Scream Factory offers movie fans a double feature on Blu-Ray with the theme of Asian culture driving the plots for both films. For folks that love Asian films, these two films offer up a helping of Asian genre entertainment with slight twists to them. The first feature is 1982’s “The House Where Evil Dwells,” a supernatural thriller that is basically “Amityville Horror” with a Japanese twist. It’s also just as goofy as the former ghost film. The Fletchers have migrated from the US to Japan in hopes of taking a long needed vacation. Writer Ted is intent on finishing his novel and is anxious to relax. The trio along with Ted’s friend Alex ends up at a small house in the woods of Kyoto where they’re told by Alex’s friend that the house’s rent is cheap due to suspected ghosts.
Almost a century before, a samurai murdered his wife after cheating on him with one of his students. After decapitating him, he murdered his wife and committed seppuku. While settling down wife Laura finds an ancient figurine owned by the past owner, and soon enough Ted and Laura begin to find that the house is actually quite haunted. It also begins possessing them in to committing horrible deeds on one another and changing their attitudes. It doesn’t help that wife Laura is having a torrid affair with Ted’s friend Alex, prompting the spirits of the original owners to arise and begin manipulating the family in to more violent behavior. “The House Where Evil Dwells” moves at a slugs pace, with almost no tension and a lot of ridiculous scenes that are supposed to count as scares.
One scene sees their young daughter being terrorized by large demonic crabs, while her nanny runs off leaving her for death. The entire supernatural activity builds up to a brutally campy and silly climax, where Ted confronts wife Laura, prompting the spirits of the house to watch and literally cheer his violence on like a sports crowd. When husband Ted and Laura’s lover Alex eventually comes face to face, their “dramatic” showdown includes possession, kung fu, and a sword fight. Kevin Connor’s supernatural thriller is absolutely ridiculous and bereft of any creeps or scares. From Empire there’s 1984’s “Ghost Warrior,” a decent twist on the time travel film starring Hiroshi Fujioka as ancient samurai Yoshimitsu whose wife is murdered by a gang of soldiers. Despite his bid for peace, he confronts the army and falls in to the river left to freeze.
In the twentieth Century, Yoshimitsu is discovered by local scientists who accidentally thaw him out. Alive and very conscious, Yoshimitsu manages to escape and tries to comprehend the modern Los Angeles. Wandering around, he comes across a slew of adventures, including befriending a kind elderly old man, and running afoul a local gang of thugs who are hell bent on murdering him. When the scientists begins tracking Yoshimitsu down to bring him back to the laboratory for studying, scientist Chris Welles chases Yoshimitsu across the city hoping to reach him before her team hurts him. “Ghost Warrior” is a pretty creative and entertaining genre meshing with Hiroshi Fujioka committing to a very straight faced performance as the Samurai out of his element. The Blu-Ray comes with the original theatrical trailers for the respective titles.