Poor Shinzaburo is plagued by some terrible nightmares. Frightening demons and a young woman who slices her neck in a spray of blood as he stands helplessly watching. Unfortunately, he's not the only one who's seeing demons. Shin's selected wife to be has her share of the nasty night terrors as well, what's a soon to be married couple to do? Nightmares aren't their only problem as personal issues abound as well. Shin's fiancée Suzu has a sister who is also in love with Shin. All the while Shin try's to convince his mother that he wants to part with the Samurai way and become an art teacher! Not to mention the fact that all of this is taking place during the Festival of the Dead, oh sweet delicious irony! Well, poor Shin seeks the council of a priest who informs him that all may not be quite as it seems and the haunting is destined to get worse before it gets any better.

From the above description, The Haunted Lantern may not really sound like much, primarily because this is definitely a case of style over substance. Creepy, atmospheric and downright cool to look at, The Haunted Lantern is a fun visual feast that most certainly should not be taken too seriously. Onscreen violence is subdued but not all together absent There is a plethora of very cool old school optical and modern computer effects on display as well. The film itself exudes a very much comic book feel as nothing seems altogether real in this world, it's pure fantasy filmmaking from start to finish, so don't go in expecting to set your world on fire with deep meaning and thoughtful pie eating conversation afterwards. Not without its problems, the film probably runs about 15-minutes too long. When all is said and done it's really not gonna matter much as you're sure to dig the impressive set pieces, stabbings, bladder effects and old school foam latex ghoul make-up, neato. Accepted at face value, The Haunted Lantern is a fun and creepy fairy tale gone horribly awry.

The Haunted Lantern is presented in a 1.85:1 widescreen transfer (non anamorphic, mind you) that is often quite pleasing to look at. The majority of the film takes place at night, in extremely low light situations and I'm pleased to report that the transfer holds up quite well. Colors are quite sharp and vivid for the most part and print damage or defects are minimal. Luckily there aren't really any hints of artifacting or pixilation even during the films darkest moments. It's not reference quality here folks, but the transfer serves the title at hand quite well, we couldn't have asked for much more.

Audio is presented in both Japanese and an English dub track with optional yellow subtitles. While the packaging states that the English track is Stereo Surrround and the Japanese track to be mono, I found the surrounds to be active during the selections of both audio options. The English track sported a much fuller and richer surround field, while the Japanese track seemed to sound a bit tinny and less stellar (as stellar as a standard Dolby Surround track can be). The English Surround was pretty impressive for a non-digital surround track with clear dialogue and nice separation among the speakers. Generally I don't prefer an English dub, but in this case it's probably the way to go.

Extras include a trailer for The Haunted Lantern and other APC titles and a few character profiles as well as a "love triangle" feature and info on the Festival of the Dead.. There's also a healthy amount of DVD ROM content to occupy your time including an art gallery, script pages, and cast and crew info.

I'm always hip to checking out new genre flicks and it's always a plus when there's much style to spare. When I say style, I mean the one element that seems to be missing from most genre films of today so if that's what you're used to, you have a lot to learn. The Haunted Lantern was a breath of fresh air and I definitely dug it's creepy visuals and wicked sense of humor. It's silly and at times a bit long winded, but it's also a fun and creepy fright feast and a real treat for the senses. When all is said and done all I can really say is that The Haunted Lantern is pretty fuckin' cool!

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