Kwaidan

1964 [JAPANESE]

Action / Drama / Fantasy / Horror

42
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 91% · 46 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 90% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.9/10 10 21598 21.6K

Plot summary

Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.

Top cast

Tatsuya Nakadai as Mi nokichi
Takashi Shimura as Head priest
Kunie Tanaka as Yasaku
Rentarô Mikuni as Husband
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
1.46 GB
1280*534
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
3 hr 3 min
Seeds 8
2.87 GB
1920*800
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
3 hr 3 min
Seeds 67

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by GyatsoLa 7 / 10

Four Plays

Four old ghost stories, updated in the late 19th Century by the Irish-Greek-America Lafcadio Hearne, then reclaimed by Kobayashi Masaki in the 1960's. This really isn't your regular horror movie to put it mildly - All four stories are told in a highly theatrical manner with deliberately stylized studios and acting. Some of the sets are very beautiful, a quite unique cinema experience.It is, however, very uneven. The first story, 'the Woman of the Black Hair' is lovely in parts, but the ending disappoints (its different from the Lafcadio Hearne original). The second one, the 'Woman of the Snow' is genuinely very creepy and shocking. The third story, 'Hoichi the Earless' is by far the most impressive, with memorable visuals and music. The last story, 'In a Cup of Tea' is a more conventional 'tales of the unexpected' type story and is a little overlong. Its really a bit of a shaggy dog story, not worthy of the others.There is no doubt that its a very beautiful movie in parts - some sections are genuinely memorable and will likely stick in your mind for a lot longer than the usual ghost stories. I don't think its as good a movie as some other Japanese horror movies of the period such as Onibaba or Woman of the Dunes (both made two years before this). However, it is fascinating in the little insights it gives to the pleasures of traditional Japanese theater.
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Reviewed by preppy-3 8 / 10

Beautiful supernatural Japanese film

Four supernatural tales--all gorgeously filmed. "The Black Hair" is about a man who foolishly leaves his loving wife for a rich wife. He tries to return to her years later--but is it too late? "Woman of the Snow" (easily the scariest) involves a beautiful "vampire" woman who sucks the blood out of men caught in the snow. "Hoichi, the Earless" is the longest, most elaborate and dullest tale. Neat bloody ending though. "In a Cup of Tea" is very short and OK. The film is too long (165 min) and it is very slow at times (especially the "Hoichi" tale), and isn't really scary (except for the "Woman" one)...but it looks absolutely stunning. There's very little dialogue...the visuals tell the story. Quite simply, this contains the most incredible, beautiful wide-screen photography I've ever seen. That's the reason to see it. As for horror...well, there's very little blood, no gore, minimal violence, no sex, no nudity and predictable endings...this is an example of "quiet" horror. Still, worth watching--see it letter-boxed...DO NOT see it pan and scan!

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