Dir: Kevin Connor
Frustrating early 80s B-Grader that has some amazing ideas but takes them too frequently into the realms of the absurd. A 30-something American couple (Susan George and Edward Albert) move to Japan and end up renting a cheap but haunted Japanese cottage. The ghosts are those of a samurai, his wife and her lover. The latter two were decapitated by the former some time in the 1840s and they now cause merry mayhem together by appearing face-up in the soup bowls, smashing dinner plates and unleashing a legion of (actually really horrifying) giant black crabs who babble in Japanese. The absurdity of some of the scare scenes unfortunately drains an excellent premise dry of any real power it could have. A subplot with some eerie Noh masks is a subtle masterstroke and if it'd been pushed to the foreground and accompanied with stronger characterisation in the three main protagonists, this could've been a classic nerve-shredder. Still, in spite of its many flaws, the direction is strong, the sets are lovely and the relentlessly downbeat ending still unnerves a little. **1/2
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