Peony Lantern (1968) User Reviews

A curious and thoughtful ghost story

[santasprees · 8/10 · 24 November 2007]

The seduction of death itself (in the form of an alluring ghost) is familiar enough territory in Japanese ghost stories (Ghost Story Of Yotsuya, Kuroneko, etc), the twist here being Communist director Yamamoto's playful depiction of the villagers' efforts to thwart the ghost's advances towards their middle class school teacher, Shinzaburou.

As with most Yamamoto films, the emphasis here is on the ensemble playing of the cast rather than any leads. That said, the roles of Banzou and his wife do seem rather overplayed, probably betraying their origin as kabuki grotesques.

Handsomely shot (Chishi Makiura) and scored (Sei Ikeno) to evoke a vivid sense of the dark, sticky nights of Obon, this is a curious and thoughtful horror film that somehow manages to give Bhuddism, capitalism and family a good kicking within the restrictions of the genre and the source material.

Japanese horror movie

[myriamlenys · 8/10 · 5 April 2019]

In feudal Japan, a young man from a rich household has turned his back on the arrogance of his class. Instead he tries to live a simple and useful life, for instance by teaching the children of the poor. During a festival for the dead, he witnesses a traditional ceremony where lanterns are made to float on the water. Noticing that two of the lanterns have gotten caught up in some plants, he frees them, so that they too can drift along the stream. Two ladies thank him profusely for his kindness. One of them is a middle-aged servant, the other one is a delicate maiden of rare beauty. The festival is about to move in an undesirable direction...

Stumbled upon this one by accident, but I'm glad I watched it : it is a good horror movie with strong imagery and episodes of visual poetry. Not all of the special effects work, but when they do work, it packs quite a wallop. The movie also breathes a potent but refined eroticism, especially during the first half, with the hero falling under the spell of a young, delicate beauty with a hard-luck story no true romantic could resist.

I watched the movie under the (rather ugly) title of "The bride from Hades", but there were quite a lot of English-language titles doing the rounds. One of these was "The peony lantern", which would make sense, given the considerable amount of imagery, and symbolism, related to light and lanterns.

There was something about the tale told in the movie which struck me as universal. I live on the other side of the world (in Belgium, to be precise) and here too people have believed for centuries that there were special occasions where the border between the land of the dead and the land of the living became porous. Some of these beliefs still persist, although they have gone through major cultural and religious changes. But I can well imagine a Belgian version of the story, where the handsome hero goes to visit his grandparents' grave on the first or second day of November, lugging the traditional chrysanthemum flowers. While still in the graveyard, he bumps into two unknown ladies looking around pensively while carrying their own chrysanthemums...

great movie for Horror Movie Fans

[Arsamese · 7/10 · 18 October 2021]

I watched this movie last night and I found it great! If you get tired of watching Hollywood movie, try movies from around the world. Hollywood movies have been duplicated and very boring.

Peony Lantern

[MogwaiMovieReviews · 6/10 · 16 June 2021]

Nice little Japanese ghost story that never really scares but the two lady ghosts are very eerie. Would have been more effective shot in black and white.

The women of red lights on the Obon Festival, fine Japanese horror flick!!

[elo-equipamentos · 8/10 · 2 June 2023]

A curious macabre tale over Japanese tradition and folklore when every year between august 16th until 20th a five days enshrined to the dead, they used to celebrate of Obon festival, a period that all dead people release from their graves, so to soothe the damned souls, the people used to unleash peony lanterns over the downriver, in this gloomy environment the story unfolds.

Meanwhile a wealthy family from colonial era following the Japanese tradition, when a married son died, the next single brother should be married with the widow to maintenance the power, due such young wife was already made a profitable marriage between the high class families, thus the family reunites to convince the applicant accepts the widow, turns out that Hagiwara Shinzaburô (Kôjirô Hongô) is a slight rebel member and denied marry his former brother's wife, also being a professor teaching poor children, such thing is an outrageous for his rich family that threat expel him from the family if he doesn't make your mind and reassess soon as he can.

Hagiwara is a man of principles and doesn't fold to own family, keeping lecturing to underserved children, at Obon festival he meeting at riverbank two women, one older and another beautiful and young, they follow Hagiwara until his house saying that the young one Otsuyo (Miyoko Akasa) was sell to red district due a debts from his father and she was sold for a wealthy costumer, although Otsuyo is still a virgin woman, the older maid beg for Hagiwara stays with Otsuyo, due she wants to stay with a young one, thus he is qualified to it, Hagiwara finds enchanted by such gorgeous Otsuyo and ends making love all night long, in the meantime his drunkard and womanizer sidekick see what's going on and warning Hagiwara that such women committed suicide and are ghosts, therefore he must avoid them, otherwise will be dead in five days at end of Obon period.

Fantastic ghostly story over Japanese tradition sizing occasion of Obon festival to developing this interesting story also concerning all procedure that ruled the Japanese family system in those past days in colonial era, fine to study how its eastern civilization was working at its time.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First Watch: 2023 /How many: 1 /Source: DVD /Rating: 8.

Bride from Hades is a well-crafted horror tale with effects that have aged remarkably

[kevin_robbins · 8/10 · 16 January 2024]

I recently watched Bride from Hades (1968) on a random streaming service. The storyline revolves around a young man on the outskirts of town who, engaged to be married, falls in love with a young lady at a local festival, unaware that she's a ghost with a tragic past and cruel intentions.

Directed by Satsuo Yamamoto (The Bogus Policeman) and featuring Kôjirô Hongô (Satan's Sword), Kô Nishimura (Yojimbo), Mayumi Ogawa (Shin Godzilla), and Takashi Shimura (Ikiru).

This famous kabuki tale is brilliantly told. The settings, attire, and props vividly capture the imagination and are enhanced by great use of lighting and fog machines. The background music for adds to the intensity. The acting is phenomenal, and the horror effects surpass expectations. Creepy scenes with the ladies, well-executed face change scenes, and effective use of skeletons contribute to the film's eerie atmosphere. Haunting and levitation scenes are also impressive, making this a compelling watch.

In conclusion, Bride from Hades is a well-crafted horror tale with effects that have aged remarkably. I would give it an 8/10 and strongly recommend it for its captivating storytelling and eerie atmosphere.