Daiei Gothic: Japanese Ghost Stories | Blu-ray (Radiance)

RELEASE DATE: October 28, 2024

On October 28, 2024, Radiance Films is releasing the 3-Film Blu-ray (Region A/B) set for Daiei Gothic – Japanese Ghost Stories, which includes 1959’s The Ghost of Yotsuya, 1968’s The Snow Woman, and 1968’s The Bride from Hades.

A collection of three of Japan’s most famous ghost stories that have haunted people for centuries. Kenji Misumi (Lone Wolf and Cub) directs The Ghost of Yotsuya, in which a woman returns from the grave as a horribly disfigured phantom to torment her husband and his new bride. In The Snow Woman, directed by Tokuzo Tanaka (Zatoichi), a woodcutter must keep his oath to a vengeful female spirit or pay the ultimate price. The Bride from Hades by Satsuo Yamamoto (Shinobi) sees a handsome samurai so enchanted by a courtesan’s beauty that he fails to realise she is a ghost.

These three film versions from the Daiei studio form a pinnacle of atmospheric Japanese horror. Their elegant visuals and ominous shadows rival the best of Terence Fisher or Mario Bava, while their iconic female ghosts would greatly influence Asian genre cinema, from Hong Kong fantasy spectacles such as A Chinese Ghost Story to  J-horror.

Features:

• New 4K restorations of The Bride from Hades and The Snow Woman
• High-Definition digital transfer of The Ghost of Yotsuya
• Uncompressed mono PCM audio for each film
• Optional English subtitles for all films
• Newly designed box and booklet artwork by Time Tomorrow
• Six postcards featuring original archive imagery from the films
• Limited edition 80-page perfect bound book featuring new writing by authors Tom Mes, Zack Davisson and Paul Murray, newly translated archival reviews and ghost stories by Lafcadio Hearn
• Limited Edition of 4,000 copies presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases for each film and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

THE GHOST OF YOTSUYA:

• New interview with filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa
• A visual essay on the history and adaptations of the classic Ghost of Yotsuya story by author Kyoko Hirano
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Filippo Di Battista

THE BRIDE FROM HADES:

• Audio commentary by author Jasper Sharp
• New interview with filmmaker Hiroshi Takahashi
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Filippo Di Battista

THE SNOW WOMAN:

• New interview with filmmaker Masayuki Ochiai
• A visual essay on writer Lafcadio Hearn by Paul Murray
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Filippo Di Battista

This title will soon be available at The Goodie Emporium, a U.S.-based online store that currently has many Import Shaw Brothers/Golden Harvest/martial arts DVD/Blu-ray movies in-stock – with New titles being added regularly!