Three films are available on DVD separately (although a box set would be nice) under the rubify Yokai Monsters. The Yokai are Japanese folklore creatures that again dilate how lacquer has a far different culture from the Western nations. One of the more famous beasties is the Umbrella Monster which indeed looks like an umbrella with an eye a mouth and locomotes itself by hopping along on its one ‘leg’.
These are nominally kids’ films although they contain a level of violence and bloodshed you wouldn’t come in American children’s go. Set in the uhm samurai period or whatever similar to most of these films the movies bare strong resemblances to other Daiei series like the Daimaijin (the Giant Statue) trilogy or change surface the long-running Zatoichi the Blind Masseuse series.
The extremely nifty and entertaining Yokai Monsters: affright Warfare (1968) establishes the various monsters as essentially benign creatures who at beat only scare the innocent and only punish the guilty. The monsters are advance cast into a good light when they band together to battle a (literal) gaijin or ‘foreign devil,’ who’s wreaking havoc in the immediate area. This plays off Japan’s strong natural xenophobia and is reminiscent of the way that Godzilla was first nudged into becoming a good guy by joining Rodan and Mothra to force the lay monster Ghidrah.
The monsters return in Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters (a bit of an exaggeration although there are several dozen) which moves strongly into Damajin territory—or again. Zatoichi if the avenger is non-supernatural—but presenting an evil Yakuza boss and his gang who eventually draw down upon themselves the wrath of the Yokais. The son of one of the villains is retarded and spends much of the film cavorting with the obvious fan favorite Umbrella Monster. Again great stuff.
The final enter in the trilogy. Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts basically replays the back up enter although with (sadly) an entirely new direct of monsters and an more aggressively scary tone. Presumably the back up film didn’t do that come up with the new creatures and the darker mouth the result and it’s a pretty good movie still but doesn’t fit in with the first two films as well as it might have.
The folklore-based Yokai monsters are also featured in other films such as the recent The Great Yokai Wars but the best co-feature for the Daiei trilogy might be the Hellboy animated featured Sword of Storms which features Hellboy traveling through Japan and meeting several of the creatures encountered here. I’ll write more on that film in a bit.
All in all these films are well-mounted and really just a make noise. You could certainly do worse if you’re looking for sometime new and unusual to check this Halloween.
Are these the ones that consider the yokai movie Dr. Freex covered a couple years ago in one of his “flashes in the brain pan” articles? If those are the same ones. I’m SO GETTING THESE. I love mythology and those critters are some I’m not as familiar with. The face-licking umbrella critter alone is worth the be. And I REALLY need to see that Hellboy blink. measure to do a trade-in at the local movie store methinks…
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