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The Living Skeleton was a wild, weird, confusing ride taken on dark and stormy nights. Dancing skeletons, murderous thieves, a vengeful ghost, malevolent bats, and a mad scientist---what more could you want from a 1968 horror flick?
The Dragon King freighter is taken over by a mutinous crew who steals the gold cargo aboard. In the process they murder everyone on board including Dr. Nishizato and his wife Yoriko. The five men split the proceeds and go their separate ways. ~3 Years Later~ Yoriko’s twin sister Saeko lives at a seaside church and serves the priest who gave her a home. She’s in love with Mochizuki but can’t commit to marriage. Lately, she feels called by her sister. After she and Mochizuki discover skeletons chained together on the seabed, she becomes further unhinged when the Dragon King appears on a stormy, foggy night.
The film was properly dark and spooky, though sometimes too dark making it hard to see the action. The chained skeletons that appeared on two different occasions should have been creepy, but all I could think about was Disney’s 1929 “The Skeleton Dance” cartoon. Maybe Director Matsuno had it in mind as well! Characters died horrific deaths from the opening scene onward. Who was to blame for some of those deaths became muddled.*
Living Skeleton had a lot going for it. Given the year it broke new horror ground. It also had the stunningly beautiful Matsuoka Kikko in a duel role that required little more than for her to look lovely. However, what hurt the film for me was the confusing storytelling that lacked continuity and logic. I don’t require a lot of either for these old films, but this one really pushed the convoluted envelope at times. If you enjoy older Japanese horror films, this is definitely one to try, if you can keep your expectations low.
17 October 2026
Trigger warning: Attempted sexual assault. Bare breast in one scene. Dog character murdered.
*Spoilery comments and concerns below:
*Some of the more convoluted things that I couldn’t reconcile.
How the heck did Saeko keep getting to and from the Dragon King without a boat? Violent storm waves and she managed to swim back to shore?
Mayumi, the moll, was too weak to climb the ship’s ladder and fell into the ocean, but somehow swam back to the ship in a turbulent sea, climbed the ladder in record time and ended up ahead of the big bads when they boarded the Dragon King?
Did the captain’s log keep adding info even as the mutiny went down?
A chemical that can dissolve a human and metal in seconds but glass isn’t affected?
Every time the Dragon King appeared, fog and storms did as well. Along with the requisite bats. Sea faring bats? If the ship wasn’t a ghost ship, how did no one discover it when it was often just off shore and supposedly missing? It should have run out of fuel, yet always ended up near where Saeko was.
*Very spoilery comments below:
*
*
*
*
If Saeko was the murderer, how did she logistically accomplish the murders? Could she magically appear with the bats in people’s houses? How did she appear where the villains decided to go at the last minute and then disappear as well? Could she teleport? Was she possessed and Yoriko willed the deaths to occur? How did she get the dancing skeletons to circle Ono and kill him? I don’t think they thought the writing through on these things.
How the heck did the doctor stay alive for 3 years eating dead bodies, after he’d been shot multiple times? Not even going to consider how he kept Yoriko looking as fresh as a daisy.
Was Saeko really alive at the end? I prefer to think she was a ghost rather than she revived/resurrected, found a way out of the knight’s armor, and then commandeered a motorboat to the freighter. All while arriving before Mochizuki who left before her! There must have been an armada of motorboats around that ship at the end.
The Dragon King freighter is taken over by a mutinous crew who steals the gold cargo aboard. In the process they murder everyone on board including Dr. Nishizato and his wife Yoriko. The five men split the proceeds and go their separate ways. ~3 Years Later~ Yoriko’s twin sister Saeko lives at a seaside church and serves the priest who gave her a home. She’s in love with Mochizuki but can’t commit to marriage. Lately, she feels called by her sister. After she and Mochizuki discover skeletons chained together on the seabed, she becomes further unhinged when the Dragon King appears on a stormy, foggy night.
The film was properly dark and spooky, though sometimes too dark making it hard to see the action. The chained skeletons that appeared on two different occasions should have been creepy, but all I could think about was Disney’s 1929 “The Skeleton Dance” cartoon. Maybe Director Matsuno had it in mind as well! Characters died horrific deaths from the opening scene onward. Who was to blame for some of those deaths became muddled.*
Living Skeleton had a lot going for it. Given the year it broke new horror ground. It also had the stunningly beautiful Matsuoka Kikko in a duel role that required little more than for her to look lovely. However, what hurt the film for me was the confusing storytelling that lacked continuity and logic. I don’t require a lot of either for these old films, but this one really pushed the convoluted envelope at times. If you enjoy older Japanese horror films, this is definitely one to try, if you can keep your expectations low.
17 October 2026
Trigger warning: Attempted sexual assault. Bare breast in one scene. Dog character murdered.
*Spoilery comments and concerns below:
*Some of the more convoluted things that I couldn’t reconcile.
How the heck did Saeko keep getting to and from the Dragon King without a boat? Violent storm waves and she managed to swim back to shore?
Mayumi, the moll, was too weak to climb the ship’s ladder and fell into the ocean, but somehow swam back to the ship in a turbulent sea, climbed the ladder in record time and ended up ahead of the big bads when they boarded the Dragon King?
Did the captain’s log keep adding info even as the mutiny went down?
A chemical that can dissolve a human and metal in seconds but glass isn’t affected?
Every time the Dragon King appeared, fog and storms did as well. Along with the requisite bats. Sea faring bats? If the ship wasn’t a ghost ship, how did no one discover it when it was often just off shore and supposedly missing? It should have run out of fuel, yet always ended up near where Saeko was.
*Very spoilery comments below:
*
*
*
*
If Saeko was the murderer, how did she logistically accomplish the murders? Could she magically appear with the bats in people’s houses? How did she appear where the villains decided to go at the last minute and then disappear as well? Could she teleport? Was she possessed and Yoriko willed the deaths to occur? How did she get the dancing skeletons to circle Ono and kill him? I don’t think they thought the writing through on these things.
How the heck did the doctor stay alive for 3 years eating dead bodies, after he’d been shot multiple times? Not even going to consider how he kept Yoriko looking as fresh as a daisy.
Was Saeko really alive at the end? I prefer to think she was a ghost rather than she revived/resurrected, found a way out of the knight’s armor, and then commandeered a motorboat to the freighter. All while arriving before Mochizuki who left before her! There must have been an armada of motorboats around that ship at the end.
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