Tamiya is a samurai who wants to marry Iwa, and kills her father (and several of his men) to do so. Naosuke, a friend of Tamiya, witnesses the murder and helps him dispose of the bodies. Tamiya decides to poison Iwa and her admirer, but he gets a lot more than he asks for.
There are many classic Japanese ghost films, but few make it overseas. The most famous are 'Ugetsu', 'Kwaidan' and 'Kuroneko', which are all brilliant films, but none of them exceed creepy. That is where 'The Ghost of Yotsuya' excels. The final half of the film is constantly shocking, and has plenty of startling scares. Similar in this aspect to Nakagawa's next film 'Jigoku', which has a dull first 2/3rds, and a terrifying finale based in hell. Both these films have the scariest scenes I have seen in pre-1960 classic cinema (except for 'Onibaba'), which is a huge achievement in itself.
One of the problems with 'Jigoku' was that the film was excruciatingly boring from the beginning until the trip to hell. The film did a poor job of character introduction and it didn't have any interesting scenes in it whatsoever. 'The Ghost of Yotsuya' doesn't have this problem and is thrilling from the first scene, although shit does get real the closer it gets towards the end.
All Japanese ghost films have the same major problem, that is the characters are nasty evil characters. It feels great when they finally do get their comeuppance, but in the meantime they make the film tough to like. The problem would be bigger in other genres, but in these films the stunning colourful visuals and the continual strange events seem to counter the problem pretty well. 'Ghosts of Yotsuya' never stops to take a breath, with exciting events happening throughout its short runtime. Nakagawa really does take you on a dark and horrifying journey.
TO CONCLUDE
An exhilarating horror film from the first scene. Unknown and absolutely terrifying.
SCORE
78
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