The residents of a small Japanese town use a shrine to tell ghost stories. To keep the evil spirits at bay, they perform a cleansing ritual after the evening’s tales have come to their conclusion. Trouble brews when a crooked magistrate comes to town with the intention of turning the sacred shrine into a brothel. He also sets his sights on tearing down a nearby tenement, which further distresses the community. Naturally, when the corrupt officials prevent the cleansing ritual from being performed, it awakens a horde of monsters.
Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters is an odd, goofy, but most importantly, fun amalgam of samurai drama, Japanese folklore, and monster movie. While it’s a mostly enjoyable romp, the pacing has a weird rhythm to it. Some of the ghost stories are shown in full, which kind of feels more like an excuse to pad out the running time than anything else. These moments, taken on their own accord, are really entertaining, even if they are more of a goofy detour than anything else.
The monsters are kind of silly too, which only makes them more endearing, although there are noticeably a lot less of them than advertised. (I’d say the final number is closer to two dozen than a hundred.) There’s a fuzzy monster that resembles a one-eyed Muppet, a woman whose snake-like head pops up and down like a Jack-in-the-box, an army of faceless men, and a giant witch. My favorite was the cute umbrella monster who comes to life via chintzy animation and hops around on one foot. The scenes where it befriends a boy with special needs are particularly a lot of fun. (You have to wonder if Spielberg saw this before he made E.T.)
Frankly, the samurai stuff is the weakest aspect. The hero is kind of a lightweight, and the sword fights are few and far between. I also wish the ratio of monster mashing had been higher. That said, when the flick is firing on all cylinders, it’s a real treat.
AKA: The Hundred Ghost Stories. AKA: The Hundred Monsters.
No comments:
Post a Comment