Movies
The first of the three Majin films, all made in the same year. I was actually pretty excited to discover a new kaiju franchise, but don't let the poster of this film mislead you. While there's definitely a substantial kaiju side to Majin, it's equal parts jidai geki and yokai fantasy, with the kaiju elements only popping up in the latter parts of the film. The village of the Hanabusa is seized by the cruel Samanosuke clan, who take all the villagers hostage and treat them like slaves. Some of the Hanabusa manage to escape though and take refuge in the nearby woods. These woods also houses Majin, a God revered by the Hanabusa. They pray to him, hoping he will help them defeat the Samanosuke clan. The cinematography is crisp and surprisingly beautiful. It certainly adds to the atmosphere, but can't prevent the first hour from being a bit too slow. It takes just a little too long before the Majin peeps around the corner, luckily the finale makes up for that lost time. Mixed sentiments, but overall it's a pretty fun flick, I'm already looking forward to the sequels.Read all
When Miike made his Yokai film (a remake from another yokai horror, also from 1968), it dragged up some films that had long been forgotten. 100 Monsters is one of them. It's a surprisingly slow and somewhat sluggish samurai affair, in dire need of some actual yokai. Not the yokai fest the title promised. Lord Tajimaya angers some local villagers when he decides to tear down their temple, only to replace it with a brothel. They revolt and try to stop Tajimaya, but he is ruthless and kills whoever gets in his way. The gods aren't too happy that their place of worship is destroyed, and they decide to help out the villagers. The yokai scenes are pretty fun and amusing. The effects are cheesy, but charming. The problem is that there are surprisingly few of these moments, the rest of the film is extremely talkative, which really hurts the pacing. Some memorable moments here and there, but this was hardly what the title promised.Read all