Chorus Film Club (Week 2): Kuroneko (Kaneto Shindo, 1968)

@ChaseTx's pick

In this poetic and atmospheric horror fable, set in a village in war-torn medieval Japan, a malevolent spirit has been ripping out the throats of itinerant samurai. When a military hero is sent to dispatch the unseen force, he finds that he must struggle with his own personal demons as well. From Kaneto Shindo, director of the terror classic Onibaba, Kuroneko (Black Cat) is a spectacularly eerie twilight tale with a shocking feminist angle, evoked through ghostly special effects and exquisite cinematography.

Kuroneko

 

i love this movie, what a great pick

 

I have not seen it but Onibaba is good and I've heard better of this one. Also need to watch Shindo's The Naked Island soon.

 

Oh man, this is good. During the first 40 minutes I was ready to write something about how I love all the parts but the sum of them wasn't working for me, similar to how I admire Onibaba but am not crazy about it's whole product. Once the film settles in on the interactions between Gintoki and the ghosts it really feels like something special. The atmosphere in Japanese horror from the 1960s in unparalleled by any other decade's or any other country's horror film making. It's the perfect blend between poetic and chill inducing. The sets and locations are lovely, particularly any time there is something happening around the bamboo trees. It's a film I've had on my radar since before I even saw Onibaba a couple years ago and it surely didn't let down. I've only seen the two films, but Shindo seems like an overlooked treasure from an already exciting period in Japanese cinema.

 

I chose this from my watch list because what little I knew about it appealed to me -- a Japanese period piece ghost story is right up my alley. I was not let down. The imagery in this movie is often fascinating, for example the scenes of the white cloth billowing against a dark background. Pretty haunting in tone and I thought the character interactions were well done.

I'll definitely have to check out Onibaba soon.

 

I'm the worst, guys. I need to carve out time to watch the films

 

Great film and I love the turn it takes after the 40th minute. It was at first just a revenge tale (and the description Hulu gives out makes it seem like it's only that). Once Gintoki shows up it is much more of a poignant story about the cruelty of war and the things it makes people do. The ghost story/war combo kind of works really well. It should be used more in film because they are both intertwined it seems. Great pick.

 

If anyone is looking for any more Japanese horror from the same era beyond this and Onibaba, Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan is an incredible film. It's an anthology film based on Japanese folk tales. It's 3 hours long but well worth the investment. It's also on Hulu and Criterion recently upgraded it to blu-ray as well.