八っ墓村 (Yatsuhaka-mura) (Eight Tomb Village)(1996)

Seishi Yokomizo's mystery novel, encompassing 1577 civl war events, a spree killing in the 1930s (inspired by a horrible true event), and then a more contemporary village murder mystery, is a convoluted mess (on top of these occasions of mass murder spread over 400 years, there's portentous lightning strikes, identical twins, hidden treasure, mummified bodies, a labyrinth, madness, a curse, and village unrest) and while director Ichikawa Kon's 1996 remake sticks more closely to the plot of the book than the 1977 adaptation, it still makes the sensible choice to cut some fat off the book's bones, presenting an enjoyable mystery less convoluted than the book, downplaying the horror of the 1977 version and up-playing the English mystery elements, injecting into the mystery much more of Kindaichi Kousuke, the private detective, who is trying to discover who is poisoning the residents of "Eight Tomb Village" while also investigating how the murders are related to the arrival in town of handsome Tatsuya Tajimi, a young man just told he is heir to the enormous Tajimi fortune.

★★★★☆

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