O Esqueleto Vivo

This low-budget horror movie very much benefits from the typically excellent craftsmanship expended even on such low-end efforts by major studios in Japan at the time. I can't concur with others that it reminded me at all of "The Fog," apart from liekwise involving ghostly vengeance for death at sea. The script is a bit confused, particularly once we get towards the end, when in addition to the supernatural element it turns out there's a sort of mad-scientist thing going on--making for a narrative agenda rather sillier and more overloaded than this movie can pull off.

Still, that doesn't matter so much, because the atmospherics are very effective in their widescreen B&W handsomeness, despite the fairly cheap FX. (Particularly the kind of tank miniatures more familiar from Godzilla-type films, with "stormy seas" clearly not much more than bathtub splashing in slo-mo.) The performances are decent enough, and while the story isn't terribly scary, there's a nice mood of creeping dread--you can almost feel the ocean air permeating inland, bringing ghosts and violent death with it.

A gang of pirates commandeer a ship and kill everyone on board. Three years later in a seaside village, a Catholic priest (Masumi Okada) has offered shelter to Saeko (Kikko Matsuoka) as her twin sister, Yoriko (also Matsuoka) has disappeared with her new husband at sea.

Professor Wheeler Winston Dixon referred to the Criterion Collection's eclipse set, calling the film "the most accomplished and sophisticated of the quartet in terms of its visual structure and narrative" and along with 'Genocide', "easily the most interesting entries".

Indeed, the use of shadows and tints reminds me of some of Jacques Tourneur's best work, and accompanied by the music which seems quite atypical of Japanese film, this stands out as quite a one-of-a-kind film. Definitely a must-see, and it was wise of Criterion to single it out for wider inspection.

This film blends traditional Japanese horror elements with psychological implications and offbeat twists on western horror iconography, including Christian religion and a touch of the mad scientist trying to preserve life after death. It begins with a massacre on a ship by hijackers stealing a gold shipment. Three years later the troubled twin sister of one of the victims is living in a church, getting strange sensations her sister is still alive. While scuba diving with her boyfriend they discover a series of chained skeletons, and soon after she is drawn to the now-derelict ghost ship where the opening tragedy took place, learning what she needs to go through with her own revenge plans.

What sets The Living Skeleton apart is its use of stark, black-and-white cinematography, which amplifies its gothic horror roots. The ominous ocean setting and the ghostly imagery of the skeletons on the ship create a chilling, claustrophobic atmosphere. The film is filled with striking, symbolic visuals, such as a skeleton chained to the ship's mast, contributing to a surreal and nightmarish tone. The sea, often seen as a mysterious and untamed force, becomes a crucial character in itself-an embodiment of both death and revenge.

In "Living Skeleton"'s surprisingly brutal opening scenes, we see a group of modern-day pirates indiscriminately massacring a bunch of passengers with machine gun fire - among them a beautiful, Western-looking Japanese woman.

Then a title tells us we've jumped ahead a few years, and that woman's identical twin is now spending time among a shadowy Catholic priest.

Some people go scuba diving where they find, in one of the movie's more memorable moments, skeletons chained to the ocean floor, presumably of the people who died in the beginning of the movie.

The boat the pirates commandeered apparently sunk, but nevertheless seems to return to the shore, and the twin boards it, and some other stuff happens involving unconvincing flying bats.

With the film's beginning, its moody black and white cinematography, and the glowering, impassive actors, I thought the stage was set for a disturbing arthouse Japanese flick like "Sword of Doom" or "Woman in the Dunes".

However, by the end, which involves a mad scientist in a laboratory with lots of opportunities for gruesome deaths, some of which of course involve acid which burns people up quicker than lava might, I began thinking it's more in line with a Jess Franco flick from about the same time. Kikko Matsuoka, who plays the main character, does look a bit like Soledad Miranda.

Problem with this movie was, I had no idea how it got from moody impressionism to full on camp blood-bath. It's pretty confusing, which wouldn't matter so much if the tone was even. It wasn't.

The Living Skeleton (1968) is a Japanese horror film that I recently watched on a random streaming service. The storyline follows a young lady who moves to a town that is haunted. As she researches the events she discovers the tale of a ship that was sunk by local pirates.

This movie is directed by Hiroki Matsuno (Sword: Flower-Strewn Path of Courage) and stars Asao Koike (Throne of Blood), Nobuo Kaneko (Ikiru), Kô Nishimura (Yojimbo) and Kikko Matsuoka (Black Lizard).

Watching this there's a good chance John Carpenter got a lot of ideas for The Fog from this movie. This movie is made pretty clever with some fantastic cinematography and some fun underwater scenes, especially the skeletons. The skeletons looked like sugar skulls. The bats in this reminded me of a Vincent Price movie and the corpses are well created. Kikko Matsuoka delivers a strong performance as the main character and the last 15 is entertaining.

Overall this is a worthwhile addition to the horror genre and a fun watch for fans who enjoyed The Fog. I would score this a solid 6.5-7/10 and recommend seeing it once.