Yokai and Other Monsters: From Asian Folklore to Cinema | Out of Competition | Online
Japan, 1968 / restored 2021, 79’, Japanese
Directed by: Kuroda Yoshiyuki
Screenplay: Yoshida Tetsuro
Cinematography (color): Imai Hiroshi
Editing: Taniguchi Toshio
Music: Ikeno Sei
Producer: Yamato Yashiro
Cast: Hashimoto Chikara, Kawasaki Akane, Aoyama Yoshihiko, Kanda Takashi, Yukitomo Keiko, Mori Ikuko, Kuroki Gen
Date of First Release in Territory: December 14th, 1968
Seeking to profit from the yokai boom launched by Mizuki Shigeru’s GeGeGe no Kitaro comic in the late 1960s, as well as the success of its Gamera and Daimajin kaiju (monster) series, the Daiei studio released a trilogy of yokai films in 1968 and 1969: Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters, Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare and Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts. All were scripted by Yoshida Tetsuro, whose writing credits included three Daimajin films starring the title giant warrior god that Daiei released in 1966.
The trilogy brings its yokai to life with practical effects, such suitmation – actors in creature suits – used in the era’s kaiju films, together with puppets and animation. But of the three films only the second, Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare, puts yokai front and center. In the other two, they serve as supporting players to the human-centered period-drama action.
Directed by Kuroda Yoshiyuki, who was the special effects director on the three Daimajin films, as well as Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters, Spook Warfare begins with two treasure hunters awakening a sleeping monster in the ancient Babylonian city of Ur. Called Daimon, it looks like a huge bird of prey, wearing a belt from which dangle human skulls. After killing the hunters, it flies to Japan where it kills and drinks the blood of a samurai lord, Isobe Hyogo.
Assuming the forms of its victim, Daimon proceeds to terrorize his household and wreck a Buddhist altar. A kappa – a skinny-but-strong-and-wiry yokai with green scaly skin who lives in the lord’s pond – is disturbed by the commotion and realizes that Isobe has been possessed by a kind of demon.
When the kappa tells other yokai what he has witnessed, they are at first skeptical. But after desperate children come to them saying their parents have been killed by Daimon/Isobe, they change their minds. Using their special powers, the yokai battle the vampiric monster and his retainers.
This may sound rather grim, but the film’s yokai, even ones traditionally considered frightening, have a comic vibe, an indication that Spook Warfare was made more for the family market than hardcore horror fans.
The film also provides an excellent introduction to yokai in all their variety, from the aforementioned kappa, a yokai dreaded for pulling unsuspecting swimmers underwater to their deaths and known for its sumo wrestling skills (the film’s kappa even tussles with Daimon), to the rokurokubi, a female yokai named for her long, extendable neck, which is used in the film to both chill and amuse.
In the third act a yokai army arises to fight Daimon, recalling the folktale of Momotaro or Peach Boy, who gathers a band of animals to conquer oni (demons) on the island of Onigashima. But the yokai of the film are arguably more fun – and helped make Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare a well-remembered hit that more than three decades later inspired a remake: Miike Takashi’s The Great Yokai War (2005), which is also screening at this year’s Udine FEFF.
Kuroda Yoshiyuki
Kuroda Yoshiyuki (1928-2015) appeared in films as a child actor. In 1950 entered the Daiei studio and worked as an assistant director under Ito Daisuke and others. In 1961 made his directorial debut with Tabi wa Oshiki. In 1964 Kuroda directed special effects for the Japan-U.S. co-production Flight from Ashiya and for three Daimajin monster films, all released in 1966. He directed the 1968 fantasy Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare and the follow-up Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts. After Daiei’s bankruptcy in 1971 Kuroda worked mainly in television.
SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
1961 – Tabi wa Oshiki
1968 – Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare
1969 – Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts
1971/72 – Mirrorman
1974 – Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell