AKA: Shiro Hebi Komachi / White Snake Woman / 白蛇小町
YEAR: 1958 COUNTRY: Japan LANGUAGE: Japanese
GENRE: HORROR | GHOST | YOKAI
DIRECTOR: Mitsuo Hirotsu (弘津三男) WRITER: Kinzou Tsuchiya (土屋欣三)
MUSIC: Takeo Watanabe (渡辺岳夫) CAST: Shouji Umewaka (梅若正二) | Tamao Nakamura (中村玉緒) | Toshio Chiba (千葉敏郎) | Sentarou Izumi (和泉千太郎) | Rumiko Komachi (小町瑠美子) | Ikuko Mouri (毛利郁子) - the snake woman!
COLOR: Black and White
RELATED LINKS: Z-GRADE™ Warehouse of Unwanted
This is an obscure Daiei JAPANESE YOKAI SNAKE WOMAN story gem starring glamour girl and snake actress IKUKO MOURI. This is a rare Japanese black and white YOKAI film from 1958. I grew up watching YOKAI movies every summer with my father to try and forget about the hot and sticky weather in Japan and get some good chills at night. So, the YOKAI style film has always been one of my favorite genres, especially in the summertime :)
We recently discovered this movie "HAKUJA KOMACHI" called "SHIRO HEBI KOMACHI" in Japanese, and I was really amazed to see how the movie was shot very artistically! There are so many scenes with good cinematography, not unlike a modern low budget art film. Since the visuals were so good, I almost forget that I was watching a black and white presentation. I could see the colors.
It's a story of love denied, as a deceased woman comes back as a snake woman (ghost) to haunt her spurned true love and his family. A very entertaining vintage horror film! If you are interested in reading more about it, please visit here!
COMMENTS (1)
Great review and pics!! I think you outdid my post! It's cool that you have the cast listed in kanji as well as English. Great detail. My favorite part of your post is your early childhood memory of watching yokai/ghost movies in the summer with your father...so you would get the chills! I hope you can post more vintage Japanese horror gems on your blog!
Posted by Francis | August 15, 2006 11:53 AM