Arrow Video Blu-ray Synopsis: From the makers of Daimajin comes a trilogy of terror ripped from the pages of Japanese folklore, with ghosts and monsters from ancient myths and legends brought to life through stunning special effects. In the first film in the trilogy, 100 Monsters, a greedy slumlord's attempts to forcefully evict his tenants invite the wrath of the titular spirits when a cleansing ritual is botched, with terrifying results. (79 Mins)

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Views: The first of three movies in the Yokai Monsters Trilogy tells the tale of a rich landowner who threatens to tear down a popular local shrine, as well as peoples homes, in order to build a new brothel. While he avoids the angry locals, he moves forward with a traditional ceremony during which those in attendance share stories of yokai, each telling chilling tales of their encounters with long-necked women, hopping umbrella's with long tongues, and more. But these tales soon manage to conjure up an evil spirit who scares many of the landlord's men to death, or drives them insane. As hard as he tries, the landlord uses the purification ceremony to ward off the spirits!

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While it didn't ever amaze me, 100 Monsters still proved to be an entertaining and very well-made film. I must admit that, given the year it was made, it was also quite an achievement in the tokusatsu genre for all involved, offering up some impressive and inventive SFX for its time. While quite dark in tone, 100 Monsters offers up more of a traditional-style story with less focus on the titular monsters than I had hoped for. The film was directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda, a popular name at the Daiei Film Studios who was also behind a number of the fantastic Zatoichi (1962) movies, as well as the first Daimajin (1966) film and many more. Yasuda would return to co-direct the third film, Along With Ghosts, the following year with Yoshiyuki Kuroda who directed part 2. The highly impressive FX work was handled by the great Keizo Murase who worked his magic on many of the classic Godzilla movies, Mothra, Gamera, Daimajin, Ultraman, and Shaw Brothers classics, The Snake Prince (1976) and Mighty Peking Man (1977) – as well as Chow Yun Fat's Seventh Curse (1986) and City War (1988). One thing that really stood out to me with 100 Monsters (and its sequels) was the gorgeous cinematography on offer. This was down to Yasukazu Takemura, a cinematographer who began shooting film in the early 1930s, going on to capture almost 60 films with 100 Monsters being his last.

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It would be fair to say that 100 Monsters plays more like a classic Samurai drama than a horror, with the addition of ghosts and monsters to add that touch of fantasy to it all. But I still enjoyed it for the most part and enjoyed the break from that fast-paced, finely tuned, polished productions of today. I especially enjoyed the use of animation and many other imaginative sequences that injected a bit of life into the film when most needed – mixing said animation with puppets, costumes, practical effects, and more. Released on Blu-ray by Arrow Video as part of their Yokai Monsters box-set, 100 Monsters has never looked better and is probably the best of the trilogy for many reasons...

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Overall: Beautifully shot and very creative, Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters makes for a fun watch and is a great piece of classic Japanese cinema!

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Blu-ray Extras: Hiding In Plain Sight: Yokai Documentary (41 Mins), Interviews with Matt Alt, Zack Davisson, Kim Newman, Lynda E. Rucker, and Hiroko Yoda. Trailers, Photo Gallery

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Watch my unboxing video of this Arrow Video release HERE

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Get your copy HERE