Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare

Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare (Yokai Daisenso) (1968)

Runtime: 78 minutes

Directed by: Yoshiyuki Kuroda

Starring: Yoshihiko Aoyama, Hideki Hanamura, Chikara Hashimoto, Hiromi Inoue, Mari Kanda

From: Daiei

What a weird, wacky good time this was. Back during Halloween season 2020, A few months ago I saw & reviewed Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters. While fine I knew from hearsay that not only would its sequel have more creatures, but most found it to be superior. After last night, I discovered they were correct.

This time in feudal Japan, the monsters are the antiheroes as they have to work with some humans in a house to combat quite the villain: a vampiric demon from Babylon that was freed accidentally by dumbass archaeologists. This demon can take the appearance of their victims which results in a Lord Magistrate being impersonated. As I said back this past October: For years I've known that Japanese folklore has spirits and monsters known as yokai; they can look like animals but there are also critters that look like inanimate objects, which is why we get the incredible image of a sentient umbrella who has two arms, one leg, and at times a giant tongue that licks the mentally handicap adult it befriends. Ahhh, Japan... there is also a woman who has a Stretch Armstrong neck.” They are here along with others too bizarre to elaborate upon. This includes a water imp and a monster best described as “I'm sure James Wan has seen Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare before” and not elaborate on why I am pretty confident in this belief.

While having a more mischievous tone than the first, there are still serious moments and the demon still commits some heinous acts; I wasn't expecting this to be the second film in a row w/ a dog death but I was mistaken. Overall it is pretty strange watching distinctive creatures team up and are aided in part by humans do battle against an abomination straight from Hell; no wonder Miike's The Great Yokai War was partially inspired by this movie. Mix in an odd creepy score and this was quite "only in Japan" motion picture.