Noriaki Yuasa might not be the most famous director in Japan during the late ’60s and early ’70s. But his lack of name recognition is mostly because he worked with one of the largest stars in the country. He directed 7 of the 8 classic Gamera films. He sat in the director’s chair and yelled action as a giant turtle crushed Tokyo and was a friend to all the children. Even though he didn’t direct Gamera Versus Barugon, Noriaki Yuasa served as special effects director. In the middle of working with the turtle, Noriaki Yuasa went to work with a few normal sized reptiles on The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch.
After years of staying an boarding school run by nuns, Sayuri Nanjo (Yachie Matsui) is returning home to reunite with her family. This should be happy except her old house is truly messed up. Before she arrives a creepy looking hand takes a snake out of a cage and tosses it at the maid. She dies almost immediately from the toxic venom. It might not be a good thing for Sayuri to sleep in her old bed. Turns out dad (Yoshirô Kitahara) has poison snakes in the basement as part his research. Her mother (Yûko Hamada) is a bit unstable since an accident. She discovers there’s a girl living in the attic that is her sister according to mom. Tamami (Mayumi Takahashi). Sayuri has no memory of a sister, but begins to have strange dreams that the girl is part snake. But is this more than a dream? There’s also a demonic looking woman with silver-hair and fang teeth that’s tormenting Sayuri. She really needs to get back to the nuns.
The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch is a lot more nightmare inducing than anything in a Gamera movie. It’s hard to know who was supposed to see this film when it came out in 1968. Yachie Matsui was only 10 at the time so this would seem to be aimed for the same people who bought tickets to Gamera vs Gyaos and Gamera vs. Viras that Daiei had put out with Noriaki Yuasa directing. But none of the snakes and the Silver-Haired Woman are friends to children like the giant turtle. This film is meant for at least high school aged viewers.
Even though Yuasa had been shooting with color film on the most recent Gamera movies, Snake Girl was a black and white horror. This lack of hues adds to the general spooky nature of the movie. Somebody at Daiei Studios knew this film might look a bit too comical in color. The fake snakes in the dream sequences look a bit more imposing in greys with a hazy hypnotic circles. The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch is a rather sleek and scary film that shows Yuasa could do more than make a turtle fly.
The video is a 2.35:1 anamorphic. The black and white image brings out the snake fears. The audio is DTS-HD MA mono. There’s only a Japanese soundtrack. The movie is subtitled.
Commentary by David Kalat gets into how the film came about and background on cast and crew.
This Charming Woman with Zack Davisson (27:40) has him explain the movie in the sense of the legends of the area involving snakes. He goes into the films comic book origins. They show panels from the Magna.
Theatrical Trailer (2:08) sets up the cursed home with reptiles, spiders and spooky things.
Image Gallery has 12 press photos, a press kit, poster and VHS box. It double billed with Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare and triple billed with Warning From Space and Gamera Vs. Gayos. Noriaki Yuasa worked on all three films.
Arrow Video presents The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch. Directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Screenplay by Kimiyuki Hasegawa. Starring Kuniko Miyake, Yuko Hamada, Sachiko Meguro, Yachie Matsui, Yoshiro Kitahara, Tadashi Date, Mariko Fukuhara, Mayumi Takahashi, Osamu Maruyama and Kazuo Umezu. Running Time: 82 minutes. Rated: Unrated. Release Date: September 21, 2021.
