Wizards in theatre masks (part 2)

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Let’s see what becomes of this ‘ornery Oni, this clandestine kabuki killer, this… maniacal maladjusted masked magician…

015 — For starters, this shinobi master-of-disguise shows up to prompt along our heroes, showing up at odd times both on the street and in dream sequences.

017 — AND our good old pal the fire-spittin' snakey-poo makes a gratuitous dream realm cameo!

018 — In this shadow-realm encounter, the villain summons an army of yokai-masked ninja shockers. You never good a good look at them though, but the masks could be reused from flicks like GOLDEN PEACOCK CASTLE.

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021 — Amazing how simple but effective fire-bursts are on screen. Here, the hero and heroine take the heat in the dream world.

022 — This get-up is almost cooler sans the crazy hair.

Gotta admit, at film’s end I’m kinda lost. They seem to switch villains, going after a daimyo instead of the evil wizard. Or maybe he hasn’t actually been evil this whole time, and is one of the good guys all along? Or he’s defeated and the hero poses as him for the insider super surprise mega tricker?

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As much as I hate to go live with an examination of a movie without really knowing it’s details and editorial, the imagery here is to cool to wait for an eventual research breakthrough or a fan sub surfacing. I spent the 90’s writing about mostly unsubbed or dubbed Mexican masked wrestler movies while having precious little command of the Spanish language, and sometimes VN is no different. There’s a certain joy to floundering in the waters dammed by the language barrier – movies like this become somewhat dada-ist and delightfully baffling when you’re not hung up on plot holes or mis-translations and whatnot.