Find yourself a copy of DEMON OF MOUNT OE!

You think you have enough ‘heroic band of samurai with signature weapons vs. shape-shifting evil magicians’ movies in your collection, and then BOOM, a gem like Demon of Mount Oe surfaces!

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Bandits vs. samurai, magicians vs. Mikado, demon bulls kidnapping women… then the giant spider shows up. Start with an ages-old Japanese fairy tale as the basis for a script and myriad folk-art images like the one below for storyboard inspiration and you just can’t go wrong! Check it out:

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002 — This giant floating demon head sequence has a real EVIL DEAD vibe!

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007 — The demon bull is really indicative of the first rate - for 1960 - effects of this film, it's very well designed but has limited articulation.

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016 — This web-slinging wizard transforms into...

020 — If this was remade today, all these cool practical fights would be cheesy digital.

All this, and an all-star cast including Raizo Ichikawa and Shintaro Katsu!

MORE: Story translation here. Review on Some Words Some Places.