Hiruko the Goblin is a 1991 Japanese horror film directed by Shinya Tsukamoto. It stars Kenji Sawada as Reijiro Hieda, an archeologist who discovers an ancient burial mound underneath a high school. The burial mound was created to seal an evil yōkai, but has recently become unsealed. At the same time, a young student named Masao Yabe, played by Masaki Kudou, is tormented by fits of pain and strange markings on his back. Strange events ensue as it becomes clear that a yōkai named Hiruko may have been unsealed.
This movie contains examples of:
- Adaptation Amalgamation: Adapts two stories from the Yokai Hunter manga; "The Black Investigator" (Hiruko and his habit of stealing heads) and "Red Lips" (pretty, popular girl gets possessed by Ancient Evil).
- Adaptational Comic Relief: Heida was more of a stoic badass in the Youkai Hunter manga: in the movie he's a bumbling doofus.
- Affectionate Parody: Of American horror films, with nods to The Thing (1982), The Evil Dead (1981), Gremlins (1984), Ghostbusters (1984), even Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Chainsaw Good: At one point Masao picks up a chainsaw to use against Hiruko.
- Driven to Suicide: Watanabe, the janitor, resorts to this after deciding that Hiruko is impossible to defeat.
- Off with His Head!: Hiruko's main method for dispatching its victims, forcing them to decapitate themselves after they are possessed.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Hiruko has been sealed in an ancient burial ground for many years.
- Siren Song: Hiruko entrances his victim with Tsukishima's beautiful singing voice.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Hiruko is repulsed by ordinary insect repellent.
