In the district of the Mino Mountains, the locals believe that there is a legendary female spirit who comes out at night and kills anyone who's unfortunate enough to lay eyes on her. This horror folktale of the snow woman was also one of the four stories told in Masaki Kobayashi's “Kwaidan” (StrangeTales) from 1965.
Yosaku is an orphan, an apprentice who works for master sculptor Shigetomo. The movie starts off with them looking for a suitable tree to carve a statue of the goddess of mercy for their temple. However, they're caught in a snow storm on their back prompting them to take refuge in a rundown cabin. During the night, the evil snow spirit pays them a visit and freezes the old sculptor to death. Being enchanted by Yosaku's innocence looks, she spares his life but on the promise that he has to keep the encounter a secret.
Back in the village and months later, Yosaku is now responsible to finish carving the statue as a tribute to his master. One rainy day, he sees Yuki, a beautiful woman taking shelter under the roof where he shares with his former master's wife; accordingly they let her stay the night. While collecting herbs the next day to cure the old lady who has fallen ill, they fall madly in love.
In the meantime, the local bailiff falls off his horse while riding through the village, he blames a bunch of kids and starts to beat them up. The old lady comes to their rescue but she also gets beaten up badly. During the night just before she dies, she wants to see Yosaku marrying Yuki and they both agree. Unfortunately, the bailiff also takes a shine to the beautiful Yuki and he's determined to own her no matter what it takes and thus making hell for both of them. In the end, it's their determination and love that saves the day, but nonetheless, a promise is broken which leads to a tragic and sad outcome.
Beautifully shot with mesmerizing images, “The Snow Woman” looks stunning and its visual world is populated with well written characters. To achieve the dramatic scenes, the set designs and wonderful use of lighting effects come into play. The extreme closeup of faces is put to good use to emphasize tension. As Yuki the Snow Woman, Shiho Fujimura is amazing; she can be evil especially with her cold gazes in one moment and a loving mother the next.
As the young sculptor Yosaku, Akira Ishihama is a total contrast to Yuki; he's a loyal character with sad, innocent looks. It's quite a demanding role since he has to go through different stages of emotion and Akira handles it well. The real cold blooded villain here turns out to the very vile human bailiff and the class system he lives in. The upper class can do whatever they want and the poor village locals are just desperate souls without a voice. These are fragile people forever bullied by their calculating and cruel masters.
Upon experiencing this, Yuki comes to learn about human compassion and love which consequently, stop her from using her instinct of killing off more humans. In a way she has become a reluctant heroine with a warm heart. At first, Yosaku has trouble finishing his statue, which he feels looks lifeless and lacks compassion. However, he's able to achieve what he sets out to do by looking into his wife's eyes.
Look elsewhere if you're expecting a horror movie with plenty of scares to make you jump, this vintage Japanese horror is an engrossing slow burn love story with impressive visuals, warmth and compassion, and no gore.
