Wednesday, January 22, 2025

The Snow Woman, on OVID.tv

Her hair is black as coal, but her skin and robes are ghostly white. Any half-witted genre fan can immediately tell she must be some kind of supernatural entity. In this case, she is a Yuki-onna, often referred to as a snow witch. If that sounds familiar, maybe you read the Lafcadio Hearn short story or saw it adapted as part of Masaki Obayashi’s truly classic anthology film, Kwaidan. This Yuki-onna is that Yuki-onna. Three years after Kwaidan, Hearn’s snowy story was translated into a full-length feature., but Tokuzo Tanaka’s The Snow Woman remains true to its source and chillily atmospheric, as viewers will see when a new 4K restoration premieres this Friday on OVID.TV.

Instead of wood-cutters, this time around, a master wood-carver and his apprentice traveled deep into the snowy woods in search of the perfect tree for the elder artist’s final masterwork. Late that night, the long-haired Yokai glides into the cabin where they took refuge, freezing the old man to death with her frosty projections (sort of like Marvel’s Iceman). However, she spares Yosaku’s life, because he is young and just too darned good-looking. She insists on one condition—he must never, ever speak of what happened. Should he break his word, she will quickly finish the job.

Several days later, while Yosaku still grieves and recuperates with his master’s widow, a strange woman takes shelter from the rain in their modest home. Obviously, viewers can tell the eerily beautiful Yuki is the Yuki-onna, but Yosaku never makes the connection. Instead, he falls in love with her as they both comfort the ailing widow. Unfortunately, his soon-to-be wife also turns the head of the cruel local lord.

Frankly, Tanaka’s
Snow Woman often feels like a Japanese make-over of a Grimm fairy tale, which were admittedly often quite macabre. In some ways, Hearn’s tale turns into a snowbound equivalent of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” but the tone is considerably darker. Kobayashi’s Kwaidan is a masterpiece that constantly reveals extraordinarily striking visuals, most definitely including its “The Woman of the Snow” segment. Nevertheless, Tanaka’s film is distinctly moody.

While it runs a svelte 80 minutes,
The Snow Woman steadily builds tension, as we wait for characters to do the things they aren’t supposed to do. Frankly, it is a pretty great example of folk horror, in its own right. Highly recommended for fans of Japanese horror, The Snow Woman starts streaming this Friday (1/24) on OVID.tv.