Sakuya: yôkaiden (2000)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Tomoo Haraguchi

Writer:

Tomoo Haraguchi (story)

Release Date:

12 August 2000 (Japan)

Genre:

Family | Adventure | Fantasy

Plot:

The eruption of Mt. Fuji in 1707 released hordes of demons from deep inside the earth. Sakuya, the young...

Plot Keywords:

Volcano | Demon Hunter | Martial Arts

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Nozomi Andô	...	Sakuya
Kyusaku Shimada	...	Syuzo
Keiko Matsuzaka	...	Queen of ground spider
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Moeko Ezawa	...	Old woman
Hiroshi Fujioka	...	Sakuya's dad
Hidehiko Ishikura	...	Zennosuke Tachibana
Tamami Kaneko
Yûki Kuroda	...	Shigeyuki
Keiichirou Sakaki	...	Kihei (as Keiichirou Sakaki)
Naoto Takenaka	...	Narrator
Tetsuro Tamba	...	Old master
Shinya Tsukamoto	...	Wizard
Shuichi Yamauchi	...	Taro Sakaki
Keiko Yoshida	...	Hana

Also Known As:

Sakuya: Slayer of Demons (International: English title)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sakuya vs legendary Japanese monsters

It's the year 1707. Mount Fuji erupts to punish mankind's evil behavior. The eruption causes earthquakes and unleashes ancient monsters and demons to wreak havoc. A young girl named Sakuya Sakaki must fight these demons with the help of her magic sword Vortex and two Ninja warriors. They battle various monsters such as a Kappa demon, the ghost-cat, and dark riders until they face the leader of the demons, a giant spider woman...

This is an entertaining fantasy movie made by Tomô Haraguchi, Japan's Tom Savini and specialist when it comes to make-up and gory special effects. He also worked on such great films as "Capitol Story" and its sequels, the "All Night Long" series, "Otsuyu", Daiei's new "Gamera" trilogy, and did the bloody special effects for Hitoshi Ozawa's "Kunoichi" films. The movie itself is most of the time harmless fun and shows a variety of classic Japanese monsters such as the Kappa demon (river monster), and the ghost-cat, known as "kaibyô" in Japan. And I especially like the cameo scene where a parade of monsters from Daiei studio's classic "Yôkai" trilogy ("Yôkai hyaku monogatari", "Yôkai daisensô" and "Tôkaidô obake dôchû) shows up - those films included all the monsters from Japanese folklore and legend. And there is "Tetsuo" director Shinya Tsukamoto in a supporting role. The special effects, done by "Gamera" effects maker Shinji Higuchi, are top-notch. Both the miniature work and CGI combine very well. Unfortunately, the story is very, very simple, and the movie is a bit too childish. But it's fun to watch anyway.