1964 | Japan | Fiction

Onibaba

  • Japanese 102 mins
  • Director | Kaneto Shindo
  • Writer | Kaneto Shindo
  • Producer | Hisao Itoya, Hiroshi Matsumoto, Setsuo Noto, Kaneto Shindo

STATUS: Released

This film is currently not available.   

Deep in the windswept marshes of war-torn medieval Japan, an impoverished older woman and her daughter-in-law murder lost samurai and sell their belongings for the most meager of sustenance. When a bedraggled neighbor returns from battle, lust, jealousy, and rage threaten to destroy the trio’s tenuous existence, before an ominous, ill-gotten demon mask seals their 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 Onibaba conjures a nightmarish vision of humankind’s deepest desires and impulses.

Desire Horror Jealousy Survival Folklore
Film Organizations
The Criterion Collection
DISTRIBUTION