Yûrei yashiki no kyôfu: Chi wo sû ningyô (1970)

Yûrei yashiki no kyôfu: Chi wo sû ningyô: Directed by Michio Yamamoto. With Kayo Matsuo, Akira Nakao, Atsuo Nakamura, Yukiko Kobayashi. Keiko and her friend are trying to find her missing brother after he disappeared visiting his girlfriend Yuko.

“Very well shot and creepy tale that seems to be somewhat unoriginal at first, albeit, still able to induce a few jumps by me, which is a bit unusual. Gradually, though, this becomes less familiar and whilst occasionally verging on the silly, still enough solid horror element to hold one pretty spellbound in its grip. The most unusual and intermittent soundtrack helped keep up the unease and indeed, ramp up the scares. The final denouement almost degenerates into farce but once again the direction is so sharp that we are still persuaded. Good performances all round and a particularly energetic one by the guy playing the mute servant. Lovely old western style house too, which, I assume is why we had none of the usual shoe removing. Effects were simple yet effective and the dead girl always very good indeed. Well worth catching and I must watch out for the other two in the series.”