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What do you get when Noriaki Yuasa, director of Daiei Studios' much-beloved Gamera series, makes a monochrome film adaptation of the works of horror manga pioneer Kazuo Umezu (The Drifting Classroom)? The answer is 1968's The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch, a fantastically phantasmagorical slice of twisted tokusatsu terror ostensibly made for children that will irreparably traumatize any child that sees it! A young girl named Sayuri is reunited with her estranged family after years in an orphanage - but trouble lurks within the walls of the large family home. Her mother is an amnesiac after a car accident six months earlier, her sullen sister is confined to the attic and a young housemaid dies inexplicably of a heart attack just before Sayuri arrives... is it all connected to her father's work studying venomous snakes? And is the fanged, serpentine figure that haunts Sayuri's dreams the same one spying on her through holes in the wall? Making its worldwide Blu-ray debut and its home video premiere outside Japan, this rarely-screened, nightmarishly disorienting creepshow not only displays a seldom-seen side of kaiju auteur Yuasa, but its skilful blending of Umezu's comics (published in English-language markets as Reptilia) arguably anticipates many of the trends seen in J-horror decades later.

Media

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Bonus Materials

• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Original uncompressed mono audio
• Optional English subtitles
• Brand new commentary by film historian David Kalat
• This Charming Woman, a newly filmed interview with manga and folklore scholar Zack Davisson
• Theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring new and original artwork by Mike Lee-Graham
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors' booklet featuring new writing by Raffael Coronelli

Press Quotes

The triumph of the movie's practical FX and the collision between its blend of family adventure and theatrical horror is impossible to look away from.

     —Andrew Crump, Fangoria

We have seen other Japanese movies based on fairy tales... but nothing quite like this

     —Japan on Film

With obvious comparisons to Hausu aside, this film could have been an influence on any number of Obayashi movies. Trippy and playful - a Scooby Doo horror that probably scared the shit out of kids back in the day.'

     —Anthony De Luca, Mubi Movie Guide

Fast paced and interesting, with many jaw-dropping moments

     —Mark Hodgson, Black Hole Reviews

So watchable! A gleefully odd horror movie which has a wonderful sense of aesthetic

     —Michael Hewis, Cinema of the Abstract

Definitely worth seeking out... this is spooky, fun stuff

     —Asian Movie Enthusiast

Arrow Video are a fantastic Blu-ray outlet pressing quality cult and genre films week after week. [The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch] has never been released on any home video format in North America... and, as you might have already guessed, the results are spectacular.

     —Cinema Stance

Freaky! Very much a Universal Monsters Movie feel but Japanese style. Really creepy, really good

     —Cinestalker

Arrow Video’s Re-Issue Of ‘The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch’ Will Appeal To Horror & Manga Fans Alike - Surprisingly Impressive

     —Phil's Picks

The Snake Girl and The Silver-haired Witch delivers and then some with stylish visuals that are overflowing with a foreboding atmosphere and a superbly realized premise that does a fantastic job of mixing suspense and the supernatural

     —10K Bullets

Eerie…surreal…and the horrors don’t stop at reptiles

     —Comicon

Snake Girl is worth the watch

     —The Snake Girl And The Silver-Haired Witch [Blu-ra, Film Cultist

The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch is a modernist folk-story brought to life with so much charisma and weirdness that it’s a demonic delight to behold from sinister start to frightful finish!

     —The Snake Girl And The Silver-Haired Witch [Blu-ra, Horror Fuel

This artwork and slipcover is freakin' awesome. I'm excited about this one.

     —The Snake Girl And The Silver-Haired Witch [Blu-ra, Screaming Cinema

Yuasa doesn’t play down to his young audience, instead generating a genuinely eerie, adult-friendly tone, like that found in other countries’ and era’s fairytale horror movies, like Dario Argento’s Suspiria and Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth

     —Gabe Powers, Genre Grinder

Shaw Brothers films have been popping up on home video for years in moderately satisfying versions. But none of them can hold a candle to Arrow Films’ Shawscope Volume One limited edition. Even the box itself is a treat to display.

     —Movie Line Online

There are snakes, giant spiders, a mysterious sister who was snake bitten, disembodied laughter, and unexplained events.

     —Coffee Coffee And More Coffee

Makes for a surreal experience

     —Film Cultist

A crazy Japanese Horror film - weird... creepy... kitschy!

     —Wade Major, DigiGods

This movie looks gorgeous. The featurette about the film and its manga roots is very interesting. Really, really cool

     —Mark Nelson, The Cinemaniacs!

Very much worth your time

     —Zombies Don't Run