Save your money for something good and enjoyable

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

"Oni" or "The Demon" is a Japanese animated short film from 1972, which means this one is already almost 45 years old. It only runs for slightly under 8 minutes and was written and directed by Kihachiro Kawamoto, a fairly successful Japanese filmmaker in the 1970s. This is the story of two brothers, her mother and a demon that the men encounter while they are out hunting. The way you perceive this short film and how much you like it will pretty much entirely depend on how much you like the animation style. It is easily visible that this one is from Japan, even if it has nothing in common with what you generally think when you hear Japanese animation. It looks very retro. I personally did not really like the style and that had also had negative consequences in terms of how much I liked the plot, even if the story is nothing bad by any means. Still, for me not a memorable watch and I give it a thumbs-down.

Oni (1972) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Also known as THE DEMON, this was the first film I had watched from Japanese director Kihachiro Kawamoto. The tale is pretty simple as a couple brothers leave their elderly and ill mother at home while they go into the woods to try and catch some deer. While there the youngest brother is grabbed by a demon and the older brother is able to free him by shooting off the demon's arm. The boys take the arm home with tragic results. ONI is quite simply a rather amazing movie to watch because of how much atmosphere and dread it contains. I've seen quite a few puppet films in my time but there was just something really special and original about this one. After the film was over I learned that the story is based on a 12th century tale known as "Konjaku Monogatari" and needless to say, this here is a lot darker than the rather cute tales America gets about what happens to the elderly. I won't spoil exactly what happens but it was rather morbid to say the least. The animation was certainly terrific and I really loved the various backgrounds used.