Demons (1971)

Demons, aka Pandemonium (修羅, Shura) is a 1971 Japanese samurai jidaigeki / horror film directed by Toshio Matsumoto. Referring to asuras, the movie is based on Tsuruya Nanboku and Shuji Ishizawa's play Kamikakete Sango Taisetsu, and reflects the director's experimental filming background and theatrical influence. It was released on 13 February 1971 in Japan by the Art Theatre Guild and Matsumoto Productions Company, almost two years after the director's first feature-length attempt, Funeral Parade of Roses.

The film is a portrait of feudal Japan's society and culture. Related to older samurai genre films and the classic tale of the forty-seven ronin, it begins with a colorful setting sun, but the rest of the film is shot in black and white.

Synopsis

The main character Gengobe (Katsuo Nakamura), an exile masterless samurai (Ronin), is facing a moral dilemma: either help a courtesan he loves, or join his clan in a campaign of honor. When the geisha and her husband rob him of his reinstatement money, Gengobe's guilt drives him to paths of distraction. As the story develops, secrets are revealed but the dark fate that portends is not avoided.

Actors