AKA: Akanbo Shojo
Country and Year: Japan (2008)
Director: Yudai Yamaguchi
Starring: Nako Mizusawa, Goro Noguchi, Takumi Saito, Itsuji Itao

Review By: David Austin
Rating: 2 ½ out of 4 stars (above average)

Yudai Yamaguchi’s latest film, Tamami: The Baby’s Curse or Akanbo Shojo belongs to the rarefied subgenre of monster baby films, for which, luckily, I have a soft spot. Akanbo Shojo successfully mixes the gross-out oddity of imports like Devil Fetus with the more emotional horror of Larry Cohen’s It’s Alive, while adding a strand of jealous rivalry from sibling-based horror films like Basket Case (probably the most direct influence after It’s Alive) and the Shaw’s Siamese Twins. It’s no masterpiece but it is pretty damn fun all the same.

Akanbo Shojo actually plays to some extent like a creative collection of gothic and modern horror’s greatest hits. There’s the mad shut-in relative as in Wuthering Heights; frequent use of the subjective “Evil Dead”-cam; and a malevolent housekeeper straight out of Rebecca. Fortunately, good use is made of these influences, which are incorporated instead of being highlighted. Indeed, the Mrs. Danvers substitute has some of the best lines. However, perhaps the best example is the opening scene, in which a young Yoko (Nako Mizusawa) and her minder Mr. Yoshimura drive through the rain to the mysterious Nanjo mansion. Their chauffeur stops the car and forces them to walk the remainder of the way through the dark, wet woods. The music perfectly conjures the brilliant opening segment of Suspiria (though adding a touch of Mrs. Robinson) without being too obvious about it. Of course, when dogs begin to howl and sniff around, it is impossible to forget that the sequence owes an even greater debt to Dracula and its many filmic incarnations.

Thus does Akanbo Shojo begin, in media res. Like so many films from The Shining to Lisa and the Devil, we are only given a brief prelude in the “normal world” before moving into the realm of horror. Once Yoko arrives at her destination, the Nanjo property in the middle of the woods, the rules of the real world are left behind and she is trapped in Yamaguchi’s surreal and nightmarish territory.

Yoko is an orphan, we soon learn, and is now returning to her family for the first time in 15 years. The present year is 1960, and Yoko has been missing since she was separated from her father, Keizo Nanjo, during an attack in the last days of the war. Nanjo now lives in semi-seclusion with his collection of European medieval artifacts (including, of course, a health selection of battle axes and the acid used to polish them, extraneous items which ought to set a horror fan’s radar pinging). The only other inhabitants seemingly are his mad wife Yuko and frigid housekeeper.

Nevertheless, Yoko quickly comes to suspect the presence of another member of the family - a mysterious baby whose presence is denied by all members of the household. She is attacked on her first night in the mansion when she wanders into the wrong room – an attack soon followed by crying sounds, bloody claw marks on walls, and a beheaded doll. Inconveniently, the baby turns out to be Yoko’s mutant sister Tamami who likes to lurk in the walls and rip people’s faces off. Tamami’s intentions toward her sister are unclear for a while (sure, she leaves a dead rat for Yoko at one point, but my dad’s cat used to do that all that time, and I’m pretty sure it was a sign of affection) but eventually the two sisters are locked in a struggle to the death..

Yamaguchi is an interesting director – his commitment to slapstick, gore and sci-fi make him something of the Sam Raimi of Japan. Previous films like Cromartie High School (reviewed here) and Battlefield Baseball shared hyper-stylized school settings, while Meatball Machine prefigured the Cronenbergian body horror of this film. Here, though, Yamaguchi’s pairing with legendary horror manga author Kazuo Umezu (known for visceral but cerebral works like Drifting Classroom – viewers of Uzumaki will recognize his influence on that story’s author, Junji Ito) leads to a more controlled and atmospheric piece It may not be Bava, but it is a nod in that direction.

Mutant killer baby or no, Akanbo Shojo is truly more of a haunted house film than anything else. In the span of the first 30 minutes, Yamaguchi throws countless haunted house signifiers at us, including candelabra-lit peregrinations through strange halls, windows slamming open with the wind, thunder and lightning, creaking staircases and startling loud clock chimes. Yamaguchi further decorates the spectral Nanjo manor with eerie furnishings like red drapes that pop off the screen and overt Christian symbols.

For a film that wears its penury on its sleeve, Akanbo Shojo is a remarkably handsome production. Yes, the effects are cheap, but they are not shoddy – Yamaguchi continues his impressive track record of making a lot out of very little. The film definitely has that DTV feeling, almost like a television production, but, given the small scale of the production, it could have been much worse. Tamami’s attack scenes in the latter half of the film in particular feature an effective blend of latex puppet effects and CGI.

The effects and the story actually come together quite nicely to create an effective horror experience. While the film is probably not intended to be serious, Yamaguchi keeps his tongue planted firmly in cheek, allowing Akanbo Shojo to enjoy a certain wackiness while retaining the necessary atmosphere.

Recommended? Akanbo Shojo is a surprisingly solid bit of filmmaking that showcases Yamaguchi’s increasing grasp on storytelling while retaining his flair for the insane. By the way, if I’m ever in a house and think I hear a baby where there should not be one, and my host responds to my inquiries by asking, “Did the baby do something to you?” I’m getting the hell out of there.

If you like this, you might like: It’s Alive, Basket Case, Devil Fetus, Spider Baby, Uzumaki

© David Austin