Demon Pond | 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray (Criterion)
RELEASE DATE: October 15, 2024
On October 15, 2024, Criterion is releasing 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray for Demon Pond, a 1979 film from Japanese New Wave renegade Masahiro Shinoda (Ballad of Orin), who transforms a classic Kabuki tale with his own extravagant visual style in this dimension-shattering folk-horror fantasia.
When a lone traveler (Tsutomu Yamazaki) stumbles upon a remote, drought-stricken village, he finds himself engulfed in a whirlpool of myth, mystery, and magic: in a nearby pond reside spirits who hold the fate of the town’s inhabitants—including lovers Akira (Go Kato) and Yuri (Kabuki legend Tamasaburo Bando, who also plays the ethereal princess reigning over the water) — in their hands. Set to the swirling strains of electronic-music pioneer Isao Tomita’s synth score, Demon Pond blends theatrical artifice with cinematic surrealism for an aquatic-apocalyptic fable of human love and folly caught in the current of nature’s wrath.
Features:
- 4K digital restoration, supervised by director Masahiro Shinoda and actor Tamasaburo Bando, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New interview with film scholar Dudley Andrew
- Program on the film’s special effects
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Michael Atkinson
- New illustration by Yuko Shimizu
Enjoy a non-spoiler clip from the movie below:
