as it was shot three years before Herschell Gordon Lewis’ landmark Blood Feast 1963 that often takes credit for starting the splatter movie genre. Jigoku has a fair share of severed hands, rivers of blood and gory mutilated corpses. Nakagawa was no stranger to the Kaidan genre as Jigoku was in fact the last of a string of nine very atmospherically and stylish genre movies that he had directed. Neither was the genre new either, as early as 1912 Shozo Makino directed the earliest version of Yotusya Kaidan [Yotsuya Ghost Story], also re-made in it’s finest version in 1959 by Nakagawa. The photography is stunning and considering the tight budget that this Shintoho Company production had it’s an amazing piece of cinema. Focusing on the Shiro we follow him though a very painful journey, his tormentor, the enigmatic Tamura who pops up when Shiro expects him the least, to poke fun at Shiro or provoke those around him. At a dinner with Shiro’s mother and father in law, when Shiro escapes to his home village to comfort his father after the death of his mother Tamura soon shows up. It’s Tamura who is in the car with Shiro as they run over the Yakuza man leaving him dead in the middle of the road, and this is the marker for Shiro's decent into the terrifying spiral that lands him in the dark pits of hell. There are many story lines running at the same time, there’s the sudden death of Shiro’s fiancé Yukkio [Utako Mitsuya] and the way Shiro’s relationship with her devastated parents evolves, then there’s the family of “Tiger” Kyoichi’s family planning and attempting to take their revenge for the hit and run accident, and the complex story of Shiro’s return to his home village where he meets neighbour girl Sachiko who is the double of his late fiancé, also played by Mitsuya in a double role. The acting is top notch Shigery Amachi and Yoichi Numata deliver memorable performances as the strangely linked Shiro and Tamura, and Mitsuya is very persuasive in her portrayal of Yukkio/Sachiko. Nakagawa’s works being an influence on later genre directors like Takashi Shimizu, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Hideo Nakata is clearly noted as the tone of the movie is reminiscent of their works. It moves from a slow explanatory build up and works delicately up to the last climactic third in a manner that we are accustomed to with the later years wave of Asian horror flicks, slowly but surely.

After re-watching this movie, now in the stunning presentation Criterion have released, I realised during the opening montage, that there’s a lot of similarities to Adrian Lynne’s Jacob’s Ladder going on here. Not that I know if Lynne ever saw Jigoku, but it plays with the same themes, a dead man re-living his own personal hell. I’m sure that the opening sequence is an indicator that Shiro actually is already dead when the movie starts, and the entire movie is in fact his time in hell. Compared to the previously released, long out of print, Beam Entertainment DVD from Japan, I can't really say that there's much differance to the print more than some obvious reapairs that have been made to it, also the colours look better with the remastered Criterion editon. On the other hand the Beam edition has 2.0 sound where as Criterion have opted for 1.0 mono. The extras are the big bonus with the Criterion version. Definitely a must see movie for fans of the recent wave of Japanese horror movies.

Image:
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, Colour, shot in 35mm Shintohoscope

Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono 1.0

Extras:
Once again Criterion gives reason to buy this disc with the extra features. This time they have included an almost forty minute documentary called Building the Inferno which focuses on the movies of Nakagawa. Actor Yoichi Numata, screenwriter Ichiro Miyagawa, Nakagawa collaborators Chiho Katsura and Kensuke Suzuki, and director Kiyoshi Kurosawa all talk about Jigoku and the influence it had on them. Just this documentary is worth the price if you want to know more about the masterful movies of Nobou Nakagawa. An essay by Chuck Stephens, and two artwork galleries stills and posters. To round it all off there’s the theatrical trailer for Jigoku.