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The Snow Woman
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Radiance Films Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (14th June 2025). |
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The Film
 Shigetomo (Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters' Tatsuo Hananuno) and his young apprentice Yosaku (Harakiri's Akira Ishihama) hike deep into the woods in search the idea tree for his commission to carve a statue of the goddess Kannon. As night falls, the two shelter in a cabin and fall asleep around the fire. A blizzard springs up inexplicably and brings with it Yuki-onna, the Snow Woman who drains Shigetomo of his life essence, freezing him with her icy breath. She then notices Yosaku and is struck by his youth and beauty, sparing him but holding him to a promise that he will never speak of seeing her to anyone or she will find him and kill him. As Yosaku convalesces in the home of his master cared for by his widow (Rhapsody in August's Sachiko Murase), the tree that Shigetomo chose is delivered to the village and the monks of the temple offer Yosaku the commission to carve the statue which he reluctantly accepts despite believing his deferential claims that he is inexperienced and unworthy of the honor. Not long after, his master's widow gives shelter and hospitality to young Yuki (Zatoichi on the Road's Shiho Fujimura), an orphan stopping on a long trip to another village in search of work. Yosaku grows attracted to Yuki but their bond is sealed when his master's widow, on her death bed after being beaten by bailiff Lord Jitto (The Ghost of Yotsuya's Fujio Suga) for trying to protect children who ran into the path of his horse, beseeches Yuki to take care of Yosaku. Having grown obsessed with Yuki, Lord Jitto is determined to ruin Yosaku by bringing in his own artist (Godzilla 1985's Mizuho Suzuki) to carve a rival statue to be judged by the temple's High Priest. When Jitto attempts to take Yuki by force, she may have to betray her true nature as The Snow Woman (if that was not already obvious). Although the yuki-onna was a well-known yokai even before the publication of Lafcadio Hearn's story collection, the Hearn story indeed served as the basis not only for the telling in the Masaki Kobayashi's portmanteau Kwaidan but also for The Snow Woman (Hearn's collections having first been published outside Japan and then translated into Japanese and published there after his death). The basics of the story are the same – the appearance of the Snow Woman, the death of the elder woodsman, the promise under threat of death, the courtship of the younger woodsman and the orphaned Yuki, the inevitable point where he breaks his promise, and the outcome – but the expansion of the story to feature-length (even at under eighty minutes) is not unlike more modern attempts at turning urban legends into features like Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman or the many more recent feature-length takes on viral short horror films. The effectiveness of these stories lies in their cause-and-effect simplicity and the viewer's anticipation of what will happen when the protagonist does what they were told not to do. The notion of a yokai's love for a human being and whether Yosaku is in love with Yuki for who she is or some subconscious notion of who she really is, and what will cause him to break his promise take a back seat to melodrama as Yuki risks exposing herself to help her husband. On the other hand, since the story does end with Yuki once again sparing Yosaku for the sake of their children – although this film more so than the Kwaidan rendition does suggest that she still loves him in spite of his betrayal – rather than killing him as one would expect from a yu-rei (or even the unacknowledged gargoyle creature take on the legend in Tales from the Darkside: The Movie – the addition of the Lord Jitto character does give the audience a bookending depiction of the Yuki-onna's deadly powers. The film's Daieiscope/Eastmancolor cinematography by Chikashi Makiura (The Tale of Zatoichi) is appropriately "theatrical" in its lighting effects accompanying the yuki-onna's appearances but the production design of Akira Naitô (Daimajin) and the scoring of Akira Ifukube (Godzilla), on the other hand, are less "avant-garde" than the Kobayashi film. The special effects could either be described as more accomplished or just more "showy" in conveying the yuki-onna's icy breath and its freezing effect on the environment and flesh and blood beings. While the story is less-than-satisfying, The Snow Woman is a masterful visual delight. Director Tokuzô Tanaka started out at Daiei as an assistant director on Rashomon and would later helm the shapeshifting cat yu-rei movie The Haunted Castle for Daiei. 
Video
Although it had some subtitled theatrical play stateside through Daiei's own theaters, The Snow Woman has only been available on DVD in Japan. Radiance's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray - previously available in the three-disc Daiei Gothic - Japanese Ghost Stories set (also available in the U.K.) - comes from a new 4K restoration by Kadokawa that is spotless and spectacular. Two minute jump cuts early in the film during the yuki-onna's first appearance are not damage but a deliberate choice to try to conceal the effect of the snow woman's changing features as she passes behind foreground objects. The element is spotless and there is nice detail in the wood grain of the sets, the textures of fake ice and snow, and in close-ups of faces and hair while some of the more intensely lit sequences almost look like they were shot yesterday. 
Audio
Classic Japanese studio films have always boasted some of the best mono tracks in terms of creativity and fidelity – with the Westrex noiseless recording making some of the silences truly unnerving – and the LPCM 2.0 mono track is immaculate with clear post-dubbed dialogue, effects, and scoring (there are no notes about the audio side of Kadokawa's restoration so we have no idea how much work was required or the state of the audio materials). Optional English subtitles are free of spelling errors. 
Extras
The film is accompanied by an appreciation by filmmaker Masayuki Ochiai (15:49) who discusses the Hearn story and the legend, as well as discussing the difference between prank-playing yokai and grudge-carrying yu-rei (and why the latter seem to be more popular in modern J-horror). "The Haunted Mind of Lafcadio Hearn" (6:47) is a visual essay by scholar Paul Murray who discusses the effect of religion on Irish writer Hearn's belief in the supernatural as the child of a Greek Orthodox mother, protestant father, having as a guardian a Catholic aunt, and encountering Buddhism when he was writing for a newspaper in New Orleans. Murray also discusses a precursor for his Japanese folklore collections from his time in the West Indies, and then his trip on assignment to Japan where he would stay for fourteen years and become immersed in Buddhism and Shintoism. The disc also includes a Japanese theatrical trailer (2:16). 
Overall
Based on the original Japanese legend better known from its Lafcadio Hearn adaptation in Kwaidan, The Snow Woman remains true to its warm yet tragic heart.
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