Although I reviewed it on imdb in 2005, only recently has it been released in Japan on a beautiful DVD with a crummy, generic cover that suggests another Ringu flick; my initial review of the film was based on a fortunate VHS sighting.
The film is an extraordinary low budget horror film that was originally released by Shockiku in 1968.
To borrow from my review:
Made a decade before Carpenter's "The Fog", this is clearly that film's inspiration, and what glorious pulp horror it is.
A scar-faced pirate and his cronies gun down a dozen men and several stunningly beautiful women.
One woman grips the trouser leg of her killer as she dies, triggering a series of events that will see watery vengeance visited on the miscreants.
This has a mysterious fog surrounding a quiet coastal town...
... a haunted ship of the dead...
...a local priest who carries a terrible secret...
... and a ghostly, beautiful woman whose appearances strike fear into the hearts of evil men.
It is made with incredible affection for its subject matter and total sincerity. Not once does it wink at its audience or betray its genre origins. No, it is proud to be a pulp horror film.
There is some model work of a ship crossing the ocean shot through clouds that is both incredibly artificial and incredibly beautiful.
Some of the special effects are not exactly believable, but these are key to the film's charm.
The "living skeletons" themselves, though not expertly incorporated into the central narrative, are beautiful.
Highly recommended for true lovers of fantastique films.
Shockiku's transfer of the negative elements is superb.
The black and white photography of Masayuki Kato was always wonderful; on DVD it is luminous.
The cinemascope compositions are quite breathtaking.
The DVD is still in print, but I fear that it will not remain so for too much longer.
Unfortunately, itis director Hiroshi Matsuno's only feature film.
***
I don't know why Living Skeleton was not more widely distributed. It most definitely deserved to be.
Shockiku certainly pushed it to global customers.
The company's April-May "sell sheet' (below), which appeared in the long-defunct Movie/TV Marketing magazine, announced international screenings of the film, as well as screenings for Goke - Body Snatcher From Hell (a favorite of mine also), Genocide, Black Rose, The Day the Sun Rose, and Who Is Gomez?
Shockiku used this impressive art to sell Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell, to the world market.
Although I reviewed it on imdb in 2005, only recently has it been released in Japan on a beautiful DVD with a crummy, generic cover that suggests another Ringu flick; my initial review of the film was based on a fortunate VHS sighting.
To borrow from my review:
A scar-faced pirate and his cronies gun down a dozen men and several stunningly beautiful women.
One woman grips the trouser leg of her killer as she dies, triggering a series of events that will see watery vengeance visited on the miscreants.
This has a mysterious fog surrounding a quiet coastal town...
... a haunted ship of the dead...
...a local priest who carries a terrible secret...
... and a ghostly, beautiful woman whose appearances strike fear into the hearts of evil men.
It is made with incredible affection for its subject matter and total sincerity. Not once does it wink at its audience or betray its genre origins. No, it is proud to be a pulp horror film.
There is some model work of a ship crossing the ocean shot through clouds that is both incredibly artificial and incredibly beautiful.
Some of the special effects are not exactly believable, but these are key to the film's charm.
The "living skeletons" themselves, though not expertly incorporated into the central narrative, are beautiful.
Highly recommended for true lovers of fantastique films.
Shockiku's transfer of the negative elements is superb.
The black and white photography of Masayuki Kato was always wonderful; on DVD it is luminous.
The cinemascope compositions are quite breathtaking.
The DVD is still in print, but I fear that it will not remain so for too much longer.
Unfortunately, it is director Hiroshi Matsuno's only feature film.
