Yokai appreciation thread...

[monsterslayers]

I have yet to see the YOKAI MONSTERS trilogy recently released by ADV Films. There have been some positive, and pretty strange reviews concerning the trilogy, and before I go out and purchase them, I am curious on how other fourm members think of the films.

I know there are many who adore the strange creatures used for the series, though I am not quite as adoring for them. The only Yokai that looks at all interesting is the Evil Vampire Daimon. The Yokai that's shaped like a frog is pretty retarded looking.

Before venturing into the series, I have re-read Stan Hyde's short review and history of the YOKAI series in G-FAN #64, and he seems quite positive with the series. Any other suggestions, critisim, or remarks for the trilogy?

[Kaiju Nexus]

unfortunately, it seems in know no more or less than you of the series as i have read the same article in G-Fan and several reviews of the series.  I too would like to know more as I am most intrigued by the strangeness of the films.

[Zillamon51]

The first one, 100 Monsters, is a ghost story.  It's slow, but has its moments.  The second one, Along With Ghosts, is more of a samurai film with occasional monsters in it.  It maintains interest because of its characters:  Kojiro Hongo is a strong lead, and the little kid is just adorable.

That brings us to Spook Warfare.  This is easily the best of the trilogy, and one of my favorite monster movies period.  The yokai themselves really take center stage in this one.  They have great personality, and this is their story.  Instead of just scaring Japanese peasants, they have the powerful Daimon to deal with as well.  This is the one to start with if you're unsure about these movies.

So give the yokai a try (especially if you like DaiMajin).  If you like Daiei's trilogy, also check out Sakuya, The Slayer Of Demons.  Several of the old Daiei yokai have cameos.  It even opens with a battle involving several (much meaner-looking) Kappa.

Here are the relevant DMI links:

100 Monsters (http://www.digitalmonsterisland.com/yokai_100_monsters.html)
Along With Ghosts (http://www.digitalmonsterisland.com/yokai_along_with_ghosts.html)
Spook Warfare (http://www.digitalmonsterisland.com/yokai_spook_warfare.html)
Sakuya (http://www.digitalmonsterisland.com/sakuya.html)

[Cosmos]

<font color='#0000FF'>I have a subtle love for these movies. As far as I can tell these are Ghost stories but although they arn't Scary in a western sense, they are very creepy...and have some very scary Ideas....
They are definatly worth the watch...

[kpa]

Quote[/b] (Zillamon51 @ Dec. 01 2003,21:16)]The first one, 100 Monsters, is a ghost story. *It's slow, but has its moments. *The second one, Along With Ghosts
A slight correction: ALONG WITH GHOSTS is the third film in the trilogy, not the second. It was released 3 months after SPOOK WARFARE.

<font color='#FF0000'>Daimajin and yokai are my favirote type of kaiju film, with samari bits in as well.I do love Godzilla and all kaijus blowing stuff up and fighting each other, but it's a cool change for different type of kaiju.

<font color='#FF0000'>The actors are good, in the first one it has Jun Fujimaki(Majin), Miwa Takeda(Majin) and Ryatoro Gomi(Majin), in the second one it's Kojiro Hongo(Gamera vs Baragon, Wrath of Daimajin) and in spook Warfare theres Yoshihiko Aoyayama( Majin as Prince Tadafumi).I've bided for Yokai 100 monsters on Ebay

[C-R-V]

<font color='#000F22'>Great series if I do say so myself. Filled with great charecters and monsters, any kaiju fan should at least cheak them out!

Quote[/b] ]The first one, 100 Monsters, is a ghost story. *It's slow, but has its moments. *The second one, Along With Ghosts, is more of a samurai film with occasional monsters in it. *It maintains interest because of its characters: *Kojiro Hongo is a strong lead, and the little kid is just adorable.

That brings us to Spook Warfare. *This is easily the best of the trilogy, and one of my favorite monster movies period. *The yokai themselves really take center stage in this one. *They have great personality, and this is their story. *Instead of just scaring Japanese peasants, they have the powerful Daimon to deal with as well. *This is the one to start with if you're unsure about these movies.



Im totally with you on this one man.

http://www.rodansroost.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

HEY!! 300th POST BABEY!

http://www.rodansroost.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/thumbs-up.gif

<font color='#FF0000'>In 100 monsters one, does Jun Fujimaki and Miwa Takeda survive.

[Cosmos]

<font color='#0000FF'>None of the Baddies survive, i'd say that.... but now that you mention it.... hmm...
*pops the dvd...
.....back in a bit.

<font color='#FF0000'>What I meant is Jun Fujimaki play a good guy, I got Yokai, 100 monsters, on ebay looks great! http://www.rodansroost.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/thumbs-up.gif

<font color='#FF0000'>I got an e~mail last night saying, the yokai dvd I got was broken and i was refunded.I found this other e bay that sold all of them for 12$ so i'll order tonight.Which one shall I get?

<font color='#FF0000'>Is Sakuya good, it looks a bit taky.

[kpa]

I liked SAKUYA alot. It was directed by Tomoo Haraguchi (he built the Gamera suits for the recent trilogy) and the sfx were by Shinji Higuchi (fx director on the recent Gamera films). If you like the effects in G3, SAKUYA will definitely appeal to you.

[Zillamon51]

Sakuya's a good movie. &nbsp;I certainly wouldn't compare it to the epic G3, but it's a good-looking movie that's a lot of fun. &nbsp;It's much better than Buffy, which some people inevitably compare it to. &nbsp;I would like to see a sequel.

In the book TokyoScope: &nbsp;The Japanese Cult Film Companion by Patrick Macias, there's a picture of a poster for a 1957 Shintoho film called Ghost Story: &nbsp;Seven Wonders Of Honsho. &nbsp;It features a couple of monsters from the Yokai trilogy and Sakuya: &nbsp;The three-eyed dude, and Karakasa the umbrella-monster. &nbsp;Now that's a movie I want to see!

[kpa]

Quote[/b] (Zillamon51 @ Feb. 11 2004,20:46)]Sakuya's a good movie. *I certainly wouldn't compare it to the epic G3, but it's a good-looking movie that's a lot of fun. *
What I wrote was &quot;If you like the effects in G3, SAKUYA will definitely appeal to you.&quot; I was in no way comparing the stories or the epic scale of the two films, but I think SAKUYA showcases some excellent fx work by Shinji Higuchi (and Tomoo Haraguchi) that would appeal to fans of his Gamera effects.

<font color='#FF0000'>Are the yokai films bloody or violent?

[Zillamon51]

Quote[/b] (kpa @ Feb. 12 2004,01:10)]Quote[/b] (Zillamon51 @ Feb. 11 2004,20:46)]Sakuya's a good movie. *I certainly wouldn't compare it to the epic G3, but it's a good-looking movie that's a lot of fun. *

What I wrote was &quot;If you like the effects in G3, SAKUYA will definitely appeal to you.&quot; I was in no way comparing the stories or the epic scale of the two films, but I think SAKUYA showcases some excellent fx work by Shinji Higuchi (and Tomoo Haraguchi) that would appeal to fans of his Gamera effects.

I realize you were talking about FX, and so was I. *I was just pointing out that FX-wise, Sakuya is much smaller-scale than G3. *I still recommend the movie and agree that both Gamera and Yokai fans should check it out; just don't expect to see anything like Shibuya getting blown to hell.

Quote[/b] (majin monster of terror @ Feb. 13 2004,03:27)]Are the yokai films bloody or violent?

They all feature some swordplay, most of it bloodless. &nbsp;Some blood is spilled by the vampire demon Daimon in Spook Warfare. &nbsp;Unless your daddy is Thomas Carder (http://www.capalert.com), you should be fine with them.

<font color='#FF0000'>I bet you when i start watching it, all my family pick out faults, or laugh at the monsters!

[kpa]

Darn it Zillamon, I had no idea who Thomas Carder was until I checked your link. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. http://www.rodansroost.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

<font color='#FF0000'>Is the Ghost of Yotsuya like &nbsp;Yokai it has been made countless times, The version i know is made in 1964 starring Yoshhiko Aoyama. Do you guys know any thing about this movie.

[WitchKing667]

<font color='#000F22'>Quote[/b] (kpa @ Feb. 17 2004,02:21)]Darn it Zillamon, I had no idea who Thomas Carder was until I checked your link. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. http://www.rodansroost.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
http://www.rodansroost.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/darklord.gif Nice to see other people abhor Crapalert and Tommy Carder as much as I do. Going to fundamentalist Christian websites like capalert and godhates***s.com makes me extremely depressed.

I really like the youkai films quite a bit, I've seen the first two films, 100 Monsters and Spook Warfare. Why did ADV bill Spook Warfare as the first film, just like they made it seem like The Rerturn of the Giant Majin was the third film in the Daimajin trilogy and Majin Strikes Back was the second. 100 Monsters is quite fantastic and kind of reminded me of Kwaidan, both had that same kind of very Asian visual beauty and I absolutly adored the creatures. In this first film they are very spooky, especially the rokurokubi (long neck woman) and that giant face thing. The second film is fun but isn't as good. I was kind of disapointed they were given the 60s Godzilla treatment and made good guys, I like them much better when they were spooky and menacing in the first film. Still, Spook Warfare has lots of great moments, it's pretty obvious that Daiei was trying to make a film to compete with Toho's Destroy All Monsters.
As for Sakuya, I was kind of disapointed by it. Granted, I loved the monsters, especially that hissing cat thing, but with Haraguchi (the Japanese Tom Savini) and Higuchi onboard I was kind of expecting a film that would do to Daiei's yokai films what Kaneko and Higuchi had done to their old Gamera films. And I agree with the teleport city review that the kappa boy was very annoying and his whole subplot really distracted from the rest of the story. Still, the final battle with the Spider Queen nearly approached Gamera 3 level, but overall, I liked Haraguchi's early direct to video indie horror flick Mikadroid much, much better.
And there have been many versions of Ghost of Yotsuya, I want to film one myself in a horror anthology I want to make about old Japan. Probably the two most famous ones (and the ones I've seen) are a 1959 Shintoho film by Nobuo Nakagawa (Hell) and 90s version by Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale). They both are quite good and very different, though I prefer Nakagawa's version, which really plays up the horror element. Oiwa's death is almost unwatchably painful, one really creepy shot has her combing her hair and a bit of her scalp coming out. Fukasaku's version (called Crest of Betrayal) is more action oriented, it combines the Yotsuya Kaidan tale with the equally popular and often filmed Chushingura Gaidan.
There's a clip of Nakagawa's version in this trailer I made to pad out running time on my public access TV show about Japanese cinema.
http://www.kojiroabe.com/otaku/otakutrailer.WMV

[Zillamon51]

You know you love it, people. *http://www.rodansroost.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Quote[/b] (kpa @ Feb. 17 2004,02:21)]Darn it Zillamon, I had no idea who Thomas Carder was until I checked your link. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. http://www.rodansroost.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

Great day in the morning, another brother has seen the light! *Praise the Lord!

Quote[/b] (WitchKing667 @ Feb. 21 2004,19:55)]Nice to see other people abhor Crapalert and Tommy Carder as much as I do. Going to fundamentalist Christian websites like capalert and godhates***s.com makes me extremely depressed.

You've got it all wrong. &nbsp;I don't &quot;abhor&quot; Carder or his site. &nbsp;I think it's the funniest site on the web. &nbsp;It's so ridiculous, it never fails to get a couple of laughs out of me. &nbsp;http://www.rodansroost.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/intears.gif

[Zillamon51]

Quote[/b] (majin monster of terror @ Feb. 19 2004,03:41)]Is the Ghost of Yotsuya like *Yokai it has been made countless times, The version i know is made in 1964 starring Yoshhiko Aoyama. Do you guys know any thing about this movie.

I've never seen Ghost Of Yotsuya (Tokkaido Yotsuya Kaidan). *Macias' book, which I mentioned earlier, has a synopsis and review of it. *The R2 DVD has English subtitles, and I'm thinking of getting it. *I might review it on DMI alongside Criterion's Kwaidan and upcoming Onibaba for a Japanese ghost triple-feature.

Quote[/b] (WitchKing667 @ Feb. 21 2004,19:55)]...I agree with the teleport city review that the kappa boy was very annoying and his whole subplot really distracted from the rest of the story.

I disagree. &nbsp;Although Taro is the type of character (young kid / comic relief sidekick) that could be very annoying, I thought he was handled quite well.

[WitchKing667]

<font color='#000F22'>Quote[/b] (Zillamon51 @ Feb. 22 2004,00:03)]You know you love it, people. *http://www.rodansroost.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Quote[/b] (kpa @ Feb. 17 2004,02:21)]Darn it Zillamon, I had no idea who Thomas Carder was until I checked your link. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. http://www.rodansroost.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

Great day in the morning, another brother has seen the light! *Praise the Lord!

Quote[/b] (WitchKing667 @ Feb. 21 2004,19:55)]Nice to see other people abhor Crapalert and Tommy Carder as much as I do. Going to fundamentalist Christian websites like capalert and godhates***s.com makes me extremely depressed.

You've got it all wrong. *I don't &quot;abhor&quot; Carder or his site. *I think it's the funniest site on the web. *It's so ridiculous, it never fails to get a couple of laughs out of me. *http://www.rodansroost.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/intears.gif
Crapalert is funny until you realize what it must be like to live with a guy who won't even let his high school kids see Austin Powers. And have you ever e-mailed him, he is one bitter old son of a b*tch. I heard one person say they e-mailed twice, one as an opponent, the second time as a sympathizer and got equally angry replies from both. I was surprised at how leniant he was on Kill Bill, though, I thought he was going to trash that film even worse than South Park: BLU.
But enough about that old curmudgeon..

<font color='#FF0000'>Is journey along Tokkaido road any good, because there are never any pictures and you can't by it on ebay but the dealer who had the other dos'nt have it? I'm looking forward to seeing Spook Warfare but my mum and dad will probably laugh at it they always do that. Is any one on RR a dealer on Ebay?

[WitchKing667]

<font color='#000F22'>From what I understand, Journey Along Tokaido Road (Along with Ghosts) is the weakest of all three films and the youkai it features are inferior to the ones in the first two films (no kappa, rokurokubi, karakasa, etc). I have not seen it.

<font color='#FF0000'>Thanks for that. Whats arerhokobari and karakasa? But they've got my favirote one the yellow skinned woman who breathes fire.

[WitchKing667]

<font color='#000F22'>Karakasa is the umbrella critter..

[Dan]

From what i've seen, Karakasa sure does get around... &nbsp;http://www.rodansroost.com/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

BTW, I've only seen Spook Warfare, but loved it.

<font color='#FF0000'>In spook Warfare do any Yokai die?

[Kappa the water imp]

I finally got Yokai spook warfare it's excellent, Daimon looks cooll, Kappas not as annoying as i thought he'd be. And Aobo the green faced monster is cool same with that Bear with a big stomach. I'm Majin &nbsp;monster of terror, but again i got wiped from the database so i got reregistered.

[Kappa the water imp]

I thought Yokais a bit unsetteling with the Yokai prancing around in slow motion is real strange. But the Yokai are so strange and different it's great.There should be Yokai avaters that'd be great.

[watercyborg 1966]

Quote[/b] (Cosmos @ Dec. 20 2003,08:20)]I have a subtle love for these movies. As far as I can tell these are Ghost stories but although they arn't Scary in a western sense, they are very creepy...and have some very scary Ideas....
They are definatly worth the watch...
You couldn't have said that better!

The atmosphere in the first film was very thick, esp. when the little kids go to the Yokai shrine to try to get the monsters to help them-the set pieces were so eerie. &nbsp;To anyone who hasn't seen the first film, think of it as a supernatural Pokemon gallery. All the creatures, such as Kappa, Naginata, and Karakara (sp?) are all authentic creatures of Japanese legend. And damned WEIRD looking...I loved this movie. And Kappa was hilarious. This is one wild, weird, and wonderful movie.

[Kappa the water imp]

I'd advice to get Spook warfare it's realy good , action, good pace and unresting.

[Alien-G]

what does this have to do with the Showa Gamera movies?

[watercyborg 1966]

It's not only the films of Gamera Showa, but Daiei films in general. They DID make more than just Gamera you know.

I myself would like to find a copy of that rare Daiei film &quot;The Silver Haired Witch&quot; From around 1967 or 1968.

[Desu-Goji]

The only Yokai Monster movie i have ever seen is Spook Warfare, it is one of my favorite Kaiju movies to date. Daimon is a pretty cool opponent for the Yokais, and Kappa was a very likeable character to me. One thing that bugged me is this certain Yokai Monster, it looks like a nose with legs...sometimes it looks like something else....but anyways, yeah, it bugs me. http://www.kaijuphile.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif The Yokai im talking about is the weird looking one next to the guy in the middle of the cover, he's on the bottom left of him, cant miss it.

[watercyborg 1966]

Quote[/b] (Zillamon51 @ Dec. 02 2003,00:16)]That brings us to Spook Warfare. *This is easily the best of the trilogy, and one of my favorite monster movies period. *The yokai themselves really take center stage in this one. *They have great personality, and this is their story. *
Amen to that one, my friend http://www.kaijuphile.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

I loved this story the minute I saw Kappa and the others. The scene where the kids visit the Yokai at the temple is so thick with atmosphere-Naginata stretches her head around the corner, the one with the two faces turns and reveals her other face on the back of her head, and the others wait in the mist as the umbrella creature is floating around. What a scene.

For some reason, Daiei was able to catch more atmosphere in their films than any other company at the time. They seemed to also pay great attention to historical detail, in such films as the Daimajin trilogy. Anyhow, Yokai Monsters is a really special series.

[Kappa the water imp]

I love this movie, but I wanna get another, Journey along Tokkaido road looks quite scary.

[Kappa the water imp]

I love Yokai, what over daei films of this genre would you recomend to me?

[MouthForWar]

DAIMON RULES::::

[Raptor]

Ted Johnson reports that Takashi Miike, director of off-the-wall bloodfests such as "Ichi the Killer", "Gozu", and "Audition", has just released a trailer (http://yokai-movie.com/movies/yokai_big.wmv) for "Big Spook War", a remake of "Spook Warfare" (YOKAI DAISENSO), the second of the Yokai Trilogy which came about because of "Destroy All Monsters".

"Kadokawa-Daiei's new 'Spook Warfare' is a remake in name only: it is not a sequel to anything nor do Japan's spooks protect anyone from Daimon but the Snaked-Neck Woman back!

"Toho released DAM and Daiei saw it and figured, 'We can do that!' but they didn't have a repetoir of monsters to draw from... Gamera had killed them all! :p

"However, Daiei did have '100 Ghost Stories' (aka '100 Monsters') that they'd released earlier that year. It had many of the yokai from Japanese mythology. 'Spook Warfare' featured them as now rather heroic, protecting Japan from a Babylonian bloodsucking demon named Daimon who has invaded Izu and possessed a kindly lord's body.

"Daiei followed up the duo with a third film in early 1969, 'Journey Along With Tokaido Road Ghosts' (aka 'Along With Ghosts'). In 2000, Tomoo Haruguchi brought many of the Daiei-style yokai back (who once again,
actually come from mythological tales) in a cameo in 'Sakuya, Slayer of Demons'."

If you like ghosts, giant monsters, demons, robots with chainsaw hands and evil wizard-type guys, look no further!

[Enshohma]

I've only seen one Takashi Miike movie and that was the 2001 dark comedy musical
'The Happiness of the Katakuris' about a family who owns a small mountain inn and have to bury some of their guests who have randomly died on them.

Now Miike is best known for extremely violent shockers like 'Itchi the Killer' and 'The Audition' but has also done more down to earth stuff like the serious period drama 'Sabu' and whimsical light fantasy such as 'The Bird People in China'. 'The Happiness of the Katakuris' is in between with a funny wackiness and some risky or crude gross out, but overall it was a very entertaining movie and I now have full confidence in Miike's handling of this epic fantasy. The poster of 'Yokai: Goblin Warfare' looks very promising.

http://www.twitchfilm.net/pics/bigspookposter.jpg

I was disappointed to find out Daimon wasn't going to be in it, especially since I find him to be the best Daiei villain monster of the Showa era, but the sheer number of other creatures expected to be in it makes up for it. Plus it looks like a Tengu, my favorite of all the yokai will have a significant role to play. Hopefully heroic Kappa the Water Imp will remain in the new version.

For those who prefer their monsters giant sized, the GMK Godzilla looking fellow lurking under Umbrella Monster is known as Otoroshi. Here's some further info on the creature's mythology from MZ forum member Shrine of Gamera:

Otoroshi:
A fearsome-looking and amorphous creature, oftentimes all that is seen of the otoroshi is the pair of eyes and tusks that protrude from the swirling shadows of its mane. It is often said that otoroshi can actually hide its body in the wild and lengthy swirling hair, from which it can emerge at any time. It can blend shadows and make itself seen whenever it wishes.

Some say that otoroshi suspend themselves from torii, the gates at every shrine to separate the human world from the divine world, and will descend upon those who enter the shrine who do not respect the holiness of the place, and devour them. It is also said that they may dwell in the shadows of any shrine or sacred place and guard it from those who do not respect it.

Since it is never known exactly how large an otoroshi's body is, presumably one could devour things of nearly any size.

[Goji Son]

Miike is probably the most visionary director in Japan and after seeing the trailer of Yokai it looks pretty good. It's a big departure from his previous works (then again nothing can come close to the surrealism of Happiness of the Katakuris) and this is rather kiddie oriented but Miike is the type of director with such a diverse resume that you can't really place him anywhere.

The CGI I saw wasn't the highest quality but it still works with the film and the budget (knowing Daiei and Miike, this film was probably done with a next to nothing budget). It looks good for what it is and I would probably buy it if it ever popped up in Best Buy.

Miike should have been the one in charge of GFW in my opinion, Kitamura is basically a doppleganger of Miike just with the major lack of originality and talent. Oh well, can't turn back the clock but dammit I could only dream of what Miike would have done.

[Raptor]

But the Yokai are so strange and different it's great.Do check this facet of Japanese cinema out! :O

To make it a little easier to go ghost hunting, we now have a separate sub-forum just for the spooky, supernatural, etc.

If there are other topics in different forums that need to be HERE, please post!