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. The second film, Spook Warfare, tells the tale of an evil Babylonian vampire inadvertently awoken by treasure hunters, and a brave samurai that teams with the yokai to defeat the bloodthirsty demon. (79 Mins)

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Views: The second film of the Yokai Monsters Trilogy is more popularly known as The Great Yokai War – the inspiration behind Takashi Miike's reboot over 30 years later – and tells the story about an evil Babylonian vampire that arrives in Japan to cause havoc. But once found-out by a nosy water spirit, the blood sucker finds himself up against a lone samurai and an army of yokai who will do everything in their power to get rid of him!

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While it may be much bigger in production value, and offers up a lot more monster fun than it's other two chapters, I actually found myself getting a little distracted when watching Spook Warfare for the first time. That said, there was still plenty of moments to enjoy such as the stunning desert opening that reveals two treasure hunters waking the Babylonian vampire. It's a highly impressive set-piece and looked even more stunning in this 4K restoration, released on Blu-ray by Arrow Video as part of their Yokai Monsters box-set. It was great to see many of the yokai return from 100 Monsters, but I just felt that Spook Warfare lacked a bit of energy for the most part - offering a different style of horror in comparison to its other films with a bit more gore than before. This time, the film was directed by Yoshiyuki Kuroda in what would only be his second feature, which is possibly why I found it to be a bit less impressive to some degree. Regardless, Kuroda went on to co-direct part 3 with Kimiyoshi Yasuda and helmed popular television shows such as Mirrorman (1971), Zatoichi Monogatari (1974), Monkey (1978), Shadow Warriors (1980), and a chapter of the Lone Wolf & Cub film series with White Heaven In Hell (1974). Tetsuro Yoshida returns as the writer of the screenplay, penning all three movies in fact as well as the Daimajin Trilogy (1966), a couple of Zatoichi features, and more.

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The gorgeous visuals were captured by Hiroshi Imai, a cinematographer who made his debut in the early 1950s. Imai would go onto shoot almost 60 features including titles such as The Young Lord (1955), Enchanted Princess (1959), Satan's Sword (1960), Shinobi No Mono 3: Resurrection (1963), Zatoichi & The Doomed Man (1965), The Invisible Swordsman (1970), and the third chapter of this yokai trilogy. It was also interesting to see that FX wizard Toru Suzuki assisted with the SFX work, going on to work on many classics such as movies with Godzilla, Gamera, and Mothra, as well as the Journey To The West (1986) television show, and the underrated sci-fi flick, The Returner (2002), starring Takeshi Kaneshiro. While the more modern adaptation from Takashi Miike proves to be a much more entertaining ride, Spook Warfare still makes for a fun watch – offering up more innovative and impressive filming techniques that helped give the classics of Japanese cinema the longevity they still have today...

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Overall: With plenty going-on and lots of yokai to enjoy, Yokai Monsters 2: Spook Warfare is a fun classic of Japanese cinema, albeit with a few flaws throughout!

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Blu-ray Extras: 4K Restoration, 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