By: Joseph Perry (Twitter/X)

Writer: When It Was Cool

Also Featured At: Gruesome Magazine, The Scariest Things, Horror Fuel, B&S About Movies, The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict, and Diabolique Magazine, and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope and Drive-In Asylum.

Film Reviews: Japanese Ghost Movie Classics The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959), The Bride from Hades (1968), and The Snow Woman (1968) on OVID

OVID TV brings beautiful cinematic versions of three centuries-old classic Japanese ghost stories to its lineups this month with its “Daiei Gothic — Japanese Ghost Stories” theme. The influence of these films from Daei Film, which boast beautiful 4K restorations and are OVID Exclusives, have influenced decades of Asian fright fare films, such as Hong Kong’s A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) to the J-horror “long-haired ghost” renaissance of the 1990s and 2000s that included the Ringu and Ju-On franchises.

The three films all share similar high qualities, so I’ll review those elements up front, and provide official synopses and my final thoughts for each movie below. 

The gorgeous set designs for each film are alone well worth watching the movies for, with breathtaking set decorations filmed in the studio. Take, for instance, the set designs that range from a forest in a blizzard to a claustrophobic cabin with its interior covered in snow in The Snow Woman. Lovely music played on traditional instruments often provides the score, and the cinematography is always captivating. The performances throughout are terrific, from the lead roles to the many supporting roles.

The wonderful 4K restoration make an impressive reason for those familiar with The Ghost of Yotsuya, The Bride from Hades, and The Snow Woman to revisit these tales of the supernatural, and for first-time viewers, the movies serve as gorgeous introductions to Daei Film’s versions of long-revered Japanese spectral stories.

The Ghost Of Yotsuya

Directed by Kenji Misumi        

With Yasuko Nakada, Kazuo Hasegawa, Yoko Uraji

Radiance Films, 1959    

Japan

Official synopsis: In one of Japan’s most frequently told ghost stories, a murdered wife returns in an act of vengeance. This time around, however, she may have her husband there to help. Misumi’s brilliant black-and-white version of this bloody tale puts a new twist on the old story. With some of the best special effects of his early career, Misumi’s The Ghost of Yotsuya is a thrilling and chilling horror film.

Misumi puts some new spins on the original Yotsuya Kaidan story with his feature The Ghost of Yatsuya (AKA Yotsuya Kaidan), crafting the tale into a classic revenge yarn, rather than simply following the traditional ghostly revenge version. The film delivers both the supernatural and swordplay — the latter quite fitting considering Misumi would go on to helm the mind-blowing, inventively violent Lone Wolf and Cub series of wandering samurai films. Screenwriter Fuji Yahiro delivers some unexpected elements to the well-known original tale. 

Oiwa (Nakada) has recently suffered a miscarriage, and finds her samurai husband Iemon Tamiya (Hasegowa), who is looking for work, being tempted by Oume (Uraji) of the Ito clan. With Shakespearean-level intrigue in play, Oume’s relatives and other clan members seek to poison Oiwa so that Iemon and Oume may marry. The spirit here is an onryō, a wrathful ghost that can injure or kill humans, and even cause natural disasters, in its attempts at vengeance.

The Bride From Hades

Directed by Satsuo Yamamoto  

With Kojiro Hongo, Mayumi Ogawa, Miyoko Akaza

Radiance Films, 1968  

Japan

Official synopsis: A chilling Japanese ghost tale with jaw-dropping visuals and incredible atmosphere, this film follows a handsome samurai who falls in love with a mysterious courtesan hiding a terrible secret. Hauntingly beautiful and evocatively shot, few horror films deliver a careful balance of majesty and terror quite like this.

The Bride From Hades (AKA Botan-dôrô and Peony Lantern) is based on a story that has been part of Japanese literature since the 17th century, inspiring plays, films, and television adaptations second in number only to Yotsuya Kaidan. Like several Japanese ghost stories, this one involves romance with a specter. A young man  named Shinzaburo (Hongo) educates the poor children in his village, much to the dismay of his family members, who want him to commit to an arranged marriage and rise in society. After helping a young woman named Otsuyu (Akaza) and her maid Oyone (Otsuka) one night, the pair visit his home, and Shinzaburo and Otsuyu fall in love, beginning a physical romantic relationship. The only problem: Otsuyu is, unbeknownst to Shinzaburo, a spirit.   

Yamamoto does a splendid job at the helm, slowly unraveling the story's mysteries and ramping up the problematic situations for both the living and the ghostly. The focus here is concentrated more on drama and the love story elements than horror, though the depictions of the spectral Otsuyu and Oyone provide a good deal of eeriness.

The Snow Woman

Directed by Tokuzo Tanaka        

With Akira Ishihama, Shiho Fujimura, Machiko Hasegawa

Radiance Films, 1968  

Japan

Official synopsis: In The Snow Woman, directed by Tokuzo Tanaka (Zatoichi), a woodcutter must keep his oath to a vengeful female spirit or pay the ultimate price.

Many different variations of yuki-onna (snow woman) have been told in Japan since at least the 16th century, and Tanaka delivers a rather faithful version to the central themes that most of those diverse adaptations share. Apprentice sculptor Yosaku (Ishihama) and his master teacher take shelter in a cabin during a blizzard. The titular specter (Fujimura) — who it is said kills anyone who sees her — freezes the older man to death but allows Yosaku to live because she declares that he is young and handsome. If, however, he ever tells anyone of what happened that night, she will kill him.

Some time later, a traveling young woman named Yuki — it is immediately obvious to viewers that she is really the Snow Woman, but of course Yosaku has no idea — happens upon the apprentice sculptor, and the two fall in love and even have children. Plenty of intrigue is on tap as a villainous bailiff interferes with Yosaku’s work and has his sights set on making Yuki his concubine. 

Tanaka delivers eye-popping visual sequences, especially during the Snow Woman’s kills, and Fujimura is brilliant in a multilayered role which requires a wide range of emotions. The tension, love story, and supernatural elements are balanced masterfully, making this a fine representation of one of Japan’s fabled folk tale characters.   

The Ghost Of Yotsuya, The Bride From Hades, and The Snow Woman premiere on  OVID on January 24, 2025. For more information, visit https://www.ovid.tv/. 

All images courtesy OVID

Joseph Perry also writes for the websites Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), B&S About Movies (bandsaboutmovies.com), The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict (gbvreviews.com), and Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom). 

If you found this article interesting, consider becoming a Patreon supporter.  That is how When It Was Cool keeps our website and podcasts online, plus you get lots of bonus content including extra podcasts, articles, ebooks, and much more.  Check out our Patreon Page to see what's up!