If you think follow-ups, spin-offs and sequels come at us at a fearsome rate now, you should have seen how fast things moved in the past. Never mind how many times Basil Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes in seven years and Johnny Weissmuller played Tarzan in sixteen (fourteen and twelve respectfully, in case you were wondering), Asian cinema really knew how to grind them out with numerous installments of a single franchise spilling out over mere months. That’s how Japan’s Yokai Monsters trilogy managed to start and wrap up in twelve short months with the closing chapter, Along With Ghosts (aka. Journey With Ghost Along Yokaido Road) getting released almost on the one year anniversary of the first installment, 100 Monsters.
Furious work ethic of old school filmmakers aside, for a series that concerned itself with the shadowy denizens of Japanese folklore, the Yokai Monsters series had been appropriately discombobulated, with the films going from creepy drama, to goofy monster movie in only two films. However, with Along With Ghosts, the series made an attempt to get back to its gnarled roots and as a result, may have turned in it’s best installment yet.
Devious and cold blooded crime boss, Higuruma has concocted a plan to gather some unsavoury associates and ambush a rival on the road late at night in order to not only kill him, but also intercept a letter that is proof of his criminal activities. However, before he and his men can draw their samurai swords and get to murderlizing some informants, an old priest begs them to reconsider as they’re current on ground deemed sacred to otherworldly beings – but he gets fatally wounded for his troubles too.
Crawling home, the old man manages to get to his young granddaughter, Miyo, whom he tells to flee to the next town and ask around for her absent father who abandoned her after her mother died after childbirth. Impressiveky taking all this news in her stride, the unflappable child heads off on her journey with Higuruma’s thugs in pursuit as the sneering crook now mistakenly believes that not only is Miyo a witness to the murders, but it’s she who is now in possession of the damning document that preempted all the bloodshed to begin with.
On the road, Miyo meets burly ronin Hyakasuro, a good hearted swordsman who agrees to help her find her father while fighting off anyone who wishes to harm the supernaturally determined little girl and the two soon discover that the identity of the man they seek is not what they expected at all.
Oh, yeah, I nearly forgot the Yokai Monsters who are hovering around the peripheral of this twisty little drama; once Higuruma and his men cross one line too many, the various ghosts and goblins that infest the forests at night will finally get involved and serve up a steaming bowl of karma to anyone who deserves it.
Despite its brief run, the Yokai Monsters trilogy traversed a lot of tonal ground in its first two outings with both 100 Monsters and Spook Warfare being complete, polar opposites of one another. The first movie, under the eye of director Kimiyoshi Yasuda, was a fairly serious movie that went off on many supernatural tangents before ending up on a bout of unearthly justice might like his vengence-fueled Kaiju flick, Daimajin. However, with Yoshiyuki Kuroda’s Spook Warfare, all the atmosphere and creepiness went out the window in order to push the monsters fully into the spotlight and have them bumble and cavort around in order to fight a burly, green vampire that decided to wreak havoc on their territory.
However, with both Yasuda and Kuroda’s return in a co-directing capacity, Along With Ghosts makes an ardent effort to not only take the series back to its eerie roots, but ends up being even more stripped back than the first film. Those looking for the goofy fun of the previous film are going to be shit out of luck as there’s barely an abnormally long-necked woman or a Gene Simmons-tongued umbrella monster to be seen, but beyond that, the third film even forgoes the scary side stories and spooky sub-plots to seriously minimize the monster mashing to virtually nothing.
However, in the absence of medicine ball-headed priests and lumps of chatty flesh, Along With Ghosts actually ends up being the best of the bunch thanks to the human aspects of the film actually being legitimately gripping. Leaning fully into the samurai aspects of the film that peppered both directors careers thanks to the Zatoichi and Lone Wolf and Cub sagas, the ever-evolving adventures of little Miyo as she totters in and out of the clutches of a crime boss and his underlings proves to be ample to hold out attention while the monsters patiently wait in the wings. There are twists, turns and genuinely startling revelations at almost every turn (the truth about Miya’s papa completely caught me unawares) and when the ghosts do eventually make their presence felt, you end up being worried that the story is so strong without them, the sudden appearance of a mountainous, hairy cyclops or a wizened, feral old woman might overturn the human drama the film’s worked so hard to build.
While the second movie in particular was a ridiculous, camp, treat, Kuroda and Yasuda now treat the Yokai as serious as a heart attack, stripping them of any dialogue save for deep, booming threats and having them be a legitimate threat as they suddenly appear to either hoist an unsuspecting do-badder into the air only to drop them from a fatal height, or just glare at the guilty with an accusing look that promptly turns them into quivering jelly in double quick time. Even the Yokai’s costumes are noticably scarier, without a flailing puppet or big rubber head to be seen, and the sweaty, screaming reactions to them suddenly sticking their transparent noses all up into human business feel way more earned than someone pretending to have an utter caniption at the sight of a floppy, jerky monster marionette.
Those hoping for a more traditional horror tale would do best sticking with 100 Monsters, while those hoping for a campy, childish creature feature will most likely find Spook Warfare more their speed. But for a more, well rounded, spook-fest that comes complete with a well-rounded plot for the more corporeal members of the cast, you might want to walk Along With Ghosts.
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