Otsuyu: Kaidan botan-dôrô

There is an over abundance of horror films, but only a handful will provide real solid chills. At the top of the list would be, The Exorcist(1973) and Deep Red(Italian, 1976). The Haunted Lantern, which predates the unjustly more famous Ringu by a year, is another.This excellent atmospheric ghost story would probably receive a PG-13 rating with its supply of blood and brief partial nudity. And despite a rape scene which has no nudity, overall it should not be considered a violent film. The DVD edition of this overlooked film includes the option of listening to it in it's original Japanese(preferred) or dubbed in English. While the cast and crew may not be well known to American audiences, this movie's composer, Kotaro Nakagawa(who's film score here is nothing short of phenomenal), however, does have an impressive list of anime to his credit. Some of his work includes, Zoids Genesis; Planet-ES; Geobreeders; S-Cry-Ed; and Twin Princess of Wonder Planet. So if you're a horror fan, and in particular like stylized movies in the same vain as those put out by the Hammer studios, The Haunted Lantern is highly recommended.

If you're a fan of Kobayashi's masterpiece of the supernatural, "Kwaidan", then this film will seem very familiar in its look and pacing, even to portions of the score. Speaking of which, it may appear strange that "Solveig's Song", a piece by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, opens a movie set in Edo period Japan, and returns as a theme throughout the soundtrack, but read the lyrics. Then you'll understand.

"The Haunted Lantern" is based on a classic Japanese ghost story, "The Peony Lantern", which, like the tales in "Kwaidan", was also translated by Lafcadio Hearn. So there's another parallel to the Kobayashi film. However, there's a bit more gore here than "Kwaidan" and the effects are flashier. Although I can't rate this quite as highly as its predecessor, it's well worth watching, being by turns eerie and gruesome and heart-breakingly tragic.