Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Year: 1964
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
Four ghost stories are told based on Japanese folklore stories from author Lafcadio Hearn.
Review:
The Black Hair-Dissatisfied by his lifestyle, a samurai divorces his poor wife and leaves the city, looking for a new home. Meeting a new wife, he continues to experience haunting visions of his first wife, getting to the point where he eventually returns to her, only for a drastic curse to affect them both. This was incredibly underwhelming and is mainly used by its fairly lengthy and boring intro. As the two are involved in a rather beautiful love story, it's just not as interesting as a horror film. The scenes of the two talking about their relationship, as well as of his second wife, are just plain boring to watch, and with the series of completely silent sequences thrown in, it's a little bit of a downer. The skeleton reveal and the battle with the hair is first-rate if somewhat tame scares, but because there's no explanation for anything, it ultimately suffers overall.
The Woman in the Snow-In the Musashi Province, two woodcutters manage to become trapped in the forest during a furious snowstorm. Coming upon a wooden shelter in the middle, they encounter a strange woman who immediately threatens them to leave. When he leaves and manages to marry years later and start a life together, he gradually begins to think she has something in common with the mystery woman. This was a flawed, but surely the best effort here. The atmosphere in the beginning through the forest is outstanding, as the howling wind and falling snow are an outstanding building block for a creepy setting, and with the continuous shots of eyes appearing in the sky are just unnerving. The scenes in the hut are just as good, chilling, and creepy due to the figure as well as the blue filter which is a great fit. Though the revelation scene could've been great had the threat been capitalized on due to the earlier warning, the rest could be better. It's very talky rather than showing anything, and the fact that it doesn't follow through on the threat makes it a big fail. The early scenes with the eyes are also terrible-looking and quite fake, appearing like the painting they really are while the forest itself looks exactly like the sound-stage set it is rather than a dense forest. However, the atmosphere here raises itself up.
Hoichi, The Earless-Living in a monastery, a blind musician finds himself sent to visit a nearby temple to meditate after acting up. While there, a samurai approaches and offers to take him to meet his master due to his reputation as a master teller of a famous battle between two samurai clans hundreds of years ago. As the others at the monastery worry about him going out at night, he reluctantly tells of his experiences and finds something far more sinister going on at the temple. This one is such a mixed affair that it's nearly impossible to rate. That it opens with a protracted, high-energy sword fight that is a lot of fun through its choreography and tactics, as well as the violence, is tempered drastically due to the soundless action and cartoon images it throws in during the whole sequence which lasts a good half-hour. The middle is just a waste, featuring a solid build-up to a fantastic element brought up in the story but comes with no payoff, and while the ending is violent and creepy for its insane images and concept, the muted soundtrack again hurts the effectiveness of this one. Only the trek through the rain-swept forest survives here, as the length, due to the opening battle, is the final fault in this one. Had it fixed a few problems and put some sound in a few times, it would've ranked higher.
In a Cup of Tea-Visiting a temple, a lord is alarmed at seeing a stranger's ghostly face in every water bowl he tries, despite no one else being able to. That night, the ghost appears again but disappears before anyone else can find him. Desperate to find out his true intentions, he sends his guards to raid the area to find him, but all alone, he can discover the shocking reason for the supernatural visitations. While this one is indeed heavily talky at times and features a rather lame opening, this one picks up incredibly well. The tactic of appearing in the water bowl is ingenious, the dialogue is threatening with a hint of innocence behind them which manages to make it even more ominous, and then the ghostly action is great. Appearing anywhere and everywhere, from behind objects and in the middle of rooms quite easily, being able to walk through walls and such similar ideas are fantastic and make them appear all the better. That we get some suspenseful parts through the guards' searches of the area is just great and is mixed in nicely with some action in the form of some nice sword fights. It just loses some points for the lame reasoning behind the visitations, which is quite obvious once it's revealed despite being set up as a big shocking surprise before the reveal, and for its rather talky opening that plays like most of the others here.
Overview: ****.5/5
One of the classic anthologies of the genre, there's so much to enjoy here with this one that even a few minor drawbacks in several of the stories aren't enough to hold this back. Pretty much any fan of this period of the genre's history, hardcore Asian horror fanatics, or just anthology completists will have quite a lot to like here while only those that aren't into these factors should heed caution.
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