50's Asian Horror Part One

THE GHOST CAT OF OUMA CROSSING

(1954)

Dir - Bin Katô

Overall: MEH

The 1950's were a certifiable heyday for horror films of the "ghost cat" variety in Japan; movies that had a period setting and were either directly based on kaidan stories and legends or merely heavily infused with such motifs.  Though the feline element is thrown in more as an afterthought, The Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing, (Kaibyô ômagatsuji), is still a textbook example of low-budget, supernatural genre cinema from the country's post war era which were in sharp contrast to Toho's radiation-infused, giant monster spectacles that were significantly popular at the time.  Director Bin Katô had about a decade and a half long career and churned out a couple of such films, this one being the earliest that is easily attainable for viewing.  The structure is unfortunately sluggish though as the running time is heavily padded with manipulative plotting amongst a mostly female kabuki troupe, with nothing evoking any spooky atmosphere arriving until the last twenty-odd minutes.  Once it does, it is the usual payoff of the innocent spectre back for revenge, appearing everywhere that her evildoers turn their heads which in turn forces them to immediately spasm wildly out of control in a farcical manner.

 

GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN

(1955)

Dir - Motoyoshi Oda

Overall: MEH

 

Rushed into production mere weeks after the success of 1954's Godzilla, Godzilla Raids Again, (Gojira no Gyakushū, Godzilla's Counterattack), is an exceptionally unexceptional sequel.  Initial director Ishirō Honda was busy filming the romantic drama Lovetide which forced producer Tomoyuki Tanaka to bring in B-movie expert Motoyoshi Oda to be behind the lens, striking while the iron was hot on the previous film's momentum.  As is often the case with breakout genre movies, all personnel involved had no plans to turn this property into an ongoing series so their first attempt at establishing a franchise has very little to offer under the circumstances.  While it deserves some points for not being a complete carbon copy of the first film by introducing another prehistoric monster for Godzilla to throw-down with in the first half, it still revolves around characters that you have zero interest in filling up screen time with banal small talk and in conference room meetings with military people.  The effects work is as charmingly dated as ever, but the use of puppets in the Anguirus vs Godzilla fist-fight is particularly appalling; a sequence that is difficult to imagine causing anything besides unintended hysterics from even the less jaded audience of the time period.

 

THE WOMAN FROM THE SEA

(1959)

Dir - Koreyoshi Kurahara

Overall: MEH

Forgettable if harmlessly done, The Woman from the Sea, (Kaitei kara kita onna), is a lesser known genre film by director Koreyoshi Kurahara and Japan's oldest production studio Nikkatsu; a genre film that is played out as a romantic fable of the tragic variety.  In sharp contrast to the country's mammoth amount of kaiju and/or ghost cat thrillers, this one only slightly alludes to otherworldly elements as a beautiful, scantily clad lady emerges from the ocean, falls in love with a vacationing young man, and has several harpoon-wielding locals convinced that she is some sort of immortal shark creature that has lured many a person to their watery grave.  On screen, the alluring Hisako Tsukuba's only crime seems to be not liking it when horny men eye-hump her, which casts doubt as to whether or not her fate was deserved or merely due to the superstitious ravings of everyone else who does not catch her fancy.  Unfortunately, the film is dull from front to back with hardly any exciting set pieces and just as minimal an amount of character development between the two love-struck leads.  It can scarcely be called a horror movie even by the flimsiest of psychological means and what it teases at is not nearly enough to captivate.