Title: Kwaidan
Genre: Horror
Director: Kobayashi Masaki
Format: Movie; 161 minutes.
Dates: 1964

Synopsis: Kwaidan tells four stories of supernatural horror: tales of vengeful ghosts, cursed humans, and mistakes with terrible consequences.

The Highlights
Atmosphere: Haunting and creepy.
Pacing: Very slow and deliberate.
Characters: Memorable.
Cinematography: Stylish.

Kwaidan is an unique piece of work, considering that it is a Japanese horror movie based on four stories written by Lafcadio Hearn, a Greek-Irish man who became a naturalized Japanese citizen in the late 1800s. The vibrant and traditional style of the storytelling, though, makes these tales firmly Japanese, regardless of the origin of their creator. This movie is best when it deals purely with developing an eerie atmosphere. Gradually Kwaidan builds up fear until it is a creepy chill up your spine rather than a jump-out-of-your-seat terror.

The stories are all very different in focus and style; some are more memorable than others. Most of this movie was filmed on a soundstage, but Kobayashi does a fantastic job of not only utilizing the stage where possible and adapting it to create a different kind of atmosphere but also making it appear much larger than it actually was. The stage is no limitation in Kwaidan, but rather a creative boost, and the visuals for this movie are just stylistically stunning, particularly for that period of time.

The first story, “The Black Hair”, is a nice atmospheric set-up for the others. In this story, a poor samurai leaves his beloved wife in order to marry a wealthy woman to make his fortune. After years, he comes to regret his decision, and finally when he gets the chance, he returns home to his first wife. This story has very slow pacing and gradually builds up to the shocking conclusion.

The second story, “The Woman of the Snow”, is about a ghostly woman who sucks the life out of hapless travellers who get caught in blizzards. She spares the life of a young woodcutter one winter, but watches him throughout his life to make sure he doesn’t break the promise he made to her. The conclusion of this tale is not so much scary as it is sad. The difference between the colorful good days of the woodcutter’s life and the snowy cold days of the snow woman’s wrath is beautiful to behold, and the stylish visuals for the opening snow storm that changes the woodcutter’s life are just gorgeous.

The most interesting and ironic storyline is for “Hoichi the Earless”, which follows the tale of a blind but talented singer who is trapped into performing for ghosts. The very tragic song that he performs for them nightly is about a sea battle between the Heike and Genji clans, which is illustrated at the beginning of the story. The tale to accompany the song is so moving that it is not easily forgotten, particularly when set against the eerie sound of the traditional biwa performance. The dramatic battle in the tale is the highlight of this story, and arguably of the entire movie. The overly-vibrant colors for the story are more vivid than any in the rest of the movie and are more reminiscent of traditional theater than the gritty battle sequences we have become used to through countless other war stories in other movies. The result of Hoichi’s refusal when the ghosts request another performance is horrific. This is definitely the most memorable story in Kwaidan.

The last story, “In a Cup of Tea”, is a story within a story: an author writes about a samurai who sees someone else’s face within a teacup when he is drinking water one day. One day, that person appears before the samurai… although not quite in the flesh. And, from this encounter, more ghostly men appear before the samurai, leading him in a spiraling descent toward madness.

As a horror movie, Kwaidan is definitely not the scariest one that I have seen by today’s standards. However, it is an excellent atmospheric film, and it is very stylish visually. If it’s a scare you’re looking for, this is not the right movie to turn to, since not once during this movie did I find myself getting afraid. But if what you want instead is the atmosphere of some truly creepy stories, then this is the right movie to pick up.

The Rating: 7

Reviewed by: dheu