HAKUJA KOMACHI / WHITE SNAKE WOMAN
1958 {aka: SHIRO HEBI KOMACHI / WHITE SNAKE WOMAN}
This DAIEI film is a stunning period atmospheric ghost (yokai) story. It's initially a story of love denied. While transporting a bride-to-be in a closed carriage (kago) while during a thunderstorm, a group of servants and onlookers suddenly come upon an apparition of a ghostly white-draped female figure floating down to the ground. As she turns to face the crowd, the woman reveals the disfigured right side of her face. As the procession stands in utter horror, the ghost then takes flight again and down a side street. After the shock wears off, the bride is checked on and everyone is safe in the group. Once the wedding party finally arrives at the groom's home, they apologize for the delay... and proceed to open the kago, only to realize that the bride-to-be is now missing... and all that's left in the carriage is a single white snake slithering about.
Cue the title sequence and eerie theremin music score. The future father-in-law then reveals a bit of his past privately to his son, about the fact that he is cursed by a woman named Omiyo (RUMIKO KOMACHI), a servant that worked for his family years ago. Basically, the curse is that he will no longer be able to marry, and either will his sons. The father reveals to his son that he and Omiyo were in love, but he was forbidden by his family to marry her. Then a mysteriously strange accidental(?) fire occurs, and horribly scars the woman's face. Although not made perfectly clear in the film, she commits suicide over being distraught about her disfigured face and her forbidden relationship.
