One of the precious few genre films made by Japan’s Shochiku production studio, The Living Skeleton is a good one. The ghost story begins aboard the Dragon King, a ship carrying gold bullion, which makes it a natural to be robbed by a gang of ugly-mugged, well-armed pirates. It is, and one of its passengers, the young woman Yoriko (Kikko Matsuoka, Bushido), is raped and killed.

Three years later, Yoriko’s identical-twin sister, Saeko (also played by Matsuoka), has an uncanny feeling that her sibling is still alive. She believes it so strongly that her fiancé (Yasunori Irikawa, Samurai Spy) accompanies her to scuba-dive at the spot of Yoriko’s would-be watery grave. There, they discover a number of skeletons floating together, chained at the ankle bones — the film’s most memorable image. Then things get weird.

The Living Skeleton represents the lone directorial outing of Hiroshi Matsuno, which is world cinema’s loss because he proved himself quite adept at the camera. Several shots within the black-and-white picture impress with innovation even by the standards of today, especially those starkly framed by the sunglasses of the lead pirate, one side of whose face looks to have burnt into strips of jerky.

Although occasionally too dark (in lighting, not subject matter), the mood created by Matsuno makes up for budgetary shortcomings most evident in the use of rubber bats and toy boats. Be forewarned of an uncharacteristically jazzy score that blares! blares! blares! as shocks appear onscreen; Matsuno’s odd revenge tale of the supernatural — or is it? — comes prepackaged with plenty, so get used to hearing it. —Rod Lott

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Things aren’t going so well on opening day of the Memorial Valley Campgrounds. A construction worker dies; the roads aren’t finished; and the discovery of a dead dog in the well has tainted the water supply. (“I ain’t never seen anything like this,” says a worker as he pulls out the canine carcass, apparently having never driven down city streets in his life.) Still, the camp owner (Blood and Black Lace‘s Cameron Mitchell, in a “check, please” cameo) insists the camp open.

His Dartmouth-student son is there to help (but how smart can he be, wearing sweaters on Memorial Day weekend?), much to the chagrin of the barrel-chested, hooch-hitting park ranger. They’re given hell at every turn by the ragtag bunch of campers, including motorcycle gangs, horny teens and a fat kid. But it turns out there are even bigger troubles afoot: a killer teenage caveman’s on the loose!

Yes, with Memorial Valley Massacre, you’ve stumbled on an incompetent mix of Friday the 13th, Eegah and Meatballs. The script is poor, the direction a notch below that and the acting even farther south. But how can you beat slutty chicks who like to dance in the rain or aged bosomy women with names like Pepper Mintz? Well, you can always throw in a teenage caveman! And how can you beat that, huh? —Rod Lott

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