Onibaba(1964).After being forcefully inducted as a soldier into war in 14th century Japan, his wife and mother remain living in a swamp. They eke out their living by ambushing worn-out warriors, killing them and selling their belongings to a greedy merchant. The woman comes to mistrust her daughter-in-law who has coupled up with a deserter, and begins to wear a facial mask she has taken from a slain samurai. Soon the mask will not come off again. In this disguise she is at first taken for a demon by her daughter. Written byMichael Jurich <jurich@rummelplatz.uni-mannheim.de>... Synopsis Onibaba(1964)
Movie Title: Onibaba(1964)
Run Time: 103 min
Rating: 7.9 / 10
Genres: Drama |Horror
Release Date: 4 February 1965 (USA)
Director: Kaneto Shindô
Writer: Kaneto Shindô... and other credits
Actor: Nobuko Otowa,Jitsuko Yoshimura,Kei Satô
While not the greatest Japanese movie ever made, this proves that you don't need Akira Kurasawa to direct an excellent Japanese film.
"Onibaba" is Japanese for "grandma-monster" and this refers to a story the older woman tells the younger in order to get her to stay home and stop carrying on her affair with a ne'er-do-well. Unfortunately, when the older lady dresses up AS the monster in order to scare her, things change for the worse unexpectedly.
Despite this brief description, this isn't really a horror movie, but a tale about three basically greedy people. So what did I like about it? Well, the story has such interesting twists and turns that keep the viewer guessing and it is a good study of human nature in its worst form. Overall, very odd but captivating.
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