It's one of four "movies" for the 1985 GeGeGe no Kitarou series, although its running time is more like another TV episode. Slightly longer than usual, but based on a well-known story from the original manga that's had plenty of adaptations. Also, its title has been used by no fewer than three live-action movies... 1. the oddly staid film known in English as Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare, from Daiei Studio's 1960s Yokai trilogy. 2. A loose 2005 Takashi Miike remake that I called an interesting failure. 3. a 2021 sequel to the latter, again by Takashi Miike, which I hadn't known about until now. How did I manage to miss that? Well, that needs watching.

This particular 40-minute "movie" is nothing special. My favourite thing about the 1985 series is Kitaro's human schoolgirl friend, Yumeko, but here she's only in the title sequence (borrowed from the TV series). Tch. False advertising, I call it.

The original manga is the The Great Yokai War storyline, published in April-May 1966. Backbeard brings western "yokai" to Japan, including Frankenstein's Monster, Wolfman, Dracula and some random witch on a broomstick who kidnaps a boy's mum and kick-starts the plot when the son goes looking for Kitaro. The witch is an oddly anonymous addition, but she's more dangerous than Frankenstein's Monster. Firstly, she can fly. Secondly, she doesn't flee in terror from caterpillars and spiders. This is an amusingly rubbish Frankenstein's Monster.

Most of the yokai don't want to face these iconic monsters because they're strong... but Kitaro and his friends set off anyway.

The action takes place on "Comet Island", i.e. some island in the middle of nowhere. We see an old granny doing a purification ritual with one boob flopping out, for no apparent reason. Nezumi-Otoko accompanies Kitaro to make money and volunteers to become Dracula's servant, at one point being ordered to fetch the vampire's dinner (!). Surprisingly, that's just soup. It isn't even red. (When our heroes travel to and from the island, they tow Nezuki-Otoko behind them on a washtub without letting him on their raft. I suppose that's fair enough. If nothing else, he smells.)

Overall, the episode/film is fine. Nothing you'll particularly remember, but basically okay. It's got fun action scenes with yokai vs. famous horror monsters. There's no meaningful character business (except in a lowlife way with Nezumi-Otoko), but I have no objection to it.