The Demon of Mt OE (1960) is a movie that I recently watched on a random streaming service. The storyline follows a village in the mountains plagued by a shape shifting demon that turns into various animals and creatures. A team of samurai work together to try and save the local villagers from the demon.
This movie is directed by Tokuzô Tanaka (Zatoichi the Fugitive) and stars Kazuo Hasegawa (Gate of Hell), Raizô Ichikawa (Ninja, a Bad of Assassins), Kôjirô Hongô (Satan's Sword), Ryûzô Shimada (The Tale of Zatoichi) and Jun Tazaki (Ran).
This is a fun Japanese samurai horror movie. The settings and samurai fights are excellent. The mountain backdrops are beautiful and the fight scenes have a nice array of swords, spears and axes choreography. The horror elements are dated and the papier-mâché animals/creatures made me laugh. The flying heads were awesome and Tanaka did a great job using lighting and shadows to create intensity. The storyline is pretty straightforward but the fight and action scenes are entertaining and carry the movie.
Overall, this is a fun Japanese samurai/horror mashup that's worth watching once. I'd score this a 6/10 and recommend it if you're looking for something different.
