One sequence is a masterclass in quiet terror: The Medicine Seller sits unmoving as a lady recounts being forced to drown her own cat to prove loyalty. The camera doesn’t show the act—it shows her reflection in a tea bowl, rippling. That’s Mononoke at its best: horror not of the supernatural, but of the all-too-human.
Mushi-Shi (for the supernatural detective tone), Perfect Blue (for psychological horror hidden in plain sight), or The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (for experimental watercolor animation). Mononoke The Movie - The Phantom in The Rain 20...
True to form, the Medicine Seller (voiced once again with chilling neutrality by Hiroshi Kamiya) arrives at a women’s court (the Ooku ), a place of rigid hierarchy and whispered conspiracies. The "Mononoke"—a vengeful spirit born from kegare (impurity and human emotion)—manifests as a dripping, phantom-like figure that appears whenever it rains. Several court ladies have already met grisly fates. One sequence is a masterclass in quiet terror:
For its uncompromising art direction and a poignant, mature script. Deducting one point only for the steep entry barrier and a slightly rushed final act. Several court ladies have already met grisly fates
Where the TV series used its limited budget to create claustrophobic, shifting Ukiyo-e dreamscapes, the film unleashes that aesthetic on a cinematic scale. Director Kenji Nakamura retains the iconic Edo-goth paper-cutout look, but the rain sequences are breathtaking. Each droplet is a stylized, calligraphic stroke. When the phantom attacks, the screen fractures like wet washi paper, colors bleeding from muted indigos into violent vermilions.
Nearly two decades after the cult-classic Mononoke series ended, the enigmatic Medicine Seller returns in The Phantom in the Rain , the first installment of a planned film trilogy. Released in 2024, this film is not a reboot but a continuation—and an expansion—of the franchise’s signature psychedelic horror. It delivers exactly what fans feared might be lost to time: a dense, beautiful, and deeply unsettling exploration of human darkness.
