Yokai 100 monsters looks like a harmless children’s movie from a foreign land on the outside, but if you tear out it’s guts and hollow the body you’ll be ripping out samurais, monsters, gangsters, and more! It’s the age old story of rich v.s. poor as a faction buys out sacred land to build a geisha bordello, evil samurai office towers, and other crime influenced businesses. In celebration of the final cut throat deal the members of the syndicate is entertained by a traditional telling of 100 stories. To seal the spirits in story a candle must be put out after each story ends and a talisman given to each listener in attendance after all candles are extinguished. This exit is interrupted by an un-mastered samurai who has invaded to defend the lower class in town leaving the seal unfinished opening a gateway for the monsters. Soon marionettes and rubber suits invade causing death to the deserving, while driving the rest insane. The monsters were much less cheesy than the display on the DVD cover as they are mostly filmed in dark hazy settings and come in such huge numbers your eyes will be jumping all over the screen from one to the next. Yokai 100 Monsters is a bizarre sometimes bloody treat who’s quality truly surprised the Hell out of me. The film was made in 1968 and was followed by what looks like 2 sequels and a retelling by Takashi Miike that I really must see!
