Demon of Mount Oe Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Demon of Mount Oe Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 8, 2025

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Daiei Gothic: Japanese Ghost Stories Vol. 2 collection from Radiance Films.

Almost exactly a year ago, Radiance released Daiei Gothic: Japanese Ghost Stories, which kind of interestingly came out simultaneously with another at least tangentially related release from Arrow, J-Horror Rising. As was discussed in my Daiei Gothic: Japanese Ghost Stories Blu-ray review, I found the Radiance aggregation to be more compelling than the Arrow collection, and even without any "competing" release from Arrow this time around, this offers another appealing trio of ghost stories, though it may frankly be some "extracurricular" contextual elements rather than the films themselves that engender at least some of the interest, especially when viewing this trio through the prism of Daiei kind of slowly stumbling toward bankruptcy in 1971.

A lot of low budget "monster movies" can tend to keep any actual views of their focal beasts to a minimum, frequently consigning them to dimly lit moments toward the end of the film in "cameo" appearances just lengthy enough to be co-opted into trailers, whetting appetites for something which perhaps hilariously never actually occurs in the film. In that regard, Demon of Mount Oe, which probably had a more fulsome expense account than typical Hollywood B-movies, wastes absolutely no time in revealing its titular monster, though that turns out to be a kind of "reverse tease", in that "monsters" per se, at least not in the traditional sense, or even the way the opening alludes to, are maybe not the actual focus of the story. Some may remember a best selling novel called Grendel by John Gardner which came out a bit more than a decade after this film, and which revisited the legend of Beowulf from its monster's perspective, and there's something at least a bit similar going on with Demon of Mount Oe.

As with its "siblings" in this set, Demon of Mount Oe is derived from an earlier source, in this case a legend of a demon called Shuten-dōji. What is evidently a "traditional" depiction of the demise, or at least attempted demise, of the demon opens the film, but what follows is what might be termed a deconstruction of a legend, with what also might be called the "origin story" of the demon. This is all presented in what the venerable Paul Harvey used to call "the rest of the story" on his radio anecdotes, though kind of interestingly in that regard, it seems like the original has been redacted or at least condensed, even according to the very quick introductions of several characters in the opening "meta" vignette who are more or less nowhere to be seen in what follows.

There are some really interesting sidebar elements to the story that are addressed in some of the supplements, including an almost musical element added for actress Kikuko Fuji, as well as some maybe not quite Harryhausen level old style practical special effects.

Demon of Mount Oe Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Demon of Mount Oe is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Radiance's insert booklet lumps all three films together on a page providing technical information, and has the following information on the transfers:

Demon of Mount Oe, The Haunted Castle, and Ghost of Kasane Swamp were scanned in 4K resolution at Imagica laboratory in Tokyo, Japan. The films were restored by Radiancea t Heavenly Movie Corporation using the Phoenix system to remove dirt, debris, scratches and other damage to the image. Coloru grading was performed using DaVinci Resolve. Audio restoration was performed using Izotope. The films are presented in their original aspect ratios with original mono audio.

Demon of Mount Oe has a kind of oddly very badly scratched title sequence, and is arguably the least impressively suffused of the three films in this set, though there are still definitely pops of color evident. In some ways, and perhaps unfortunately due to the slightly wan quality of some of the palette, this has some of the most ostensibly colorful moments in the entire set, though some are relatively fleeting, as in some almost Bava-esque purples somewhat late in the story, as well as a brief moment with a Buddha that is surrounded by bright green hues. Outdoor material probably fares the best overall in terms of both saturation and detailing. Close-up can at least occasionally show nice levels of fine detail, to the point that you can actually make out where some of the makeup powder ends on faces.

Demon of Mount Oe Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Demon of Mount Oe features an LPCM Mono track in the original Japanese. Once again, there's noticeable hiss in the presentation, and I'd probably rate this track as the most prevalent in that regard. That said, another really remarkable score and accompanying sound effects provide a lot of sonic energy, even if (as with some of the other films in this set), there can be some slight distortion in some of the sound effects in particular. Scoring, including the sung elements, tends to offer fewer issues. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Demon of Mount Oe Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Taichi Kasuga (HD; 18:54) features the Japanese period film historian looking at this piece as a historical epic. Subtitled in English.


• Blade of the Demon-Slayer (HD; 4:04) offers Tom Mes giving some background on the sword at the center of the story.


• Trailer (HD; 2:56)

Demon of Mount Oe Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The idea of basing a film on "exposing" what really happened in a venerable folktale is kind of inherently fascinating, but it never quite reaches its full potential here, hobbled perhaps in part by some less than amazing special effects which may in fact engender as many giggles as goosebumps. There's still some slightly goofy fun to be had here. This has probably the least vividly suffused transfer of the set, but as with the other films in the collection, the supplements are enjoyable. With caveats noted, Recommended.