Yokai Monsters
Yokai Monsters (妖怪シリーズ) is a trilogy of Japanese horror/fantasy films written by Tetsuro Yoshida and released in the late 1960s. The films were produced by Daiei Film.
There were originally three movies made:
- Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters (March 1968)
- Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare (December 1968)
- Yokai Monsters: Along With Ghosts (March 1969)
While not canonically linked, all three were thematically joined by their inclusion of a group of creatures from Japanese mythology known as yōkai (妖怪, lit. "strange things").
Influence and legacy
Receiving little attention outside Japan, the films are remembered mainly for their special effects, which include a lot of puppetry, suitmation, and even traditional animation. The films made use of yōkai ("strange apparition"), based on traditional illustrations from Japanese folklore. The puppet used for the Kasa-obake in particular has become a recognizable rendering of the creature.
In 2005, Takashi Miike directed a remake of Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare titled The Great Yokai War. The film is not officially related to the Yokai Monsters trilogy, but draws a lot of its influence from similar sources, notably the legend of Momotarō and Mizuki Shigeru's GeGeGe no Kitarō series of the same name.[1] Mizuki himself appears in this version, though neither the remake nor the original films make use of his yōkai creations, preferring instead to feature more traditional creatures.
References
- Papp, Zilia (2009). "Monsters at War: The Great Yōkai Wars, 1968-2005". Mechademia. 4 (War/Time): 225–239. JSTOR 41510938.
External links
- One Hundred Monsters at Allmovie.com
- Spook Warfare at Allmovie.com
- Along With Ghosts at Allmovie.com
- Yokai Monsters: One Hundred Monsters at the Internet Movie Database
- Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare at the Internet Movie Database
- Yokai Monsters: Along With Ghosts at the Internet Movie Database