Directed by Kaneto Shindo • 1964 • Japan
Deep within the wind-swept marshes of war-torn medieval Japan, an impoverished mother and her daughter-in-law eke out a lonely, desperate existence. Forced to murder lost samurai and sell their belongings for grain, they dump the corpses down a deep, dark hole and live off their meager spoils. When a bedraggled neighbor returns from the skirmishes, lust, jealousy, and rage threaten to destroy the trio's tenuous existence, before an ominous, ill-gotten demon mask seals the trio's horrifying fate. Driven by primal emotions, dark eroticism, a frenzied score by Hikaru Hayashi, and stunning images both lyrical and macabre, Kaneto Shindo's chilling folktale is a singular cinematic experience.
Up Next in Horror
-
The Shout
Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski • 1978 • United Kingdom
Starring Alan Bates, Susannah York, John HurtThis entrancing psychosexual puzzle thriller from Jerzy Skolimowski features a memorably unsettling performance from Alan Bates as an enigmatic drifter who insinuates himself into the lives of an ...
-
Matango
Directed by Ishiro Honda • 1963 • Japan
Starring Hiroshi Koizumi, Kumi Mizuno, Kenji SaharaLeaving behind the kaiju genre for which he was best known, Ishiro Honda took a detour into hallucinogenic science fiction with this disturbing psychological survival thriller that stands as perhaps the d...
-
Fascination
Directed by Jean Rollin • 1979 • France
Starring Franca Maï, Jean-Marie Lemaire, Brigitte LahaieJean Rollin’s erotic masterpiece is often described as a vampire film—yet, more than nearly any other horror movie, its true subject is blood fetishism. Set in 1905, the story concerns a group of ari...
