The Bride from Hades (1968) by Satsuo Yamamoto

Director: Satsuo Yamamoto

Year: 1968

Country: Japan

Alternate Titles: Botan-dôrô; Peony Lantern

Genre: Supernatural

Plot:

After meeting in their village, a man becomes infatuated with a young woman who helps to take the ease off his family troubles, but as they grow closer, he realizes that she’s a supernatural figure who must either forget about their romance and marry him in the underworld.

Review:

For the most part, this was a serviceable if still troubling genre effort. Most of the film’s positives here are centered around its impeccable atmosphere and the sense of build-up that occurs throughout here as it slowly turns into the kind of chilling overt genre entry. Based on the early means of setup here, where we get to see his life in the village and the kind of life he leads by being the outsider he really is due to his views, the corruption of the others around him to try getting rid of him, and being forced into a relationship with the strange woman he finds there that sets everything in motion, this gets off to a fine starting point. As he slowly grows to fall in love with the strange woman and her mother, this starts to become far more overt in how it turns their idyllic life into something terrifying, as the slowly dawning realization of their true identity and what it means starts to turn everything into a far more horrific ordeal than he was prepared for.

As this turn in the second half provides the kind of threat to their relationship that turns everything into a genuinely touching relationship, the forces of those in the village looking to break their hold over him make for a fun time as this tries to move into more thrilling territory. Realizing that the whole thing has gotten to the point that his relationship with them has gotten to the point of allowing him to overlook the fact that they’re ghosts and are determined to follow through with dragging him to the underworld with them once the festival is over, it spawns a series of reactions to try to help him overcome their spell that never accomplishes anything other than to help further his descent into their grasp.  The big finale, where the true nature of their plan and how to pull it off comes together incredibly well as the ideas themselves are incredibly well handled and are done through scores of effective effects work, showing the ghosts being turned into skeletons or levitating through the air looking to interact with others, creating a wholly effective and likable atmosphere that gives the film a lot to like overall.

There isn’t much wrong here, but it does have some big issues. Most of these are centered heavily on the dreary, sluggish pacing that feels much more like a slice-of-life series of tales from this particular village that happens to revolve around a ghost, as little of this tends to be about trying to paint a picture of their superstitious life than anything. Rather than go around knocking out those who threaten to reveal their secret or terrorize the villagers into staying away from their quest, they don’t tend to do anything, as the real threat they pose is simply taking him away with them when the veil closes, and that’s not all that threatening an outcome based on everything we know about them. That’s the main selling point here regarding its genre qualities until the ending, and its reliance on intrusive drama about the villagers or comic relief that isn’t all that funny tends to make this feel far longer than it really is. As a whole, it’s the main issue with this, keeping it down.

Overview: ***/5

A thrilling if somewhat flawed old-school ghost film, there’s plenty of likable elements to be had here, which helps to make this one worthwhile enough to overcome the flaws present that hold this down. Those with an interest in this era of genre fare, who are curious about it, or who are fans of the creative crew, will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.