(Possible minor spoilers below)
This past Friday, I saw Masahiro Shinoda’s Demon Pond (1979) at the Film Forum in NYC (part of their ongoing Japanese Horror program), and I really enjoyed it. I went in knowing very little about the movie, but given the title, and some artwork I’ve seen, I figured it would be more of a traditional ghost story. While there is a supernatural element, the film was quite different than I imagined. In my mind, there are three distinct chapters, each with a somewhat unique tone and atmosphere.

In the opening act, which was my favorite of the film, we follow a man as he passes through a parched landscape. He soon comes upon a village that’s seemingly abandoned. There’s no dialogue in these early scenes, just the sounds of his surroundings, which added to the eerie, and ominous vibes of this setting. He eventually encounters some villagers, but right away you can tell things are pretty askew here. We learn the village is suffering from a massive drought, and it seems to be draining the life out of the town. I knew I was in for a wild ride when this visitor asks for water to get some dirt out his eye, and a woman’s solution was to nonchalantly pull out her breast to squirt some milk into his eye. Wait, what?! Look, I know there’s little to no water to go around, but breast milk ain’t the answer lady!

The stranger continues on his aimless journey, going deeper into the surrounding woods. Suddenly, he finds a woman kneeling by a small pond. Her back is turned to him as she explains the lore behind the nearby demon pond, and why the villagers are afraid to drink its water. Just hearing her voice and not being able to see her face, I imagined her to be some creepy old witch, but she’s revealed to be an innocent-looking young woman named Yuri. Still, there’s a mysterious aura about her that makes you question who or what she really is. Soon after, the protagonist has a chance encounter with someone from his past, and this sets in motion a number of events that will follow.

About an hour in, the film completely shifts gears. We go from hearing the legend of the demon pond to actually seeing the characters and creatures that inhabit this world brought to life. I was not expecting this at all, so it took me a little while to process such scenes as a human-sized crab and carp having a full-on conversation. These parts were more theatrical, and stagey, even featuring a famous Kabuki actor, Tamasaburô Bandô, as the Dragon Princess (confession:  I thought it was a woman for most of the film. I also had no idea until just recently that the character Yuri from the earlier pond scene was also played by him. That sort of broke my brain for a moment). There’s also a somewhat playful, and humorous tone here that reminded me a little of the Yokai monsters films.

The main theme that ties everything together is superstition. The villagers refuse to drink water because they believe it’s poisoned by a dragon demon. Another character is compelled to ring a bell daily because he believes it keeps a demon at bay. Even the dragon princess, and her followers are beholden to their superstitious beliefs. I found this motif to be really fascinating, especially since some character’s superstitions are in direct opposition to others – so there’s this constant push and pull happening, with neither side really being able to prove who’s beliefs are correct. It isn’t until the final act of the film where we finally get to see who (if anyone) is right. It results in a pretty epic showcase of scenes to cap off the film.

Demon Pond features a synth and electronic soundtrack from composer Isao Tomita. It’s pretty different from any other film I’ve seen from this genre, but it worked surprisingly well here, and added to the otherworldly, and sometimes trippy nature of the film. I thought the 4K restoration looked very nice as well. There were a couple wide shots that looked a little soft, but otherwise the film was nicely-detailed, and colors all well-balanced. I missed out on seeing the film when it was at MoMA a couple years back, so I’m really glad I got another opportunity to see it. With this being the 45th anniversary of the film, I hope Criterion will release the film on Blu-ray (or 4K) later this year.. (The screenshots used here were taken from Carlotta’s trailer for their Blu-ray release. While the trailer is subtitled in French, I would still recommend you only watch the first half as it gives away much of the ending)