Kaibyô nazo no shamisen (1938)

Directed by Kiyohiko Ushihara [Other horror films: Nijiotoko (1949)]

There was generally a dearth of horror films in the late 30’s, and some of the films I personally count as horror, others don’t (such as Sh! The Octopus, The Terror, and Riders of the Whistling Skull), so to come across a late 30’s Japanese film, beautifully subtitled on YouTube, was a treat that’s hard to beat.

Known as The Ghost Cat and the Mysterious Shamisen, the story here strikes me as somewhat engaging. A jealous woman (Sumiko Suzuki) kills a cat, along with a young woman (Kinue Utagawa), because she’s awful (the jealous woman, to be clear; I’m sure the cat was kind). Of course, things in Japan never stay truly dead, and revenge strikes like a monkey’s dance.

Which makes more sense if you’ve seen the finale of this one.

First off, I guess I should mention that I had absolutely no idea what a shamisen was until I watched this. It’s a traditional Japanese musical instrument, sort of like an acoustic guitar, only infinitely different. The instrument plays a big part in this movie, as Shinpachirô Asaka’s character plays one, and gives the prized instrument to Kinue Utagawa’s character before her untimely demise. And like the cat that came back, the instrument slowly finds it’s way to the hands of Mitsuko Mori, who played the sister of Kinue Utagawa’s character.

Some scenes aren’t that easy to fully gauge – not only is the movie from 1938, but the print is rather scratchy at times – and I didn’t understand the final scene whatsoever, but it seems like both the spirit of the cat that was killed, along with the spirit of the woman, come back for revenge. At times it almost seems like the cat is the woman – or the woman is the cat; however it went, that wasn’t clear.

What was clear were the solid performances. Shinpachirô Asaka wasn’t quite as in focus as I expected, and even his part toward the finale seemed limited, but he definitely did well with his character. Playing a highly jealous and awful woman, Sumiko Suzuki did stellar, and though I never cared for her character, her performance throughout was good.

The stand-outs, though, would be both Mitsuko Mori and Kinue Utagawa. I honestly wasn’t expecting Mori to take a more central role, but toward the end, she does, playing a huge part in an act of revenge against Suzuki’s character. More to the point, there’s a conversation that Mori and Utagawa have that’s quite emotional, and that showed great promise.

The finale here is rather tense. It lasted around 15 minutes, all during a play-type deal, and though it felt a little rushed and hectic just at the moment where I’d have preferred more clarity, it was a solid finale, even possessing a few interesting camera tricks that I don’t have the vocabulary to describe.

Perhaps the most memorable scene would be when a cat’s face is sort of superimposed on a woman’s face, which was decently effective. I mean, none of the scares here are like to amaze most modern-day audiences, but there was a scene or two that had a solidly spooky atmosphere, such as the first time the ghost cat arises, so there is fun to be had.

One of the earliest Japanese horror films I’ve seen (aside from the silent A Page of Madness, which I abhor), The Ghost Cat and the Mysterious Shamisen isn’t an amazing movie, but it was perfectly adequate. I can say I thought it was almost special. What it really is, though, is an old Asian horror film many probably haven’t heard about, and it’s an okay watch, so if it sounds like your type of thing, give it a go.

7/10