Yatsuhaka-mura (1977)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Yoshitaro Nomura

Writers:

Shinobu Hashimoto (screenplay)
Seishi Yokomizo (novel)

Release Date:

17 March 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

The heir to a family fortune discovers that a curse has been placed on it, put there centuries before by a band of samurai warriors. |

Plot Keywords:

Warrior | Curse | Samurai Warrior | Samurai | Japan

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Kenichi Hagiwara	...	Tatsuya Terada (as Ken'ichi Hagiwara)
Mayumi Ogawa	...	Miyako Mori
Tsutomu Yamazaki	...	Yôzô Tajimi / Hisaya Tajimi
Yôko Yamamoto	...	Haruyo
Etsuko Ichihara	...	Kotake
Ninako Yamaguchi	...	Ko'ume
Ryoko Nakano	...	Tsuruko Igawa (as Ryôko Nakano)
Yoshi Kato	...	Ushimatsu (as Yoshi Katô)
Hisashi Igawa	...	Kanji
Masami Shimojô	...	Kudô Kôchô
Takuya Fujioka	...	Kuno Ishi
Jun Hamamura	...	Sôkichi Mori
Torahiko Hamada	...	Taichirô Yoshioka
Junko Natsu	...	Kazu'e
Hatsuo Yamaya	...	Bakurô Kichizô

Also Known As:

Village of Eight Gravestones (USA)
Village of the Eight Tombs (International: English title)

Runtime:

151 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Shochikucolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Iwate, Japan

Company:

Shochiku Kinema Kenkyû-jo

Movie Connections:

Version of Yatsuhaka-mura (1995) (TV)

A film full of surprises

Without knowing anything about the film beforehand, when I expected Village of Eight Gravestones to be a tale of vengeance set in the background of historical Japan, boy was I surprised, when it turned out to be a mixture of murder mystery and a tale of supernatural vengeance set in the 70's Japan. Another surprise was that such a quality film seems to be quite unknown outside Japan. After watching it, I felt like I had a small hidden gem here.

To me, VOEGS is a righteously slow-paced, atmospheric piece of work with sudden changes of mood, when the story is told to the viewer through different characters and the flashbacks that narrate their stories and their history. The photography differs between realistic and minimalistic to some shoots that are very stylistic, giving strange beauty to even the most brutal visual elements of the film. Altering between pondering detective story and sheer vicious action, the movie kept me nailed to the seat until the end and guessing who is the guilty and what is his or her motive. Nice bonus was that the ending pretty much knocked me out.

Especially intriguing in the movie was it's way of leaving things to be judged by the viewer, rather than explaining the true way of things. Whether there really was a curse or not, is entirely up to you.

VOEGS surely deserves to be seen by bigger audiences. It's not a perfect movie, but well worth watching for. Fair word of warning: violence in the movie is quite graphic in it's nature, and so this is not a film for the kiddies. For friends and fans of slowly building suspense and mystery, and Asian movies in general.

This is my truth. What is yours?