Dorimu hanta Remu III: Yumegakushi, Kubinashi Musha Densetsu (1987)

... aka: ドリームハンター麗夢 Ⅲ 夢隠 首なし武者伝説

... aka: Dream Hunter Rem III

... aka: Dream Hunter Rem III: Hidden Dream - Legend of the Headless Warrior

... aka: Dream Hunter Rem III: Yumegakushi, Kubinashi Musha Densetsu

... aka: Dream Hunter Rem III: Yumekaku, Headless Warrior Legend

Directed by:

Seiji Okuda

The third installment in the OVA franchise, this follows up on DREAM HUNTER REM (1985) and DREAM HUNTER REM II: DREAM DEMON AT SEIBISHINJO HIGH SCHOOL (1986). Our green-haired heroine, Reimu (which means "beautiful dream") Ayanokōji, is a plucky teenage private detective whose calling in life is stamping out evil in whatever form it takes. Her ability to enter dreams to fight various monsters and demons is what separates her from the pack, as do her two special sidekicks: her orange tabby Alpha (who is able to transform into a large wild cat) and her dog Beta (who is able to turn into a wolf). She also can transform herself into a bikini-clad fighter with a special sword and has a little blue convertible with a hidden missile launcher (!) in the trunk. At the request of an old woman named Ouka Bishu, Reimu travels to the tiny, isolated village of Yumegakushi ("Hidden Dream"), where villagers are being regularly slaughtered by a phantom figure on horseback. Thanks to the thievery of a "dreaming doll" from a local shrine, the resurrected ghost of 12th Century feudal warrior Tomomiko has been unleashed and now he's a killer headless horseman.

Reimu learns the history of the village, about the war between the Minamoto and Taira clans and of Tomomiko, who, as part of the desecrated Taira clan, ended up in the village along with some of his subordinates. There, Tomomiko fell in love with a brave village girl named Yumegozen, who was a dead ringer for Reimu aside from the hair color and may even be Reimu in her previous life. However, the love affair was short-lived as Yumegozen was killed during battle when she took an arrow for her lover and Tomomiko's attempt to avenge her death led to him being decapitated by his own men. Soon after his death, Tomomiko's ghost haunted the village until he and his sword (called "Kusangi") were sealed inside a cave and a doll in the image of his beloved was placed at the entrance. Now that the doll has been stolen, Tomomiko rides again.

Mrs. Bishu has very personal reasons for bringing Reimu in to help: She suspects her own son, Tatsuhiko, is the thief. He's been studying parapsychology at a university in Tokyo and had previously talked about his desire to experiment on the doll. She believes he snatched it and then took it back to the city with him. Reimu heads off to Tokyo, leaving her bald monk friend and protector Enko behind so he can investigate the shrine. Mrs. Bishu's weird long-haired grandson, Onii, jumps at the chance to take him. Onii, who was previously shown attempting to slash Alpha and Beta with a razor just cuz and is deemed a "pervert" by his kid sister, gets struck by lightning before they arrive. Enkou takes him inside the shrine and strips off his own clothes to "warm him up." Onii starts licking Enkou's neck and shoulder, the two caress each other and then move in for a kiss before the camera cuts away (!!) So I was really not expecting to see an adult male monk and teen boy getting it on in this one, yet here we are...

In Tokyo, Tatsuhiko and a colleague, Kido Umimaru, have the doll hooked up to some machine that gives computer readouts telling of the doll's great energy. Tatsuhiko turns out more interested in finding out where a rumored Taira treasure is located, while Kido is strictly interested in observing its possible supernatural powers. Reimu and her buddy, Investigator Sakaki (from previous Rem adventures), show up just in time to witness the ghostly horseman demolish the entire lab. A magical flute that was given to Reimu for protection and that once belonged to Yumegozen, saves her life. Tatsuhiko and his colleague aren't so lucky and are trapped in the lab as it burns down.

Back in the village, Mrs. Bishu gets slashed to death with a sword while deep in prayer, but that killing may not be linked to the horseman at all as it doesn't fit his usual pattern. A man completely bandaged up like the Invisible Man and claiming to be Tatsuhiko shows up to return the dreaming doll, but that little bastard Onii destroys it for no real reason. Just how will they stop the menace now that the only thing that was able to keep the spirit at rest is now gone?

This starts out a little confusing (you may want to read up a little bit about the Genpei War for a little context) before it finds its footing. There are predictable reveals about Mrs. Bishu's killer and the man who's impersonating her son (Reimu's only response to the latter is a voice over proclaiming "Wow! He's so handsome!"), but this also gives us a car chase inside a cave, lots of swordfights and lots of animated gore, including stabbings, slashings, decapitations, the top of a head lopped off and someone bisected and their guts spilling out. Better yet, once the horseman's body is reconnected to the head, he grows to gigantic form (and obviously copies the look of Majin), busts through the top of a cave, goes back in time and ends up on a battlefield with fighter jets and tanks all unsuccessfully attempting to take him down!

About 25 minutes in, there's an intermission entitled "Rem's Classroom" where she discusses the structures of computers and dreams and how they relate and then encourages all viewers to do well in school! It open with a quote from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass and closes with a quote from the 13th Century work Heike Monogatari ("Tale of the Heike"), whose author(s) is / are unknown.

This was given its initial Japanese VHS release through King Video and later turned up as part of the 2006 set "Dream Hunter Rem DVD-Box 1" distributed by Only Hearts. The running time is 55 minutes. The series sat dormant for about three and a half years but was revived in 1990 with NEW DREAM HUNTER REM: THE DREAM KNIGHTS, which itself was followed by New Dream Hunter Rem: The Phantasmic Labyrinth (1991). There was also a load of tie-in merchandise released like comics, albums, etc.

★★1/2

Kaidan Oiwa no borei (1961)

... aka: Contes fantastiques de l'ère Edo (Fantastic Tales of the Edo Era)
... aka: Ghost of Oiwa
... aka: Ghost Story of Oiwa's Spirit, The
... aka: Oiwa no burei

Directed by:
Tai Katô

This tale of greed, betrayal and revenge from beyond the grave is based on "Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan;" a kabuki play by Tsuruya Nanboku and one of the most famous and influential Japanese ghost stories ever written. It was so popular, in fact, that it was filmed nearly 20 times (!) between 1912 and 1937 alone and well over 30 times in total; influencing all manner of later stage plays, paintings, anime, movies (including hundreds of recent 'pale, long-haired ghost girl' movies filmed throughout Asia), you name it. Among the most famous of the filmed versions are Nobuo Nakagawa's excellent THE GHOST OF YOTSUYA (1959), produced by Shintoho and usually considered the very best of the adaptations, and Shirô Toyoda's ILLUSION OF BLOOD (1965), which was produced by Toho Studios and is also quite good. Falling right in between those two is this one, which was a Toei Company production. I guess every major Japanese studio just had to film this particular story.

Things center around Tamiya Iemon (Tomisaburô Wakayama) who, as the film opens, is searching for his runaway wife Oiwa (Yoshiko Fujishiro), who fled from him because of his violent temper (and the fact he killed someone). Tamiya's father-in-law also wants nothing to do with him and doesn't want Oiwa, who has been hiding out in his home all this time, to stay married to a known murderer. Having fallen on hard times due to an ongoing war, the father-in-law has little choice but to put his youngest daughter Osode (Hiroko Sakuramachi) to work at a massage parlor / whorehouse. The agreement is that she only works as a masseuse, but naturally the beautiful Osode becomes a coveted piece of tail at the establishment. Already betrothed to Yomoshichi (Sentarô Fushimi), Osode also has an obsessive admirer in Naosuke (Jûshirô Konoe), who is willing to do anything it takes to get his hands on her. In order to get the women they want, Tamiya and Naosuke strike up a bargain. They murder the father-in-law while Yomoshichi is off serving in the war and then take "ownership" over the two sisters; promising to avenge their father's death (which naturally never happens since they are the killers).

A year passes and, not surprisingly, neither of the couples are happy. Osode refuses to have sex with Naosuke and threatens to kill herself with a dagger if he forces himself upon her. Even worse, despite having a baby, Tamiya becomes resentful and abusive toward the miserable and sickly Oiwa. He beats her, berates her, kicks her and even sells the mosquito net protecting their baby for drinking money. Tamiya finally comes to the conclusion he wants rid of her altogether and, rather conveniently, the accommodating and wealthy Ito family move in next door. The Ito daughter Oume falls in love with Tamiya, so they all conspire to kill Oiwa by giving her a poison "potion" that ends up horribly disfiguring her face and leading her to commit suicide. Tamiya then kills thieving helping hand Keiho; justifying the crimes with an adultery alibi. Oiwa and Keiho are nailed together on a board and sunk in the river and Tamiya is then free to marry Oume.

It doesn't take long after the deaths for the ghost of Oiwa to return to settle the score. She appears to Tamiya on the night of his honeymoon and ruins the festivities by causing him to accidentally decapitate his new bride and slash to death the entire Ito family and servants. From there, Tamiya retreats to a mountain sanctuary where he continues to have scary visions of the people he murdered and starts going mad. When Yomoshichi returns from war service, he, Osode and Naosuke (attempting to redeem himself) head to the sanctuary for a final confrontation.

I've already seen several versions of this same story, but this is a solid, well-produced version itself and sticks very close to the source material (unlike some of the others). The actors are all fine, including lead Wakayama, who'd already played this same role in a 1956 version of the story called Yotsuya Kaidan, which was directed by Masaki Mori and is currently not even listed on IMDb. The horror scenes toward the end (including a blood hand reaching up out of a wash basin and a board with the corpses nailed to it rising from the swamp waters) are also well done. The only real qualms I have with this one are that some of the scene transitions and editing cuts are abrupt and the staging of the finale is a bit on the messy side.

★★★