I felt very closely connected to the male character who depicts the husband/son/brother-in-law in "A Devilish Murder". Not because he's heroic or good-looking, but simply because throughout the entire film he walked around with a confused and borderline stupid look on his face, as if he didn't have the slightest clue of what was going on. I feel your pain, bro... I also didn't understand one iota of what was happening (and didn't care much, neither)

So, this man finds a painted portrait of a woman that looks exactly like his deceased wife. The cursed portrait somehow inflicts a massive flashback to happen, during which it becomes clear that the man's fiendish mother (who actually looks younger than he does) and his sister-in-law plotted a barbaric scheme. With the help of the local doctor, who sleeps with the mother, they falsely accused the man's poor wife of adultery and handed her over to a rapist/murderer (who nonetheless painted her portrait).

It's very well possible that half of the plot description is erroneous. If so, sorry for that, but in my defense: "A Devilish Murder" was unbearably tedious, unremarkable, and utterly confusing. Admittedly, there are a few atmospheric shots and a few shocks to enjoy towards the finale, but staying awake was a true ordeal. I keep hoping to stumble upon another Japanese masterpiece from the "Onibaba" era, but this one certainly wasn't it.

After buying a mysterious painting, a man determined to prove it's the same as his previous wife starts to become aware of the strange incidents surrounding his family when his grandmother begins to show signs of being possessed by her spirit to carry out an act of revenge for her untimely death.

There's quite a lot to enjoy in the film. What makes this one quite fun is the rather fun storyline that provides a densely-plotted tale of old-school ghostly revenge. The initial incidents make this feel like a series of strange events surrounding a mysterious painting and the continued sightings of his seemingly long-dead first wife running around the community. As time goes on, it gradually becomes clear that the events are based on a form of revenge from beyond the grave as his first wife is slowly revealed to have been the culprit of a conniving conspiracy involving his family. That the truth comes about rather slowly with the revelations coming out in the latter half involving what really happened gives this a strong overall feel. Combined with a strong visual flair that helps to make the scares look somewhat surreal at times in addition to the steady plot, there's quite a lot to like here. On top of this, the film manages to incorporate quite a bit of strong action throughout. The opening encounter in the art gallery is a solid setpiece with the desolate exhibit space, eerie ghost laughter in the distance, and the startling effect of the painting's face melting in front of him which all starts the film on a strong note and gets everything set up for later. Likewise, the confrontation with the painter that results in the ghost returning to settle the score with him, he getting framed for the murder, and leading to a chase through the countryside that uncovers her body buried in a secret basement has some thrilling moments. The first scenes of the ghost tormenting the family, from the encounter at the waterfalls to snatching the daughter out of the bedroom under the mother's eye, are quite startling and eerie enough to shock as well. This leads to more fun with the possessed grandmother trying to tear the family apart using the ghost as an instrument to help facilitate her plans. Realizing that the ghost has taken hold through a generally impressive setup that involves the grandmother acting out of character provides this one with some fun sequences. While starting with the licking of the sleeping children, it soon delves into more fully-fledged genre ideas including commanding several cats to attack his wife and eventually overpowers her, the frantic hissing and incessant cat-like grooming that takes place whenever no one is observing her, and the fantastic confrontation in her room. This sequence brings about her unnatural behavior including jumping onto the ceiling, turning her limbs into a cat, and eventually transforming into the cat demon that was possessing her all along for a rather shocking encounter. With a full-on finale that includes the big battle with the ghost and getting to understand her need for revenge, this section ends everything on a fine note. There isn't much wrong here but the film does have some issues. One of the only real issues is the downward spike in momentum this goes through in the second half. Rather than carrying on with the established tempo and mood that had been at play until that point, this one drops instead into a prolonged backstory on her reasoning to become a ghost. This melodrama-heavy backstory focusing on the initial circumstances that brought about this ghostly origin story that delves deep into infidelity, forbidden lust, and deception is placed at the wrong point in the running time and brings about the other issue in the rather formulaic ghost-revenge storyline at play here. Dozens of other efforts have come out taking this storyline involving a ghost taking revenge for their death as a setup for their own work since so it can feel quite familiar. Beyond that, though, there's not much to dislike here.

Today's Rating/PG-13: Language and Violence.