The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch (蛇娘と白髪魔, Hebimusume to Hakuhatsuma) is a 1968 Japanese horror film directed by Noriaki Yuasa.[1][3] The film is about a young girl named Sayuri who is reunited with her estranged family after years in an orphanage, but discovers that her homelife involves an amnesiac mother, her sister is confined to the attic, and begins to wonder if this is related to her father's experiments with poisonous snakes.[4]
| The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Noriaki Yuasa |
| Screenplay by | Kimiyuki Hasegawa[1] |
| Based on | Hebimusune to Hakuhatsuki by Kazuo Umezu[1] |
| Produced by | Kazumasa Nakano[1] |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Akira Uehara[1] |
| Edited by | Yoshiyuki Miyazaki[1] |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Daiei |
Release date |
|
Running time | 82 minutes[1] |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Cast
edit- Kuniko Miyake as Sister Yamakawa
- Yuko Hamada as Yuko Nanjo
- Sachiko Meguro as Shige Kito
- Yachie Matsui as Sayuri Nanjo
- Yoshiro Kitahara as Goro Nanjo
- Tadashi Date as Ambassador
- Mariko Fukuhara as Doll
- Mayumi Takahashi as Tamami Nanjo
- Osamu Maruyama as Doctor
- Kazuo Umezu as Taxi driver
Release
editThe Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch was released in Japan on December 14, 1968 along with Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare of the Yokai Monsters franchse.[2][5] It was released in the United States by Daiei International Films with English subtitles in 1969.[2] The film was released on Blu-ray by Arrow Video in September 2021.[6] This was its blu-ray debut and the first time it was released on home video outside of Japan.[4]
Reception
editFrom retrospective reviews, Andrew Crump of Fangoria found that the film on paper seemed like "Japanese genre cinema at its wackiest" but was more like a Scooby-Doo mystery and was "shockingly middle of the road verging on tame" and concluded that the film was "a movie of bungled opportunity with plenty to say about the era it was made."[7]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Galbraith IV 1996, p. 360.
- ^ a b c Galbraith IV 1996, p. 361.
- ^ "Monte Ito's Films From the Orient". Honolulu Advertiser. October 18, 1971. p. C6.
- ^ a b "The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch". Arrow Video. Archived from the original on June 25, 2021. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
- ^ 妖怪大戦争/蛇娘と白髪魔 Wポスター
- ^ Squires 2021.
- ^ Crump 2021.
Sources
edit- Crump, Andrew (November 11, 2021). "Bugnuts: The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch". Fangoria. Archived from the original on November 11, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
- Galbraith IV, Stuart (1996). The Japanese Filmography: 1900 through 1994. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0032-3.
- Squires, John (June 25, 2021). "Arrow Video Bringing Stephen King's 'Children of the Corn' to 4K UHD; Plus Trilogy Box Set!". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on June 25, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
External links
edit
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