The Ghost of Yotsuya: Part I

Whoever says this isn't a horror film isn't reading the subtext of the film.

The story, here, is so intricately woven...you could easily mistake it for a Shakespearean tragedy.

So, saying something like this is the equivalent of claiming Macbeth isn't a horror story.

It just is.

In the same way that Vertigo is a horror film.

Esoterically, speaking.

Because of all the cast of characters, through which the drama flows...one, in particular, stands out as the main character.

Naosuke...the devil in disguise.

Without him...there is no story...there is no film.

As he is the one who plays all the other characters against one another...for his own nefarious ends.

A felon, who is being hunted by a gang, with no real prospects...and a lustful desire for riches...his only chance to "make it" in this life...is to use his cunning, to get what he wants, by manipulating others to acquire it for him.

Hence why he has positioned himself as the best friend of Tamiya - a washed up ronin, with a sickly wife, and no master.

When he realizes a wealthy young maiden has eyes for him.

He makes it his mission to set them up with one another- so he can ride his coattails into the upper class- despite the fact that he is already married to Oiwa.

Oiwa is a dedicated, and loving, wife...but suffers from depression, and low self esteem, to the point that she has become sickly.

So, when Naosuke realizes she has an obssessed suitor, from her teahouse days...he sees it as a perfect opportunity to pit her husband against her.

By encouraging the man to pursue her; while suggesting she is being unfaithful to her husband.

Which is really quite clever...albeit, devious to the core.

What veils the horror aspect of the film, here, is the approach that Keisuke Kinoshita has taken toward this traditional kabuki play.

Though, this won't really come to fruition until the second part of the film.

Considering he has split it into two distinct halves.

The latter of which is when the horror aspect really comes into play.

7.5 out of 10.

It's the first part of a two-part movie. In the first, Ken Uehara is a ronin, dismissed from his post because thieves broke into his master's storehouse. He is married to Kinuyo Tanaka (in heavy make-up; she also figures as her own sister), but he is tired of poverty. So when Hisako Yamane develops a passion for him, his father suggests marriage, as soon as he can get rid of the "maid" who has been managing his household. He's tempted by the end of poverty, but will do nothing dishonorable, until gangster Osamu Takizawa turns up, and he can see many ways for him to profit.

It's based on a play by Nanboku Tsuruya (1759-1829), a kabuki playwright given to supernatural and macabre themes. This was turned into a movie several times, beginning with a silent version in 1925. Although director Keisuke Kinoshita did not write the screenplay, he had a fondness for kabuki, and made a couple of other movies that show the form's influence, particularly THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA; the strong moral components and violent themes seem to have resonated with him.