Onibaba

3.9

(81)

Horror

1964

105 min

While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are devastated when they learn that Kichi has died, but his wife soon begins an affair with a neighbor who survived the war, Hachi. The mother disapproves and, when she can't steal Hachi for herself, tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.

Starring:

Nobuko Otowa

Jitsuko Yoshimura

Kei Satō

Jūkichi Uno

Taiji Tonoyama

Someshō Matsumoto

Kentarô Kaji

Horror

Mind Bending

7.9/10

90%

Community ReviewsSee all

"So, I feel like this could be a very nice movie, maybe even kind of scary or arousing… if you were anybody other than me. See, I grew up in an environment of blowing tall swamp grasses. I played in them, I crashed through them, they are one of the least frightening environments I can imagine. I also thought the taiko jazz was laughably horrible to listen to. And the sex scenes are pretty tame by todays standards. So my appreciation for this film comes down to the visual technicals. The grasses are textured in the wide shots or abstract streaks in closeups against the sky. The lighting is pretty cool, as is the near-apocalyptic war-ravaged Japanese countryside. And the framing is sometimes really excellent. But all of the elements it sets out to achieve fail to land for me. It’s not scary, it’s not sexy, it’s not especially fun to watch. But it is pretty."

Marsh

"Decent film, but not one I recommend film fans go out of their way to view, especially given the quantity of great Japanese films produced during the mid-20th century. "