Director: Kaneto Shindō
Year: 1964
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Living in feudal Japan, a woman and her mother-in-law who make a living killing lost wandering samurai and selling their belongings take in the husband's friend, who begins to stir feelings in them that lead them to believe they're being stalked by demonic forces.
Review:
For the most part, this here was quite the enjoyable, if overall troubling, effort. A vast amount of the film's problems stem from the overdrawn and rather lengthy amount of time it takes for anything remotely resembling a horror film to take place. While setting the stage for the lifestyle the two live in, and how they're going about it together, the fact is that very little actually happens for a good part of the film, as it's nothing more than scenes of them working in the fields or pilfering items to resell them later on until the other guy gets involved in their lives. The introduction of that stranger and the burgeoning sexual intrigue that he sparks following that arrival makes for some nice dramatic moments where they spend time trying to deal with his appearance and what that means for the girls which gives this one quite a dark and dreary pacing yet doesn't really do much in terms of making the film creepy or chilling at all with the endless amount of time spent not doing anything that drives that forward.
While it provides this with some nice nudity and sets up the idea that their sinful lives are finally catching up to them, that all changes here in the final half where it drops a lot of these pretensions and goes full-force into plenty of supernatural horrors which has a lot of redeeming qualities featured in their coming face-to-face with the cursed masked man running around the countryside who comes into their lives and forces all their hidden feelings to come to the surface in screaming intensity. Since we've gotten a genuinely exciting bit of setup throughout here involving how long they've been doing this and what they're doing it all for, there's plenty of worthwhile build-up to make it feel not only worthwhile but also gives this finale the kind of fervent energy that helps to sell the idea of what's going on rather nicely. The presentation of this sequence also helps this quite heavily, letting the feverish action and twisted location of everything play out in grand style.
Full of suspenseful fare including the striking first appearance of the masked figure walking in the reeds and appearing in front of the couple through the trees and returning to their hut, it becomes rather chilling with the demonic corruption turning them against each other and bringing on the full realization of its deadly curse against the girls with the demon-masked figure returning to attack them at the end which is quite fun with the way it gets to the chasing and tormenting that occurs in the swamplands around the hut that have this one ending on a high-note. The other bit that really works here is that titular mask worn that is incredibly chilling and looks appropriately scary when it's seen in action floating through the reeds lit in the dark, which enhances the creepiness factor in this one that remains one of the most striking and impressive figures in the film. These here are what really help this one, even though it's still quite flawed.
Overview: **.5/5
An enjoyable if flawed Japanese horror effort, this is a bit more underwhelming than it should be as there are some big problematic factors that hold it back despite a few likable positive points. Those with an appreciation for this era of the genre or who are curious about it will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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