is a 1968 Japanese

tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live action film or television drama that makes heavy use of practical special effects. ''Tokusatsu'' entertainment mainly refers to science fiction, War film, war, fantasy, or Horror film, horror media featuring such te ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by Hiroshi Matsuno. The film's plot begins in the past where a gang of pirates commandeer a ship and kill everyone on board. Three years later in a seaside village, a Catholic priest (Masumi Okada) has offered shelter to Saeko (

Kikko Matsuoka is a Japanese actress. Her real name is . Career Starting as a child actress, Matsuoka made her film debut in 1957 with Daiei Film's ''Tokyo hanzai chizu''. Appearing in several dozen films, including the horror film '' The Living Skeleton'' (' ...

) as her twin sister, Yoriko (also Matsuoka) has disappeared with her new husband at sea. Saeko later scuba dives with her boyfriend, the couple find a group of submerged human skeletons, chained together at the ankles near the ocean floor. That night, a ghost ship appears in the mist offshore as a voice from the ship calls out for Saeko.

Production

Director Hiroshi Matsuno began working at the film production company

Shochiku () is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not all ...

in 1950 and worked as an

assistant director The role of an assistant director on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have to tak ...

for filmmakers such as Daisuke Itō,

Mikio Naruse was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967. Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook. He made primarily shomin-geki ("common people drama") films with female protagonists, ...

, and

Yoshitarō Nomura was a prolific Japanese film director, film producer, and screenwriter. His first accredited film, , was released in 1953; his last, , in 1985. He received several awards during his career, including the Japanese Academy Award for "Best Director ...

. Matsuno directed a few films starring

Bunta Sugawara was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 200 feature films. Dropping out of Waseda University, he worked as a model before entering the film industry in 1956. After years of work, Sugawara finally established himself as a famous actor at the a ...

in the early sixties before working on ''The Living Skeleton''. ''The Living Skeleton'' was co-written by Kikuma Shimoiizaka, a prolific mystery novelist in Japan.

Release

''The Living Skeleton'' was released on November 9, 1968 in Japan. It was released as a double feature with ''

Genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

''. It was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

the Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

in a box set on November 20, 2012. The other films in the box set included ''

The X from Outer Space is a 1967 Japanese science fiction '' kaiju'' film that was directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu and stars Eiji Okada and Toshiya Wazaki. Guilala returned in a 2008 Shochiku sequel of sorts called '' Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit''. Plot ...

'', '' Goké, Body Snatcher from Hell'', and ''

''.

Reception

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

referred to ''The Living Skeleton'' as "representing the peak of Shochiku's dalliance with horror convention" and a "chilling and genuinely unnerving black-and-white update of the bygone kaidan tradition". The ''

Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

'' referred to the film as "probably the most conventional of Schochiku's horror releases" Professor

Wheeler Winston Dixon Wheeler Winston Dixon (born March 12, 1950) is an American filmmaker and scholar. He is an expert on film history, theory and criticism.Bill Goodykoontz, December 23, 2012, USA TodayDefining Tarantino Accessed Aug. 25, 2013, Quote = "...long, invo ...

of the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Universit ...

referred to the Criterion Collection's Eclipse set, calling the film "the most accomplished and sophisticated of the quartet in terms of its visual structure and narrative" and along with ''Genocide'', "easily the most interesting entries".

References

Footnotes

Sources

* *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Living Skeleton, The 1968 films 1968 horror films Japanese black-and-white films Japanese horror films Shochiku films 1960s Japanese films