My Japan collection

You know that wonderful curious feeling you got as a child when watching something fantasy-related like The Harry Potter movies, The Neverending Story or E.T for example? This movie series captured it greatly too! "100 Monsters" is the first of The Yokai Monster Series, and in my opinion the best one. It has a very interesting story based on real rituals and folkore tales of the Yokai, and it takes place in the samurai times, with the sets looking like they actually went back in time to film this. It combines all sorts of sfx into it, with the sfx for example being practical effects, green screening and even literal handmade animation to it, with all of these sfx being very ahead of their time. The costumes are really impressive and amazing, with the movie having a lot of different Yokai to look and wonder at, ensuring that there is no dull moment in the movie as they constantly get their own horror sequences in the movie. It was a very interesting movie that I don't think I could ever get tired of. 10/10.

The 2nd part of the Yokai Monster Series with definitely one of the best movie names I've heard, "Spook Warfare". Spook Warfare brings an interesting twist into the Yokai universe, with the movie introducing a monster antagonist, who faces off with a group of Yokai on multiple occasions, making it similar to Kaiju movies with its "monster vs monster" format. This was also a really interesting watch, with the fights being well made, story being intriguing, and the sfx and costumes being the best part again. It was also nice to see the Yokai be more in a protagonist role in this one. 9/10.

The 3rd part of The Yokai Monster Series, and my 2nd favorite, "Along With Ghosts". Along With Ghosts takes a step back to the format of the first movie 100 Monsters, with the movie having samurais facing off against the local spirits and w-what, OTHER SAMURAI? Yes, this movie also has its own little twist in the series, with the movie being more heavily focused on the samurais, and having the yokai appear every now and then. This in the end was a great twist, as it made the yokai be very mysterious and eerie in this one, and with their lesser appearances having a bigger impact on their scenes. The samurai parts of the story are also very, very interesting and enjoyable, with it having lots of likeable characters, and an intriguing story that'll keep you interested while you wait for the yokai to pop up. Fun fact, this movie was directed by both the director of 100 Monsters (1st Yokai movie) AND Spook Warfare (2nd Yokai Movie) and they really did an amazing job together, it has the action of Spook Warfare, and the horror sequences of 100 Monsters. Love it. 9.5/10.

The most different and unique movie in The Yokai Monster Series, made by one of the most well known and appreciated japanese directors, Takashi Miike! "The Great Yokai War" is his take on the yokai universe, with it loosely being based on the 2nd part of the series, "Spook Warfare". This movie moves away from the samurai times, and takes the yokai to the modern world, which makes the movie bring a lot of interesting twists and takes on the yokai. The yokai team up with the "chosen one", a young boy who was chosen to be a protector of people in a festival, and they face off against a group of rogue yokai and their robots, who are focused on taking over the world. This movie is heavily cgi-based (talking Spy Kids level on some scenes), which makes it not have a similar charm to it as the original trilogy had, but it gives this movie its very own charm! The movie also moves away from the horror, as it's clearly made to be a movie the whole family can enjoy. An interesting choice by Miike, who is known to have very bloody movies. Still with its differences, I found this movie to be enjoyable, as it is a movie that just can't be imitated, and still had its amazing yokai costumes and characters! It was a very fun watch. 8/10.

The lovely "The Snake Girl and The Silver Haired Witch!". This movie gives you a very unique and dreamlike experience, with its artsy and atmospheric horror sequences complimented with great costumes and props! It is based on a manga made by one of the greatest (and one of my favorites) KAZUO UMEZU, who even makes a cool cameo appearance in this. The story is very interesting and mysterious, and it keeps you constantly pondering on what's going on, and what's going to happen. It's about a girl who starts experiencing and seeing weird things after moving back to her parent's place, that just had a mysterious murder occur. As a Giallo fan, I absolutely loved the artsiness and the murder mystery aspects that this movie brought, and as an enjoyer of surrealistic and body horror, I of course enjoyed this movie's story and horror sequences too! Would've loved to see more of those horror sequences! 8.5/10.

"The Vampire Doll" is the first and in my opinion the best part of the japanese vampire movie series, The Bloodthirsty Trilogy. The main character goes to look for her brother after he goes missing while visiting his girlfriend, and it turns out she with the viewers will be dived into a deeper mystery than it sounds. This movie was very interesting, atmospheric and beautifully shot in beautiful settings, with the vampire aspects being the most unique I've seen so far in a good way. The vampire character in this is one of my favorite depictions of a vampire, as it's very different from what you usually see. The story with its mystery gets more and more interesting the further the movie goes, with the movie having a nice ending. Slight pacing issues here and there, and could've had more blood or vampire scenes, but still a really good movie! 8.5/10.

"Lake of Dracula" is the second movie in The Bloodthirsty Trilogy, which brings a big step more towards the usual vampire stuff that you see in movies. It tells about a mysterious casket that appears near a lake, which will soon also turn into a location where bodies will be found, bodies that died in mysterious ways. Now as a plot that sounds very interesting and metal, but the movie turns out to be tamer than it sounds, and almost all the mystery (except one thing) will be predictable from a vampire movie. It also faced some pacing issues with the movie being less than 90 minutes but feeling much longer, but despite all these the movie still ended up being a good watch. The vampire is more traditional but still has its Bloodthirsty Trilogy touch, the setting makes the movie beautiful and atmospheric, and the ending of the movie was really great! 7/10.

"Evil of Dracula" is the third and final part of The Bloodthirsty Trilogy, with the movie taking place this time in a public location, rather than a hidden area or a building. The movie tells about a new teacher who starts working at a school...RAN BY A VAMPIRE? A very interesting plot with definitely the best setting out of the three in this trilogy, combined with the beautiful atmosphericness and the unique Bloodthirsty Trilogy touches in the mystery make this movie another great watch. This movie even featured probably the most grimiest scene/s in the whole trilogy, which was really nice and different to see. Like the first one, slight pacing issues here and there, but another great watch! 8/10.

"Yakuza Law" is definitely one of my favorite japanese movies ever, top 5 material at least. It is so full of action, blood, grime and drama that it calls for a fun splattery watch! I like to describe it as "Kill Bill if it was made in the 60s" haha. It follows a familiar format of Teruo Ishii's, with the movie basically being three stories put into one movie, which is a really unique and interesting concept executed perfectly in this one, as each story takes place in a different time period. This movie tells about the Yakuza, and how they've changed and acted throughout the years, going from samurai times to modern times, with all three of these stories being as action-packed and blood splattering as possible. It is simply just a very grimy, enjoyable masterpiece. 10/10.

"Horrors of Malformed Men" is an odd experience, that's hard to describe with words. It's about a prisoner, who adopts the identity of his doppelganger, and soon finds himself on his way to a mysteriously and distantly familiar island owned by an evil man who malforms people. The story with its really, REALLY deep mystery gets very interesting, and gets you pondering, but things get so obscure once the main character gets to the island, it gets really odd especially with the main antagonist. It has some metal scenes, but I was hoping to see even more malformed people, or super malformed people, or the malforming take place, but what the movie has is great too! 7/10.

If there's something Teruo Ishii does the best, it's the splatter and samurai fights. "Blind Woman's Curse" features those strengths of his, combined with a very interesting story, beautiful atmosphere and amazing characters. This movie is about a blind woman on a journey of vengeance, chasing after the woman who blinded her, a female yakuza that's part of a tattooed clan. This movie is full of beautiful and badass scenes and fights, with a good share of splatter and grime, the unique curse aspect is also very well executed in this. The ending was really great too! Even with very small pacing issues here and there, and an obscure character (you'll know) this movie was still a great watch! 8.5/10.

I would've never got this movie or the Shogun's Joy of Torture due to their nasty erotic aspects, but I heard that these movies have some of the most ahead of its time gore and splatter scenes, and I had to see what they're all about. This is "Inferno of Torture", a Teruo Ishii classic with one of the most metal movie names ever. This movie is about two tattoo artists who start competing for a title by using imprisoned Geishas as their canvases. The movie was beautifully shot, and had actually really brutal scenes in it which were done well, and were ahead of their time, but it's the nasty erotic aspects in this that I did not enjoy. I was really disturbed by the dirty scenes of this movie, and this movie had a lot of those. I don't easily get disturbed but both this and Joy of Torture made me uncomfortable. 6/10.

Another Teruo Ishii classic that follows his three-story format. First story in this movie had a twisted drama in it, that made things tense and interesting, and it introduces the storyteller of all these tales well, it was very tame compared to what I expected what I was relieved about. Second story somehow gets even more twisted with a very fucked in the nogging main character, and the splatter with very impressive sfx has more spotlight in it, but what really damaged the grade I gave was the third tale. The third story is so far the most disturbing shit I've ever seen, and I don't get disturbed easily, I had to literally almost mute the movie and even struggled to watch. It was disturbing in a bad sense. Now other than the tales, the directing was good, settings were beautiful, splatter sfx were ahead of their time and horrifying, but it really just took damage from the third tale and from some of the gross scenes that I expected this movie to have. 5/10.