qatmom Much, much better than it sounds. This is not a great, ground-breaking movie, but it is highly enjoyable.I bought this as an inexpensive VCD format movie, not expecting a great deal. But I was surprised to find it a kind of mangaesque fairytale come to life, in some style. I suppose this must have been made for a young audience, and I am an adult, but I enjoyed the story, visuals, and music.Something else I also enjoyed--the absence of a smart-mouthed bratty kid, the kind that shows up in Hollywood movies, and is portrayed as a wonderful thing. Asian movies seem not to do that! HUZZAH! Like a lot of other Asian movies, this also emphasizes loyalty and family, something Hollywood seems to have largely forgotten during the last 40 years.

Splatterdome-AMH It's the year 1707. Mount Fuji erupts to punish mankind's evil behavior. The eruption causes earthquakes and unleashes ancient monsters and demons to wreak havoc. A young girl named Sakuya Sakaki must fight these demons with the help of her magic sword Vortex and two Ninja warriors. They battle various monsters such as a Kappa demon, the ghost-cat, and dark riders until they face the leader of the demons, a giant spider woman...This is an entertaining fantasy movie made by Tomô Haraguchi, Japan's Tom Savini and specialist when it comes to make-up and gory special effects. He also worked on such great films as "Capitol Story" and its sequels, the "All Night Long" series, "Otsuyu", Daiei's new "Gamera" trilogy, and did the bloody special effects for Hitoshi Ozawa's "Kunoichi" films. The movie itself is most of the time harmless fun and shows a variety of classic Japanese monsters such as the Kappa demon (river monster), and the ghost-cat, known as "kaibyô" in Japan. And I especially like the cameo scene where a parade of monsters from Daiei studio's classic "Yôkai" trilogy ("Yôkai hyaku monogatari", "Yôkai daisensô" and "Tôkaidô obake dôchû) shows up - those films included all the monsters from Japanese folklore and legend. And there is "Tetsuo" director Shinya Tsukamoto in a supporting role. The special effects, done by "Gamera" effects maker Shinji Higuchi, are top-notch. Both the miniature work and CGI combine very well. Unfortunately, the story is very, very simple, and the movie is a bit too childish. But it's fun to watch anyway.

MikeA Live action manga featuring a young girl and her companions who travel to Mount Fuji to battle evil. Some great effects, but the budget was obviously blown on them and the result is long, dull periods between fights, where the paper-thin characters have trouble holding your attention. Lots of people in rubber monster suits, and the dance of the good demons at the end is a bit of a head-masher. Reasonable amounts of fun for fans of Japanese monster movies.

mark-252 This marvellous gem shows how computer graphic FX can be used to make convincing shots that are exciting and artistic too! The opening shots of Mount Fuji erupting are totally spectacular and lead us into the story by way of an entrance to hell being opened. Demons are emerging from the pit and only Sakuya, teenage Slayer of Demons can stop them with her magic sword! It is set in the distant past when all you can fight monsters with is swords and gunpowder. Each of the demons that Sakuya fights takes a different form! As usual the character is based on a popular manga title. It's more exciting than creepy, but the plot certainly keeps up the surprises and demons keep on getting bigger and bigger! The film looks like a Hong Kong action movie but was shot in Japan, which may explain why the wirework in the fight scenes isn't very sophisticated. The FX team for this film have also worked on the fantastic nineties trilogy of GAMERA films (the third of which has to be seen to be believed).