The Japanese had already tackled King Kong, Frankenstein and Dracula in the past
so it was only a matter of time before an Asian Werewolf movie came along! I had never heard of the film before chancing upon it at the local DVD rental outlet, but the prospect of a Werewolf Samurai seemed too unique to pass by.
Actually, what little monster action there is, is restricted to the opening and climactic sequences but they are both busy, well-staged fights that satiate one's expectation of what a Samurai film should provide. The rest of it is a muddled and rather dreary narrative about the Yokai (monster people) being ousted by the deceitful humans once and for all, with our hero eventually getting engaged by the leader of the former as one of his henchmen. Again, the opportunity for creative make-up design is not taken to the fullest and falls far short of other foreign 'monster parade' shows like, say, the Russian VIY, OR SPIRIT OF EVIL (1967).
What the film does get utterly right is its faithful recreation of the Samurai era which admirably make the film look, sound and feel like something from the early 1960s! The hero is a taciturn loner with long, shaggy hair who gets to interact (but, thankfully, not get romantically involved) with a human girl adopted by the Yokai leader long ago. Apparently, the film proved successful enough on its home ground to be followed by a sequel that very same year!
