The way this film juggles being a samurai/yakuza, crime, and horror film all at once is quite impressive, and keeps things from feeling predictable. It's worth watching to see all those genres in play at once.
I think it may have become a little less satisfying in the second half, with maybe more characters than it needed, and Meiko Kaji (who's great here) unfortunately gets a little less focus in that back half.
It comes together well enough by the end at least, and the action's pretty good, the samurai/yakuza stuff is fun, and the horror elements work well, leading to a couple of creepy sequences. It's an odd and pretty good movie overall.