Hiruko the Goblin

Hiruko the Goblin is a 1991 Japanese horror film directed by Shinya Tsukamoto and starring Kenji Sawada. It is based on a manga by Daijiro Morohoshi. Plot Reijiro Hieda is a young and energetic archeologist, albeit a discredited one for advocating wild theories about the supernatural. A letter from his brother-in-law Takashi Yabe, a junior high school teacher, tells of his discovery of an ancient tomb built to seal an evil spirit (yōkai). Yabe and one of his students, Reiko Tsukishima, investigate the burial mound but mysteriously disappear. Hieda arrives in town to look into the matter. Yabe's son, Masao, searches for his father in the school during summer vacation and sees a returned Reiko at the schoolhouse, seemingly seducing his gardening classmate Kono. Masao finds himself afflicted with mysterious incidents where his back seemingly heats up and emits smoke; small blackened faces of the dead appear on his back during these fits. Masao and Hieda search the schoolhouse with Hieda's array of gadgets; both Kono and Masao's friends Aoi and Katagiri are found horrifically murdered by a switchblade. The nephew and uncle pair initially suspects the suspicious janitor, Watanabe, who had tried to keep people away from the schoolhouse, but soon realize that the disembodied singing head of Reiko is at fault. Hieda discovers the elder Yabe's notebook, where he learns that a yōkai named Hiruko was sealed away in the tomb. He believes Hiruko is at fault for the recent incidents, and sets out to learn the spells to open and close the way into the burial mound sanctum. Watanabe, who had earlier cut the power lines to the schoolhouse, attacks the pair, though Masao successfully takes his gun in the struggle. Back at the schoolhouse again, the pair encounter Reiko, whose head is now mounted on spider-legs. Watanabe attacks Hieda, while Reiko attacks Masao. After escaping from the schoolhouse, Reiko gains insect-like wings and the four have another scuffle, although Reiko escapes after being repelled by bug spray. Watanabe explains that as a child, he knew Tatsuhiko Yabe, Masao's grandfather. Tatsuhiko also bore the scars of dead men's heads on his back, and somehow sealed the gate 60 years ago; he swore Watanabe to guard the schoolhouse after his death to prevent a recurrence of the tragedy. The group realizes that Masao's father reached the interior of the chamber, but was betrayed.