The Inugami Family

Shortly after World War II draws to a close, the patriarch of the affluent INUGAMI family passes away. Eager to know how his fortune will be distributed, the families of his three direct descendants gather for the reading of the will, but their anticipation turns to despair when a shocking revelation is made: in order to inherit his vast estate, one of his grandsons must marry Tamayo (SHIMADA Yoko), an outsider who lived with him and to whom the inheritance has been left.

With only one of his grandsons able to receive the inheritance, the sizeable INUGAMI family is plunged into a desperate scramble to lay claim to the patriarch’s assets, one which quickly turns deadly when a series of gruesome murders tear its members even further apart. Detective KINDAICHI (ISHIZAKA Koji) is called in to pursue the culprit, but his investigation uncovers more than they bargained for…

The first of various film and TV drama adaptations of crime and mystery novelist YOKOMIZO Seishi’s best-selling novel, The Inugami Family is a thrilling ensemble mystery by ICHIKAWA Kon (Ten Dark Women, JFTFP20). Setting a new standard for the Japanese noir with his brilliant use of colour, ICHIKAWA weaves a compelling tale of human greed and family strife in an old-fashioned Japanese village, with YOKOMIZO himself even making a cameo appearance.

©KADOKAWA CORPORATION 1976

戦後間もない日本、犬神家の当主が死去し遺言が明らかになる。財産を得る条件として、孫の一人が外部から来た珠世と結婚することが提示され、家族間に緊張が走る。やがて遺産争いは連続殺人へと発展し、探偵の金田一耕助が事件解明に挑む。横溝正史の原作を基にした市川崑監督の傑作ミステリー。独特の映像美、豪華キャストで、推理ドラマの金字塔といわれる。

(Special thanks to Eikoku News Digest)