Before starting this review I have to ask you the question: have you heard of Yokai? If not this is definitely the place to start, if you have then this should be a great addition to your Blu-Ray collection. Arrow Video has collected together the original Yokai trilogy: 100 Monsters, Spook Warfare and Along With Ghosts together with the start of the Reboot/Reimaging, The Great Yokai War, which is part-retelling of the Spook Warfare story and part new creation.
The boxset gives us a brilliant documentary on Disc 1 “Hiding in Plain Sight” for anyone, like me, who is new to the idea of Yokai. The documentary explains where Yokai come from, its position in Japanese folklore and is probably your best stepping on point before watching the first of the main features. Along with that documentary is the first of the Yokai Trilogy, 100 Monsters, which starts by explaining the custom of telling 100 ghost stories. After each one, a candle is put out, until after the final story the 100th candle is extinguished, at which point a ritual must be performed or a curse will befall all those who heard the stories.
100 monsters tells the story of a small town that follows the tradition and of a wealthy businessman who is trying to take over the town with the help of a corrupt magistrate, both hear the stories and do not practice the ritual, instead opting for their own money centred ritual. Of course, as is the way in all good ghost stories, things start to go wrong. All participants in the storytelling are spooked by ghostly voices, apparitions and worse. The ghostly umbrella monster is a personal favourite.
The final showdown between the magistrate and the 100 monsters of the title is disturbing more than anything, with the soundtrack adding to the otherworldliness. There is an odd side story of the masterless samurai who is really an investigator for the high magistrate – this is an interesting touch but adds little. The special effects leave a lot to be desired, but, it allows a relatively small cast to play 100 monsters. This is a charming, interesting story with a little intrigue, supernatural suspense and some wonderful martial arts set-pieces. It’s a fascinating first look at the Yokai Monsters.
Disc 2 features the next two films, Spook Warfare and Along with Ghosts – there is an interesting option on the Blu-Ray menu which allows you to change film, this swaps the menus so you either have the menus and special features for Spook Warfare or Along with Ghosts; it’s a nice feature rather than putting both films on the same menu. I only mention it, because if you didn’t know this you might wonder where Along with Ghosts is.
Spook Warfare starts in ancient Babylonia where legend tells of a monster “Daimon” who hibernates in a ruined city and it will awaken in 4,000 years. People leave the area alone in fear of waking the beast early, however, through time the legend is forgotten and people start to come back to the area, waking the evil that dwells within. This is our introduction to the odd bird-like evil from ancient Babylonia who finds its way to Japan, where it very quickly kills and takes control of the Lord Magistrate by draining him of his blood and taking over the body. The now possessed Magistrate starts to destroy his home and in his fury knocks an object into a nearby pond waking the water imp – one of the 100 monsters from the first film – the imp sees the magistrate for the evil monster he is and attacks, most of the scenes involving the imp border on slapstick. The magistrate is not stopped and starts converting others to his will, when he starts to try and kidnap children the water imp convinces the rest of the Yokai to help out. This story shows the Yokai in a slightly different light to 100 monsters, most of the monsters we see here are the same costumes (if not the same actors) as the first, but they are no longer cursing the people, in this one they are actively helping the villagers to fight the evil presence that is taking over the land.
The 3rd film, Along with Ghosts, takes us to a shrine in Onizuka where a group of bandits are warned not to draw blood as the place is protected by Yokai and they will be cursed. You can probably guess where this one is going, yep they attack and kill a man in that place and so the curse starts. The difference here is there is a sub-story about a young girl who sees the murder take place, she now goes searching for her father, along with a lone Samurai, but the bandits are on their trail and the Yokai are on the trail of the bandits.
The film focuses on these 3 elements with some wonderful fighting set pieces with great sword work and some disturbing encounters with the Yokai, some very different apparitions appear this time. This is the most well-formed of the 3 stories, with there being more of a reason for what is happening at any given time.
Although slim, they do add a little context and some interesting insights into how the Yokai monsters have moved on since the 100 monsters. All in all this Yokai monsters box set is an interesting look at Japanese folklore, the stories they once told and how they have been updated for a new audience.
The Great Yokai War is the remake/reimagining of Spook Warfare, it’s also the only film on the boxset to feature a dubbed English soundtrack. It boasts a longer running time (2 hours against the 1 hour 18 of the other 3 films) and a massive increase in production values – admittedly, in updating the effects there is an over-reliance, and overuse of CG.
The story is very different to the other films, taking us into the modern-day where it centres around a young boy dealing with the divorce of his parents and moving out of Tokyo (which has been destroyed) and into the country. The destruction of the city is not fully explained and I was never 100% sure what was real and what might be in the imagination of our hero Tadashi – who is crowned as the Kirin Rider in a Festival sequence. A great evil tries to destroy all the humans of the world, so, Tadashi’s Kirin Rider teams up with the Yokai in an adventure that mixes The Goonies, Pokemon, Indiana Jones and Monkey as our young hero and the Yokai fight to defeat the evil threat to the city.
This 2005 film stands apart from the other 3, aided in part by the clever used CGI to create the Yokai and the minions of the demon – there are also much better, and more realistic practical effects which the originals couldn’t possibly replicate. The tone is also less adult (other than the birth of a blood-soaked four-legged demon) playing closer to childhood fantasy. The ending leaves everything open for the sequel The Great Yokai War: Guardians which is heading to cinemas at the time of writing. This one would make a good family lazy Sunday afternoon film, there is enough of a story that’ll interest parents and lots of comic elements from both the Yokai and the robotic minions they battle.
This disc boasts a plethora of special features: the obligatory commentary, interviews with the cast, some odd skits with the Yokai, another story of Kawatoro (the water imp from Spook Warfare who for obvious reasons features heavily in The Great Yokai War, too), a documentary from The World Yokai conference and a making-of documentary. Although slim, they do add a little context and some interesting insights into how the Yokai monsters have moved on since the 100 monsters. All in all this Yokai monsters box set is an interesting look at Japanese folklore, the stories they once told and how they have been updated for a new audience.
There is an odd mix of gore, horror, comic violence, swordplay and fantasy in each film, this is sometimes disturbing but mostly a lot of fun. As my introduction to Yokai and I have to say it probably won’t be my last time watching movies like this. I’m intrigued by what the Great Yokai War sequel will bring us and how 15 years of technological and industrial development have moved the possibility of a Yokai production forward.
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