The Ghost of Yotsuya

1959 [JAPANESE]

Action / Horror

16
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 73% · 2 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 73% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.0/10 10 2029 2K

samurai based on play or musical vengeful ghost ghost edo period

Plot summary

This horror tale relates the consequences of a Japanese legend which tells of a man who has to betray his wife in order to achieve power.

Director

Nobuo Nakagawa Photo
Nobuo Nakagawa

Top cast

Shigeru Amachi Photo
Shigeru Amachi as Iemon Tamiya
Yôzô Takamura Photo
Yôzô Takamura as Usaburô Ozawa
Nagamasa Yamada Photo
Nagamasa Yamada as
Hiroshi Izumida Photo
Hiroshi Izumida as
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
704.47 MB
1280*520
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 16 min
Seeds 1
1.28 GB
1888*768
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 16 min
Seeds 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Uriah43 7 / 10

An Evil Man's Deeds Coming Back to Haunt Him

This film essentially begins with a young samurai by the name of "Iemon Tamiya" (Shigeru Amachi) asking a more high-level samurai named "Samon Yotsuya" (Shinjiro Asano) to marry his daughter "Iwa Yotsuya). In response, Samon angrily refuses because he considers Iemon to be much too hedonistic and of low-moral character. Not surprisingly, this infuriates Iemon and, as if to prove Samon's point-he furiously draws his sword and kills the older man on the spot. Having witnessed the murder and wanting to capitalize on it, a cunning peasant named "Naosuke" (Shuntaro Emi) appears from the shadows and advises Iemon on exactly what to do next. Needless to say, Iemon listens quite intensely and in relatively little time he does, in fact, marry Iwa. Likewise, Naosuke also gets closer to realizing his ambition of marrying Iwa's sister "Sode" (Noriko Kitazawa) who was always out of reach for him due to his low status in life. However, what neither Iemon or Naosuke realize is that, eventually, their evil deeds will catch up to them--and when they do--they come in a most bizarre manner. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a good horror film which took a bit of time laying down the foundation of the story before really increasing in intensity later on. Admittedly, the costumes and makeup used pale in comparison to the CGI and special effects found in more modern films of today. No question about it. But even so, I thought that the overall movie was still quite entertaining, and I have rated it accordingly.
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Reviewed by rdoyle29 7 / 10

An okay flick with amazing, hallucinatory visuals

Shigeru Amachi wants to marry Katsuko Wakasugi, the daughter of prominent samurai Shinjirô Asano. Asano refuses the request, belittling Amachi who promptly murders him. Shuntarô Emi witnesses the murder and promises to help him cover it up, if he in turn helps him marry Wakasugi's sister. The two tell Wakasugi that her father was murdered by a notorious criminal and they will help her get revenge. Instead, they murder her sister's fiancé and Emi runs off with her.

Months later, Amachi and Wakasugi are married and living in Edo. Amachi has fallen for Junko Ikeuchi, the daughter of a nobleman, and hatches a plan to rid himself of Wakasugi. He hires Jun Ôtomo to seduce her so that he can legally kill her, but the plan goes awry. Ôtomo ends up dead and Wakasugi is poisoned causing hideous facial deformities before she also dies. Amachi marries Ikeuchi, but the spirits of Wakasugi and Ôtomo haunt him leading him to ruin.

This is probaby the best known adaptation of the kabuki play "Yotsuya Kaidan" (there are many). It's a fairly routine film from a story and characters perspective, but the film's vibrant colours and gory, hallucinatory visuals are really something.

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