Requiem from the Darkness -
Volume 2: Human Atrocity
(MVM PAL Region 2 DVD)
(2005)
review by Blackgloves

The second volume of the horror anthology series based on the novel by Natsuhiko Kyogoku, arrives with three more macabre episodes continuing the adventures of the itinerant riddle writer, Momosuke Yamaoka, and his travels with a trio of enigmatic sorcerers called the "Ongyo", in a quest for more material for his planned book of ghost stories, titled "The One-Hundred Stories". The three stories included here once again blur the boundary between the psychological and the mythical, suggesting the dark threads of human suffering that underlie the ghoulish legends which are the backbone of Yamaoka's ghost story compilation. 

 

Episode 5, "Salty Choji" is an earthy tale of cannibalism and supernatural visitation, full of Gothic drama. Yamaoka and his three mysterious companions find themselves in a rocky, mist-shrouded mountainous landscape. While the Ongyo find their way to a crumbling Inn, presided over by two beautiful young girls called Shiratama and Kuromame, Yamaoka gets lost in the fog and ends up delirious and close to death on a roadway that leads to a large, rambling Gothic mansion. The three Ongyo, meanwhile, discover that their delicate hosts at the Inn are really two trollish hermit-like creatures, known to them as Granny White Hermit and Granny Black Hermit! They have tricked the three Ongyo into helping them with a mystery that surrounds the mansion that the ailing Yamaoka now resides at and it seems that the young riddle writer is merely a pawn in their plans. The youngster is nursed back to health but begins to think that a strange legend about a horse whose spirit took possession of someone after they ate its meat might have relevance to his own ailment — especially when a horse from a large painting in the mansion, seems to come to life and gallop around the corridors! The truth turns out to be even more perverse and bizarre when Momosuke discovers the hideously diseased and deformed master of the house being secretly kept in one of the lower chambers.

 

Episode 6 is called "Shibaemon The Raccoon Dog". Once again, a story about a human changing into an animal is really a metaphor for human psychological torment. A troupe of puppeteers called the Shibaemon seems to be a front for a murderous killer who changes into a viscous dog. It is up to Yamaoka and his three companions to excavate the truth behind the myth and the story gets stranger when a man claims that he is actually a racoon dog who has forgotten how to change back into his original form!

 

The final episode on this disc is the creepiest, and encompasses the theme of necrophilia in a disturbing tale of a ghostly figure which is often seen lying in a decayed state at the Katabira Cross-roads. Momosuke is distressed to find the corpse of his companion, the beautiful sorceress Ogin, in the same spot when he investigates the story. A legend about a beautiful princess, who decreed that her body should be left to decay in public, and a mysterious noble man, Geneba Sasayama, hold the key to this macabre mystery.

 

Once again this series looks hugely original and compelling: inky charcoal drawing and a mixture of lurid colours in a water-colour style conjure the correct mood; and the character designs are as offbeat and grotesque as ever. However the storylines do get rather confused and even formulaic — it's now becoming easier to predict the outcome of each episode, even when one doesn't entirely understand what is going on! So far the show has a very episodic structure with no real story arcs to speak of to help give it more depth. At the moment though, the heady visual style is still enough to carry it — and their is no shortage of gore either!

 

The show is still worth following though, although there are really no extras worth mentioning, and only three episodes are included on this second volume.