YOKAI : 100 MONSTERS (1968) Review

Yokai are monsters in Japanese folklore. Now, these aren’t Kiju who are giant monsters usually created or aggravated by science, but instead, yokai are a bit more spiritual in their essence. Also, don’t get Yokai and Onryo confused. Onryo are vengeful spirits just like the ghosts in the Ju-on the grudge or in Ringu. No. Yokai don’t tend to be spirits of humans, but instead spirits of personified objects, locations, or animals.

The idea of Yokai has been around for a thousand years. It’s grown and developed in many ways throughout the centuries. Yokai were the unexplainable, they were the things in your closet or the things under your bed. It was easy to blame yokai when unexplainable events occurred. Eventually, Japan became caught up in science and really wanted to modernize so the ideological belief in yokai was eventually seen as a mental illness.

In small villages throughout Japan the elders would talk about tales of the Yokai, just like how the brothers grim held tales passed down onto them. A little ​​Shigeru Mizuki heard the tales and eventually was the driving force to bring Yokai back into the mainstream. Shigeru created a manga or Japanese comic in 1960 called GeGeGe no Kitarō which showcased many yokai.

Wait. Why am I going to such great lengths to talk about Yokai? Well, I’m reviewing 100 Monsters from 1968 the film that brought these crazy, lovable creatures to the big screen.

Twitter: @Hellbound_HS
Instagram: hellbound_hs

Graveyard Shift" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/