Tôkaidô obake dôchû

The closing instalment of the YOKAI MONSTERS trilogy is a very different beast, much more understated and subtle than the previous movies and more horror than fantasy. The monsters themselves are little seen here apart from in a couple of scare scenes but the rest is an engaging little story of criminal behaviour, treachery, and heroism. Appealing child actors, lots of action and movement and attention to detail make this a fair watch.

Unlike Daiei Film's previous two 'yôkai' films (Yôkai hyaku monogatari (1968) and Yôkai daisensô (1968)), the monsters/ghosts/apparitions are not the central characters in this tale. Instead, we get a reasonably interesting samurai/gangster story about a crime boss trying to recover an incriminating document that was found by a little girl who is trying to find the father who abandoned her when she was born. The boss' henchmen kill an old man at prayer (the girl's grandfather), a desecration that arouses anger in the spirit world. The cursed gang-members are tormented by the yôkai as well as pursued by a rival gangster whose boss was murdered at the shrine. The entire supernatural subtext seems to be an afterthought and certainly is not necessary to the actual story. Lacking the permeating hallucinatory imagery of the first two 'yôkai' films, "Along with Ghosts" (Tôkaidô obake dôchû), while watchable, is not nearly as original or entertaining.

I found this to be the weakest in the trilogy because I found this to be pretty plain. The story isn't that impressive with criminals trying to track down a little girl who has some kind of documents that want while she is trying to find her missing father. It gets pretty repetitive with them catching up with her and her getting away from them. I didn't find the plot all that interesting and is predictable on who the girl real father is. As for the yokai, they barely appear in the movie at all, and their actions happen pretty quickly to leave an impact. Also, a lot of the actions aren't suspenseful or intense.

The movie also isn't bizarre or interesting compared to the previous movies because the yokai barely appears, and most of the weird stuff isn't that memorable.

Along with Ghosts is the weakest in the trilogy that I didn't enjoy at all, and the first two movies are more enjoyable than this one.

If I had to rank this odd little Yokai Monsters trilogy, I'd say the second instalment, Spook Warfare, was the best, followed by this one, followed by the still decent 100 Monsters.

This third one makes me wonder if it's even a trilogy, because the monsters here are definitely different than the ones from the first two, but oh well. While they're cool, they're also not in it a lot- maybe even less than the first one.

Thankfully, the rest of the movie - all the non-supernatural stuff - is pretty decent. Nothing great, but a moderately interesting storyline that feels like a historical/samurai drama with a few brief ghost appearances as icing.

It's pretty serviceable, mostly enjoyable stuff, but it's definitely not great. That being said, and to avoid being too negative, it is more than worth watching if you enjoyed the first two in any capacity.

Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts (1969) is a Japanese Samurai Horror picture that I recently watched on Shudder. The storyline follows an old man who protects ancient lands filled with spirits. When a group of hoodlums kill the old man the spirits return to reality for revenge.

This movie is codirected by Yoshiyuki Kuroda (Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell) and Kimiyoshi Yasuda (Zatoichi and the One Armed Swordsman) and stars Kôjirô Hongô (Satan's Swords), Bokuzen Hidari (Seven Samurai), Saburô Date (Bullet Train) and Ryûtarô Gomi (Harakiri).

This movie is outstanding and easily the best of the trilogy. The attire, settings, props and depiction of the era were all perfect. The haunting scenes are very well done with good use of smoke machines and eerie background music. The masks and makeup used are very well done. The fight scene are excellent and entertaining - both the monsters vs humans and the samurai sword fights. The faceless children were a nice touch and I loved the twist at the end.

Overall, this is an underrated addition to the horror genre and a trilogy absolutely worth your time. I would score this picture an 8.5/10 and strongly recommend it.