Bôrei kaibyô yashiki (1958)

Bôrei kaibyô yashiki (1958). Bôrei kaibyô yashiki: Directed by Nobuo Nakagawa. With Toshio Hosokawa, Midori Chikuma, Yuriko Ejima, Fujie Satsuki. The descendant of the servant of a cruel and vicious samurai returns to the town where she was born, only to find that a cat who is possessed by the spirits of those murdered by the samurai is trying to kill her.

“The film starts off as a blue and white film. There is a hideous blue tint, making this seem so amateurish. Luckily these scenes only bookend a rather mesmerizing middle. As the story is recounted, we see an absolute arse faced samurai, let his temper get the better of him. This soon leads to murder, which leads to suspicion, followed by rape, and then madness. The story is creepy at times, but when the cat/ghost woman has cat ears pop-up on top of her head, itu0026#39;s rather a funny sight. I never felt threatened by the u0026quot;horroru0026quot; on screen. It seemed at times as though the middle section was made and just wasnu0026#39;t enough for a motion picture, resulting in the poorly assembled present day sequences. The filmu0026#39;s running time works in its favor, but the period piece certainly could have made a longer film, if it bothered to deal with the descent into madness and the horrific acts gradually increasing.”