Yokai Monsters: One Hundred Monsters
| Yokai Monsters: One Hundred Monsters | |
|---|---|
 Front cover of the 2003 ADV Films DVD release | |
| Directed by | Kimiyoshi Yasuda |
| Produced by | Yamato Yashiro |
| Screenplay by | Tetsurô Yoshida |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Michiaki Watanabe (as Chemei Watanabe) |
| Cinematography | Yasukazu Takemura |
| Edited by | Kanji Suganuma |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Daiei International Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 1 hr 20 min (80 min) |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Yokai Monsters: One Hundred Monsters (Japanese: 妖怪百物語 Hepburn: Yōkai Hyaku Monogatari, lit. One Hundred Yōkai Tales) is a Japanese horror/fantasy film directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda. It is the first in a trilogy of films produced in the late 1960s, which focus around Japanese monsters known collectively as yōkai.
The series consists of three films, all released between the years 1968-1969:
- Yokai Monsters: One Hundred Monsters (20 March 1968)
- Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare (December 1968)
- Yokai Monsters: Along With Ghosts (March 1969)
The films, produced by Daiei Film, all make extensive use of practical special effects known as tokusatsu. Rather than using stop motion, the films largely made use of actors in costumes and puppetry. In some scenes, there are even examples of traditional animation.
Notably darker in tone than its more famous sequel, Yokai Monsters: One Hundred Monsters focuses much more on a traditional story about samurai than it does on its titular monsters.[1] While the monsters do appear throughout the film, they are relegated to antagonistic spook roles, more akin to their appearances in traditional Kaidan.
Influence and legacy
Though perhaps not as well remembered as its sequel, Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare, the film was nonetheless notable for its production features. Many of the props and costumes used here were also featured in the more famous sequel and are remembered as some of the more faithful realisations of classic yōkai renderings. In particular, the puppet used to represent the Kasa-Obake in both films has become one of the most recognised images of yōkai.
Notes
References
External links
- Yokai Monsters: One Hundred Monsters at the Internet Movie Database
- Yokai Monsters: One Hundred Monsters at Allmovie.com