Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 7, 2021

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Yokai Monsters Collection.

Louis Malle's 1958 film The Lovers has nary a spirit or monster in it, and yet it provides a kind of interesting entrée into the world (or at least the term) of yōkai. In one of the more contentious and perhaps even weirdly amusing decisions ever handed down by the Supreme Court, in a 1964 case known as Jacobellis v. Ohio the Court famously (some might say infamously) reversed some lower court decisions in Ohio which had held a theater owner liable for exhibiting "pornography" when he screened the sexually provocative Malle opus. While the vote was a relatively lopsided six to three in favor of reversing the theater owner's conviction, there was absolutely no agreement among the justices as to why the film wasn't obscene, or tangentially why the state could or could not regulate what kinds of "pornography" could be shown. In a phrase which has since entered the public vernacular, Justice Potter Stewart, in trying to explain his rationale for deeming The Lovers as not being pornography, perhaps hemmed and hawed just a bit, before announcing that while there may not be an all encompassing or agreed upon definition of what or what not constitutes so-called hard core pornography, "I know it when I see it" (which of course may beg the question as to what kind of material Potter was watching in his spare time, and, yes, that's a joke). In somewhat the same way, there seem to be about as many definitions of yōkai as there are people offering those definitions, and in fact both the insert booklet and a number of supplements included on the discs in this set offer various interpretations of what exactly yōkai are. While there may indeed be no ultimate agreement on the term, the often whimsically entrancing films included in Arrow's set may help viewers to "know it (and/or them) when they see it (and/or them)".

In a way, this third Yokai Monsters entry may remind lovers of Japanese cinema and Daiei in particular of some of the Gamera films with regard to an emphasis on children, or in this case, one solitary child. In this particular case, the child is a little girl named Miyo (Masami Burukido), who has the misfortune to be sought after by some very nasty bad guys. In the meantime, Miyo's reverent grandfather Jinbei (Bokuzen Hidari) has tried to warn some warring samurai not to spill blood on a sacred site, and is attacked for his trouble, and it's in fact these attackers who end up chasing Miyo. Jinbei, close to perishing from his wounds, urges Miyo to seek out her father, and along the way on her heroine's quest, she meets and is helped by both humans and yōkai.

It may seem initially curious that a film like this featuring whimsical (and at times slightly frightening) creatures and a child who is herself in dire straits would be "kiddie fare", and indeed Along with Ghosts may have the most serious subtext of any of the three initial Yokai Monster films. There's almost an American Gods aspect to the story, with the denigration of ancient modes of worship providing an impetus to the plot (or at least the motives of the yōkai.

Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet aggregates all of the films in this set together on its page devoted to information on the transfers:

100 Monsters, Spook Warfare, and Along with Ghosts are presented in their original 2.35:1 aspect ratios with their original mono soundtracks.

The Great Yokai War is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with its original 5.1 Japanese soundtrack as well as a 5.1 English dub track.

The High Definition masters for 100 Monsters, Along with Ghosts, and The Great Yokai War were supplied to Arrow Films by Kadokawa Pictures; Spook Warfare was restored in 4K resolution by Kadokawa Pictures and supplied to Arrow Films.

Additional optimization on all four films was completed at R3Store Studios, London.

Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts has what to my eyes is the least pleasing transfer of the original three Yokai Monster films. This is certainly a watchable presentation, but there are some curious compression anomalies that are perhaps exacerbated by a prevalence of misty, foggy environments and a lot of dimly lit shots. Grain can look rather mottled a lot of the time, as can perhaps be gleaned in several of the screenshots accompanying this review, and fine detail levels can suffer at times. There's also noticeable age related wear and tear (see Miyo's forehead in the first screenshot for just one example). The palette is still nicely robust most of the time, at least in the more brightly lit moments. Some of the darker forest scenes have passing crush, though it seems like there was almost an intentional stylistic choice in all three of the original Yokai Monster movies to bathe a lot of the "monster" scenes in shadow, perhaps to help hide special effects technology.

Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts features a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track in the original Japanese. This film boasts a really interesting score by Chumei Watanabe, which blends acoustic and electric instruments and/or effects, but unfortunately it's beset by even worse crackle and distortion than what I mention in our Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare Blu-ray review. Luckily, the problems tend to only accrue at higher amplitudes, and so are an intermittent issue. Dialogue and effects don't tend to exhibit the same problems. Optional English subtitles are available.

Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged this set with Spook Warfare and Along With Ghosts together on one disc.

• Theatrical Trailers

  Spook Warfare (HD; 2:12)

  
  

  Along With Ghosts (HD; 2:13)

• US Re-release Trailers

  Spook Warfare (HD; 1:55)

  
  

  Along With Ghosts (HD; 1:19)

• Image Galleries

  Spook Warfare (HD)

  
  

  Along With Ghosts (HD)

Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Yokai Monsters: Along with Ghosts works up some visceral intensity by focusing on a sweet little girl trying to outrun some vicious bad guys. If once again the actual yōkai are almost sidebars to the main tale, there's some really interesting subtext in this film that furthers some of the themes presented in a slightly different way in Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters. This presentation has the least consistent video and audio quality of the three sixties films, for those who may be considering making a purchase.