This Blu-ray is currently available from Arrow Video.
Arrow Video are a fantastic Blu-ray outlet, pressing quality cult and genre films week after week. And as an enthusiast of their product, it’s always great when the company release a fantastic and little seen curiosity. The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch is one such oddity, an extremely weird but enjoyable and well-made Japanese feature from Noriaki Yuasa (director of the original Gamera film, several of its sequels and the Ultraman 80 TV-series). This movie has never been released on any home video format in North America is now officially debuting on Blu-ray. And, as you might have already guessed, the results are spectacular.
Loosely based on a Manga comic book, the strange plot follows an orphan named Sayuri Nanjo (Yachie Matsui). The girl gets a pleasant shock when the head of her orphanage (Kuniko Miyake) informs the youngster that there was a terrible mix up at birth. It seems that Sayuri’s parents are still alive and that they’d like to adopt her. The lead is thrilled to meet and live with her birth father Goro (Yoshirô Kitahara) and mother Yuko (Yûko Hamada) without asking questions about how any of this could have happened. After arriving at the estate, it becomes evident that the family has a strange history. Apparently, during the mix-up Sayuri’s parents were given a child named Tamami (Mayumi Takahashi), but the child had psychological issues and was removed from the household. If that wasn’t unusual enough, the protagonist is also told that her mom is unwell after suffering some kind of head injury.
When Goro, an authority on snake venom, is forced out of town on a work-related trip, things turn from idyllic to freaky. Sayuri is cared for by Yuko and helper Shige Kito (Sachiko Meguro). The girl sees a strange shrine in the house and begins having disturbing visions of a “Snake Girl” wandering around. She eventually learns that troubled sister Tamami is still in the domicile, living under lock and key in the dank attic. Apparently, dad Goro knowns nothing about it. Sayuri tries to befriend her sister but finds Tamami to be nasty and cruel. In fact, the deranged child torments the girl and eventually swaps sleeping spaces with her. The unfailingly positive Sayuri does all she can to survive, enduring memorably bizarre and horrifying dreams (that may or may not be real, it isn’t ever clearly defined), a threatening sister and the titular Silver-Haired Witch.
There are too many plot holes to list in this review and the tone is awfully dark and disturbing for a fantasy movie focused on kids. But that isn’t a criticism. If anything, it makes the picture more unique and attention-grabbing. The plucky and sweet lead is extremely likable, reacting with positivity to several shocking events (it eventually becomes amusing given being banished by family members to the attic and witnessing the deaths of several individuals). It’s all over-the-top, but our lead and the entire cast are engaging, the visuals are unique and striking and the feature zips by at a quick pace.
Speaking of the film’s grimmer moments, there are some shocking and stunning interactions (or dreams) that involving a fanged, monstrous version of “Snake Girl” Tamami pursuing the new arrival. The make-up is appropriately chilling and figure become even more intimidating as she throws snakes and attacks her sister. Even the human version of Tamami is unsettling. She appears to be wearing a mask and looms over lead in a menacing manner. Some memorable scenes involve the bullying figure talking about eating Sayuri, but things even become graphic when she moves on to destroying the lead’s favorite doll and, in a truly jarring moment, taking and ripping apart Sayuri’s large pet toad.
This unpredictable movie is shot in widescreen and in black and white, helping establish a creepy, grim mood where seemingly anything can happen (and often does without waning). Sayuri appears to be on the brink of death in several scenes, including the striking finale. It features the girl hanging several stories from the edge of a building site while an antagonist uses a wooden tool to beat the youngster and make her fall. The scene includes shots of Sayuri’s knuckles being bloodied and gashed open as she slowly loses her grip. The camera looms overhead as characters fall and plunge to their deaths and it’s another striking sequence in a movie chock-full of tense moments.
So, despite some head-scratching narrative issues, the final film is compelling as a nightmare-come-to-life onscreen and the special effects and surreal figures linger long in the mind after the credits roll. As expected, Arrow have given this film a fantastic transfer. The movie looks sharp and one can clearly see just how beautifully lit the movie is, particularly during the eerie dream and nighttime sequences. Overall, it’s an enjoyably surreal and nightmarish viewing experience.
Besides the excellent high-definition transfer, the Blu-ray also includes some great extras. The first is a film historian commentary track which analyses the picture and goes into the production history in greater detail. We learn about the director’s previous Gamera features and the common elements between the them (noting the child protagonists). This expert dissects the various “Snake Girl” mythological legends and their influence on the story, the original Manga comic, as well as other connections this movie has to giant monster films of the era. He even makes connections between this feature and future Japanese genre efforts like The Ring and The Grudge. There are plenty of interesting and enlightening observations, including facts about the cast. Despite the Sayuri character being so well played by charismatic young lead Yachie Matsuim, apparently this was her only starring role and she was believed to have eventually had a career as a championship bowler.
There is also a wonderful featurette on Japanese folklore and Manga. This authority begins detailing fascinating mythology from the region and notes at how outside influences from surrounding countries and the US ultimately altered traditional Japanese stories through the years, creating new versions of old tales. Viewers will see some familiar Japanese titles being referenced in the special, as well as plenty of lesser-known oddities certain to get viewers seeking out more movies. It’s a very informative piece. And of course, the Blu-ray also contains fun publicity materials like the trailer and image gallery, as well as an informative and colorful booklet with more details about the movie.
I had never heard of The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch, but I’m thrilled to have watched it and am pleased that the people at Arrow Video have gone about bringing it to a wider audience horror of monster enthusiasts in this part of the world. It’s a surreal and very enjoyable effort from a noted filmmaker that is guaranteed to please anyone who appreciates Japanese genre films. This Blu-ray is definitely one worth picking up.