Demon Pond Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Demon Pond Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 25, 2025

A supplement on this disc suggests that a childhood viewing of John Ford's The Hurricane by (future) special effects wizard Nobuo Yajima made such an impression on the tot that water effects in particular became a certain obsession of his. In that regard, it's not hard to imagine Yajima doing "field research" by watching any number of other relatively early waterlogged films, including Deluge, Noah's Ark and The Rains Came, though this brief list could certainly be augmented by moving forward through the decades to include everything from The Ten Commandments to The Abyss. If the special effects wizard is granted a supplement on this disc in spite of the fact that the special effects sequences are admittedly relatively brief (as mentioned overtly in the very supplement devoted to him), the history behind Demon Pond and perhaps especially its ties to folklore and/or myth and its use of a male performer as not one but two female characters should certainly interest many contemporary eyes, if arguably not for reasons the creators of this 1979 film may have imagined at the time.

If this film is a perceived adaptation of a 1913 play by Izumi Kyōka, its roots certainly predate even that adaptation. A wandering teacher named Gakuen Yamasawa (Tsutomu Yamazaki) almost stumbles into a seemingly mystically hidden village, where he kind of amazingly discovers his old friend Akira Hagiwara (Go Kato). Akira is married to Yuri (Tamasaburo Bando), who is rumored to be a witch. The town is in thrall to the nearby titular body of water, and in fact kind of like the hapless Desmond was tasked with doing in the much later Lost, they must regularly "push a button" (or in this case, ring a bell) in order to prevent their demise. In this case, "Desmond" is Akira, who, along with the rest of the village, believes if the bell is not struck, they will all perish in a flood of, well, Biblical proportions.

Playing out against these mere mortals is a whole separate story involving the water spirits and/or demons themselves, chief among them a so- called dragon princess named Sharayuki (also Tamasaburo Bando). It turns out the demons aren't exactly a happy lot themselves, and they have their own dreams of freedom. When the villagers get the bright idea that sacrificing Yuri to the demons will save them all, Gakuen and Akira of course attempt to intercede. Suffice it to say tragedy ensues for almost all of the humans, while the demons may finally get at least a taste of something other than being submerged.

There's an absolutely dreamlike ambience this film emanates almost like a hypnotic pheromone. Things are so patently strange that a logical analysis of the plot may well be futile. Elements of the story are certainly redolent of Shintoism, but the whole isolated village aspect kind of reminded me of a combo platter of Brigadoon and Lost Horizon, the latter example seemingly especially salient when Gakuen tries to convince Akira to leave, and Yuri seems awfully interested in keeping him where he is.

For those unacquainted with the name of Tamasaburo Bando, he is one of the most celebrated onnagatta, i.e., a male who regularly plays females in kabuki productions. This of course is a longstanding tradition in all sorts of national theaters, including notably Shakespeare back in the day, but for those interested, there are actually several rabbit holes to go down vis a vis Japanese theater in particular and how males and females played various genders at various times.

Demon Pond Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Demon Pond is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Criterion sent its 4K UHD release (which includes a 1080 disc) for purposes of this review, and I'm assuming it has the same information in its foldout leaflet as the 4K disc does in its leaflet. That leaflet contains the following information on the master:

Demon Pond is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Supervised and approved by director Masahiro Shinoda and actor Tamasaburo Bando, this 4K restoration was undertaken by Shochiku and Imagica Entertainment Media Services, Inc., from the 35 mm original camera negative. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35 mm original soundtrack negative by Shochiku MediaWorX Inc.

As I mention in the Demon Pond 4K Blu-ray review , Criterion's 4K presentation kind of amazingly does not offer any HDR grades, something I personally find kind of head scratching, but which in case may make this 1080 presentation the default for a number of reasons. Without HDR, I'd state that the palette in more or less identical in both the 1080 and 4K presentation, while the increased resolution of the 4K presentation only exacerbates unavoidable issues that attend the glut of composited effects. This 1080 presentation boasts a secure palette for the most part, with some very appealing tones on both the warm and cool ends of the spectrum, and with a generally nice accounting of fine detail on things like practical sets and costumes, at least when lighting conditions allow. A lot of this film is rather dimly lit, and the prevalence of dark scenes combined with optical effects can at least intermittently create almost, well, seas of grain that have to be waded through to get to actual imagery. There is noticeable age related wear and tear in the early going in particular, including quite a bit of image instability during the opening credits. My score is 4.25.

Demon Pond Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Demon Pond features an LPCM Mono track in the original Japanese, though it's probably the sound effects and especially the evocative synth drenched score by Isao Tomita that will be most memorable for many. Tomita's cues will certainly be familiar to anyone who had his old Snowflakes are Dancing or Pictures at an Exhibition albums, and his otherwordly synth tones really add to the dreamlike, quasi- hallucinogenic feel of the film. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Demon Pond Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Dudley Andrew (HD; 18:12) offers an interesting "multimedia" history lesson with Andrew discussing a 1913 stage version and this one.


• A Deluge of Special Effects (HD; 12:46) is a winning portrait of Japanese VFX expert Nobuo Yajima by Fabien Mauro. Subtitled in English.

A foldout leaflet with an essay by Michael Atkinson is included.

Demon Pond Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Demon Pond is often quite odd, but it has that kind of half awake liminal feeling you experience right when you're emerging from some kind of fever dream and aren't quite sure what's real and what isn't. Considering there's no HDR on the 4K disc, this 1080 disc may suffice perfectly well, with generally solid detail levels and enjoyable supplements. With caveats noted, Recommended.