Descent but forgettable early J-horror. Basically, an evil-cat spirit living in a mansion haunts the new owners and tries to kill the consumptive wife. Some interesting use of non-linear narrative in this film, with three distinct periods shot in three different modes of color. Most of the middle time-period (the bluescale) story was engaging and great for a horror movie. When it jumped back to the past (in color), it changed tone pretty heavily and became more of a samurai slasher flick. This was less engaging. Also, the resolution was not satisfying. Appreciated the practical special effects and the soundtrack which reminded me of old universal horror movies. A decent 7, probably not worth a rewatch though.

The film starts off as a blue and white film. There is a hideous blue tint, making this seem so amateurish. Luckily these scenes only bookend a rather mesmerizing middle. As the story is recounted, we see an absolute arse faced samurai, let his temper get the better of him. This soon leads to murder, which leads to suspicion, followed by rape, and then madness. The story is creepy at times, but when the cat/ghost woman has cat ears pop-up on top of her head, it's rather a funny sight. I never felt threatened by the "horror" on screen. It seemed at times as though the middle section was made and just wasn't enough for a motion picture, resulting in the poorly assembled present day sequences. The film's running time works in its favor, but the period piece certainly could have made a longer film, if it bothered to deal with the descent into madness and the horrific acts gradually increasing.