The Woman Vampire (1959)
"Onna kyûketsuki" (original title)

Director:

Nobuo Nakagawa

Writers:

Katsuyoshi Nakatsu, Shin Nakazawa,

Stars:

Shigeru Amachi, Takashi Wada, Junko Ikeuchi

Cast

Credited cast:
Shigeru Amachi	...	Shiro Sofue / Nobutaka Takenaka
Takashi Wada	...	Tamio Oki / Journalist (as Keinosuke Wada)
Junko Ikeuchi	...	Itsuko Matsumura
Yôko Mihara	...	Miwako Matsumura / Itsuko's young mother
Torahiko Nakamura	...	Shigekatsu Matsumura
Hiroshi Sugi	...	Wada, the butler
Den Kunikata	...	Hoshino / Robber
Masao Takematsu	...	Dr. Sakakibara
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hiroshi Ayukawa	...	Editor Tanigawa
Midori Chikuma	...	Maid Tokiko
Yûzô Harumi	...	Bald Muscleman
Fujie Satsuki	...	Old Woman in Cave
Tsutomu Wakui	...	Small Man
Kyôko Yashiro	...	Tomoko

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

entranced | strangulation | young wife | bar fight | undead | 

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Genres:

Horror

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

7 March 1959 (Japan)

Also Known As:

The Lady Vampire

Filming Locations:

Shimabara, Nagasaki, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shintoho Film Distribution Committee

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

Atypical Nakagawa

You wouldn't know this film was made by Nobuo Nakagawa if the credits didn't say so. Apart from a brief flashback-within-a-flashback, the setting is contemporary, and the director seems at a loss to create tempo, suspense or atmosphere. The visual characteristics honed during his first three ghost films are almost completely absent - no lateral tracking shots, no lengthy takes, no dimming light levels. There's only one spooky sequence (a servant carrying a candle through a darkened house, responding to a summons from a room that's been unoccupied 20 years), and a small handful of innovatively-filmed shots (all involving mirrors). Particularly disappointing is the climax - far too drawn out and very clumsily edited.

Despite all these drawbacks, there are a few points worth noting. This was the first Japanese horror movie to be set in modern times. It was also the first film made in that country to feature a vampire as the protagonist, although this vampire is very different from the Western type. Finally, much of the film has the same rather tawdry look as the cheap monochrome shockers produced in Europe during the early sixties, such as Seddok and Lycanthropus, which is remarkable, considering it was made in 1958.

Vampire Woman is certainly an atypical entry in Nakagawa's filmography around this time.