The Haunted Lantern
(1997)
review by Head Cheeze

You gotta love the little things. Somedays you wake up, and stuff just seems to go right for you from the moment your bare feet hit the floor on the side of the bed. You may slip on a pair of pants and find a crumpled $20 dollar bill you'd no idea you had, or wake to discover there's no work today because of a fresh foot of china white snow on your lawn. You could also get a knock on your door and get a big ass envelope full of goodies from those super cool cats at Central Park Media, and inside of that envelope find one of your favourite Japanese horror flicks amongst an array of nifty comics, magazines and (wooo hooo!) asian soft core porn! While I opted to save the asian porn for a quiet night with Mrs. Cheeze, I hastily tossed in the VHS copy of The Haunted Lantern, one of the most lovingly crafted and visually stunning examples of traditional Japanese horror I've seen since Kwaidan.

Shin, a tired Samurai, is a man haunted by the vision of a young woman who commits suicide in front of him, while he is frozen and unable to help. The dreams also haunt his soon-to-be wife, but the nightmares are initially dismissed as pre-wedding jitters and Shin's reluctance to continue on as a soldier in the dynasty. During a festival in which the dead are honoured, the visions get worse, and begin to materialize in the real world in the guise of demons, hungry for the soul of the nightmare woman, and her Earthly conduits. If he hopes to survive, Shin must solve the mystery of the woman in his dreams while confronting the complications in his waking life.

The Haunted Lantern is a gorgeous film. While it's not one of the more complex examples of the Japanese horror genre, that's one of it's most charming aspects. It's an amalgam of the traditional ghost story, combined with the production style of kabuki theatre, and a healthy dose of modern horror influences ranging from The Evil Dead to Dellamorte Dellamore. The film, as lensed by director of photography Shoji Ebara, is enticingly atmospheric, with the dream world serving as the palette for much of the movie. Thick fog, cascading beams of ice blue moonlight, fire-orange skies, and delicate whites against cerulean fields of tall grass are the canvas upon which director Tsushima manipulates the action. It's definitely a few notches above the production values of the typical film, horror or otherwise.

As beautiful as The Haunted Lantern is to look at, it's almost as equally entertaining and effective as a "classic" ghost story. There aren't many scares that will rock seasoned horror fans off their seats, but those who appreciate the golden age of horror cinema will see this film as an homage to that time and appreciate it for how carefully and faitfully it recreates that era's story stylings without resorting to self-aware parody to sell itself to the modern audience. The film does feature some disturbing imagery, epsecially Shin's visions of the woman slicing her own throat, and the kabuki influenced demonic make-up. While the film is categorically a horror movie, The Haunted Lantern also features a couple of very well-fleshed out sub-plots that, in the end, turn out to be just as important to the film as a whole as the ghosts and demons. Shin's desire to leave the Samurai guard to pursue life as a painter, and his unhappiness with his arranged nuptuals play a large part in his being haunted in the first place and are part of the key to his survival.

Central Park Media released this film on DVD a few months back, but I hadn't had the chance to pick up a copy. I had seen the film on the Sundance channel and made a mental note to seek it out, but as more and more films became available I had sadly put it in the back of my mind, which is why I was so glad to see it bundled in with the CPM promotional materials! As for the VHS copy, the picture quality is fine, but the film is dubbed (something I hate) and there aren't any extras aside from a couple of promotional trailers at the beginning. I will definitely be getting the DVD of the film, however, which has multiple language tracks and a smattering of supplementals, as well as a proper widescreen transfer. Once I get my hands on it, I'll update this review with, what I hope will be, glowing reviews of the digital transfer.

The Haunted Lantern is easily one of the best Japanese horror flicks I've had the good fortune to stumble upon and comes highly recommended.