For quite a while humans and the Yokai shape-shifting monsters were able to live in harmony. But, soon the racist humans wanted the Yokai out of the equation with war sending the monsters into exile. Master Onizo wishes for harmony to exist once again and has benefited from what he believed was a satisfying relationship with Yamayi-sama, a leader-on-the-rise for the humans hoping to win a place in the hierarchy of the Lord. To decidedly earn a high position, Yamayi-sama plans to wipe out the Yokai remaining alive under Onizo's clan, betraying his trust and ruining his vision of peace. Kikio, a human, is actually Onizo's woman and a picture of beauty who is spiritually driven often seen on her knees praying. Enter in the Yokai Samurai warrior Kibakichi(Ryuuji Harada whose penetrating anguished eyes peer from a mass of hair)who is a loner often living amongst the humans, who now hates them with a prolonging passion. He trusted them once, like Onizo does now, and paid the price for it costing the lives of an entire peaceful village of hidden Yokai who were wiped out by the blind-sided human attack. Kibakichi makes his way into the clan of Onizo, whose major interest to the outside world is his illegal gambling table. In an interesting note, various Yokai killers, often find their way into secret rooms by Onizo where they are killed by the monsters. Kibakichi tries desperately to warn Onizo and his men against trusting Yamayi-sama, but the unrelenting hope for peace against the endless violence is all the boss is consumed with. As one would expect, Yamayi-sama does plan to attack what he considers a thorn in his side and that would be Onizo's village using more modern weaponry brought in from England..a massive rotating machine gun that will eliminate the more primitive foes who merely use swords. Dubbing it the end result a massacre, would be an understatement. But, when you unleash the beast within Kibakichi all the machine guns, men, and grenades may not stop him.A stunning film, featuring some amazing swordplay, beautiful photography and lighting(I adore how Tomoo Haraguchi and cinematographer Shôji Ebara hit a patch of light on characters' faces as they sit amongst darkened rooms and also shade their monsters only giving the viewer enough during a portion of the film to know that they are not human), and some gut-wrenching gore. Lots of decapitated heads and arms, blood that squirts in endless supplies as complete arms are sliced off. One sequence shows, in Kibakichi's opening battle, a sword sticking in the ground with a chopped off hand still clutching it! Kibakichi is essentially a werewolf, but director Haraguchi waits to unveil that beast late in the major showdown when the humans try to hit him with everything they got. Nozomi Andô as Onizo's human love Kikyo is very beautiful underneath a quiet exterior.I watched the subtitled version, so I saw the best the film could offer me. I know it's received some criticism on here, but I had one hell of a good time with this flick. The monster battle at the end and the intense gunfire exploding all around Kibakichi in werewolf form as the city is destroyed around him are amazing action set-pieces. Highly recommended to those with fairly strong stomachs.

I found this movie pretty cool! Indeed the effects aren't like in the matrix, but hey, we don't all have millions to spend on effects.The plot is simple: Kibakishi is a samurai/werewolf who wanders around. And some day arrives in a village that is different from others and starts playing a good game of dice at the "casino". The story takes place in Japan of course, (I don't know the time it takes place, but ballistic guns are a new concept, so maybe in the 1900s, about the same time as in the movie The Last samurai).So like I said the effects aren't hardcore, but they are well done, and the blood spilling effects make you think of Kill Bill, haha. The actors are marvelous, they really help you immerse in this fantastic world. Even though the movies isn't as appealing as a Hollywood big cash blockbuster, it was quite entertaining and the way the story is brought in and presented is worth the while.

I'm not sure what my wife expected when she rented "Kibakichi," but it surely wasn't this odd mix of kung fu, spaghetti western and horror. The film was suspenseful and kept our interest throughout. We weren't distracted by dubbing or special effects. Japanese monsters aren't necessarily supposed to be realistic, and we're used to Asian films where the words don't always match the speaker's mouth movements.The biggest problem I had with the film is the lack of sympathetic characters, including the titular hero. I simply couldn't find anyone to root for. The scriptwriters plainly want the viewer to feel sorry for the Yokai, Japanese mythological monsters. They display commendable family values and have formed a warm, supportive community among themselves. Humans in the film are depicted as cunning, ruthless murderers. Which might have been convincing but for gruesome scenes showing what happens to the monsters' human guests, who are innocent passers-by for all we know. It just doesn't wash.My wife picked this one out because she was tired of Godzilla flicks and didn't want another Japanese monster movie. Boy, was she fooled!

Where to end? This movie is kinda woeful, you realise after about 10 mins that they had very little money indeed, what they had they seem to have saved by skimping on actors. The Plot? That doesn't matter in the least. The effects? Very poor. The editing? Not too bad actually and the look of the film is half decent. But none of that's important, none of it, what is important is the dubbed version.Its simply beautiful. Lip sinked by a blind man, scripted by an inbred and performed, by the sound of it, by a motley band of monkeys, castratoes and men who have had all trace of emotion removed from them.High pitched comedy voices and cackling abound. Oh the cackling, must be the only film in history to have its own cackling department. Any old dialogue that sort of fits is used, followed by half a second of their mouths still moving. That's when they don't simply fill the gap with cackling. You may have noted there's a lot of cackling in this movie (to be truthful some of that cackling might be mu ha hah ing or even gaffawing, only the experts from the cackling department would be able to tell us).I suppose the plot should be given a mention. Werewolf samurai, fights monsters, some of those monsters are human. With the usual mix of clans missions etc, it does have spider whores, which can only be a good thing. It moves briskly enough and has enough oddness to entertain.Perfect for a booze and pizza night.