Kaidan (Kwaidan) (Ghost Stories) poster & wallpaper

Jun Tazaki, Kanemon Nakamura, Katsuo Nakamura

A masterpiece of filmmaking artifice and mood-setting atmosphere, Kwaidan consists of four ghost stories adapted from the fiction of Greek-born Lafcadio Hearn (a.k.a. Yakumo Koizumi, 1850-19...( read more  read more... )04), who assimilated into Japanese culture so thoroughly that his writings reveal no evidence of Western influence. So it is that these four cinematic interpretations--perhaps more accurately described as tales of spectral visitation--are sublimely Japanese in tone and texture, created entirely in a studio with frequently stunning results. There are painterly images here that remain the most beautiful and haunting in all of Japanese cinema, presented with the purity of silent film, sparsely accompanied by post-synchronized sounds and music (by Toru Takemitsu) that enhance the otherworldly effect of director Masaki Kobayashi's meticulous imagery. When viewed in a receptive frame of mind, Kwaidan can be intensely hypnotic.

Each of the four stories find their protagonists confronted by spirits that compel them to (respectively) make amends for past mistakes, maintain vows of silence, satisfy the yearnings of the undead, or capture phantoms that remain frightfully elusive. As each tale progresses, their supernatural elements grow increasingly intense and distant from the confines of reality. With careful use of glorious color and wide-screen composition, Kwaidan exists in a netherworld that is both real and imagined, its characters never quite sure they can trust what they've seen and heard. Vastly different from the more overt shocks of Western horror, the film casts a supernatural spell that remains timelessly effective. --Jeff Shannon

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90% liked it

4,350 ratings

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81% liked it

16 critics

Unrated, 164 min.

Directed by: Masaki Kobayashi

Release Date: December 29, 1964

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DVD Release Date: October 10, 2000

Stats: 280 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (280)

  • rubystevens
    December 25, 2008
    rubystevens
    it's certainly a work of art i wish i'd seen on the big screen. i'm sure my tv didn't do it justice. beautiful to look at but kinda weak story-wise. the snow woman was my favorite but i'll still take ugetsu or onibaba
  • sanjurosamurai
    November 2, 2008
    sanjurosamurai
    a film containing four short films that are ghost stories from various points of the samurai era in japan. while all four stories were compelling, my perfect rating is mostly for the third story called "hoichi the earless man". hoichi is easily the greatest ghost story i have e...( read more)ver seen on film, with wonderful acting, flawless cinematography, and a haunting storyline. it was a pleasant suprise to see takashi shimura appear as well. the art direction and cinematography for all four stories was essentially perfect, and these four stories assemble to make one of the greatest films i have ever seen.
  • Saxia
    October 24, 2008
    Saxia
    Kwaidan are Japanese Ghost Stories. It's like looking at a beautifull painting and reading poetry at the same time.
  • harrycaul
    May 10, 2008
    harrycaul
    Technically this collection of four Japanese ghost stories is a masterpiece; the art direction, lighting, editing, photography and the stylised sound design are all extraordinary. Unfortunately, "Kwaidan" treats its occasionally humdrum literary source with too much reverence, an...( read more)d a couple of the tales feel overstretched here. As with a lot of Japanese cinema, there's also the niggling suspicion that significant details are frequently and unintelligibly passing one by, their meaning either lost in translation or confounded by the culture barrier. For instance, why do evil women (and one pretty benign looking man) have blackened teeth? Curiously, "The Woman of the Snow", the second and by far the best segment, was removed prior to the film's original western release. It's a visually stunning variation on that hoary old yarn of the immortal with a yen for a mortal life. "Kwaidan" is often erroneously credited with having been shot entirely on studio sets, but the carefully crafted atmosphere of the third tale, "Hoichi, the Earless", is actually undermined by some frustratingly superfluous location footage. All four episodes are powerfully atmospheric - the second and third are especially beautiful to look at - but you'd need an acutely nervous disposition to be unduly spooked by anything here. Individual ratings:-
    1) The Black Hair - 3.5/5
    2) The Woman of the Snow - 5/5
    3) Hoichi, the Earless - 4/5
    4) In a Cup of Tea - 3.5/5
  • vierasesine
    April 21, 2008
    vierasesine
    Kaidan is the word for a Japanese ghost story. This film consists of four such stories: Black Hair, The Snow Woman, Hoichi the Earless and In a Cup of Tea, all of which are based on stories from Lafcadio Hearn's collections of Japanese folk tales. The stories progress, in my opin...( read more)ion, from the scary to the simply peculiar, though none of them are - of course - horror in the sense that we the Westeners perceive it.

    This film is absolutely beautiful. The eyes in the sky, the blood red waters, the well at night and the bell by evening - even the way the three men position themselves in the last story has its own kind of beauty to it - not to mention the wonderful biwa music and the long, luxurious black hair of many of the women.
  • ringoestrella258
    October 29, 2009
    ringoestrella258
    One of the most visually beautiful horror films ever made. This film will haunt you for a long time afterwards.
  • ElCochran90
    October 23, 2009
    ElCochran90
    Kaidan (1964)


    Director: Masaki Kobayashi
    Country: Japan
    Genre: Fantasy / Horror
    Length: 183 minutes

    ...( read more)pg" target="_blank">Photobucket

    Masaki Kobayashi's first film in color (as far as I know) as his first and only attempt to make a horror film ended up being arguably one of the best and most influential foreign horror movies ever made. This is an extraordinary proof not only that Asian horror is the best, but it also shows in a very accurate way what the term HORROR means as a genre. Ladies and gentlemen: this is HORROR. Since the genre was horrifically modernized under awful standards of mindless gore and violence, hot chicks (at least they are :P) and an unbearable amount of remakes and recycled stories, the true essence of cinematic horror was forgotten. The good old days of Hitchcock, Clouzot, classic Romero and even Murnau were ignored and lost. Few directors still know how to establish a very identifiable style and the use and portrayal of violence, monsters, serial killers and "jump scenes" in their films. All of them own their respect towards those classic, original masters of horror, and although Kobayashi was focused more on making drama and was a profound lover of the most sensitive and human aspects of psychology, this movie does not disappoint, but amazes.

    Kaidan won the Jury Special Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1965 and was nominated for a Golden Palm. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film next year and lost against Obchod na Korze (1965), which was the best decision they could have made. Kaidan consists in four different, scary stories:

    Kurokami (Black Hair)

    The third best story of them all. After a samurai decides to divorce his wife and marrying another woman because of money and the prestigious position he would acquire, he finds out that he misses his past life and decides to return to his first wife... just to find out about a horrible secret. Michiyo Aratama appears in this segment, playing the role of the first wife. She also had acted in Kobayashi's trilogy Ningen no Joken (1959-1961) and would later appear in Dai-bosatsu Tôge (1966) as Ohama. The story is very creepy and has a very dark and eerie atmosphere. A unique and wonderful story indeed. This segment, as expected, has the usual twist ending. That's why I said this film is unfluential. Very scary for its time, and if seen in an appropriate way, it should scare you as well at least a little bit, like me.

    86/100

    Yuki-Onna (The Woman in the Snow)

    The second best story of them all. It was pretty creative and frightening. Two woodman are surprised by a heavy snow storm on their way back home. A spirit of a snow woman kills the old woodman, but spares the life of the young one out of pity under the condition that he never tells any living soul about what happened that night. Guess what happens next... The use of color is a key aspect in this segment. This is one of the earliest films I know that makes a wonderful and powerful use of color, not only for dramatization purposes, but also for enhancing the tension in the most intense scenes. Besides using extraordinary colors of nature, which some of them can be found in the sky and general landscapes in a very intense manner, it also uses the technique of literally coloring the whole screen, in this case blue, which is also noticeable in the woman's make-up. Awesome actor Tatsuya Nakadai plays the role of the young woodsman. Although the ending may seem unsatisfying for some people, it wasn't the same case for me. You just have to get it. A horror little gem.

    89/100

    Miminashi Hôichi no hanashi (Hoichi the Earless)

    This is my personal favorite, and definitely the best story of them all. Hoichi is a blind musician who beautifully plays his biwa while singing the story of the last sea battle of Dan-No-Ura between the clans of Genji and Heike that was held 700 years before. One day, the ghostly Heike imperial court, amazed and pleased by Hoichi's tribute, invites him to perform in front of them. The monks of the monastery find out about this situation and decide to protect Hoichi from the ghosts with a holy mantra that they write all over his body. However, a mistake has already been done. Want a couple of clues? You can either 1) watch the film or 2) take a close look at the Criterion Collection cover. This film is an epic story. The first battle scene, besides being violent and showing a beautifully red-painted sea of blood at its end, is extremely poetic and depressing. The pace is slow and it is the longest segment, but it is worth every minute since, this time, the character development matters more than ever. The conclusion is disturbing, and since some of them considered it unadequate, an alternate ending was made for the story. I have always prefered the original intentions of the director, and this is no exception. Eastern culture is shown at its most gorgeous detail and suddenly the idea of this film inspiring Peter Greenaway (The Pillow Book [1996]) crossed my mind. The head priest was interpreted by famous Takashi Shimura, who appeared in several Kurosawa films including Shichinin no Samurai (1954) as leader Kambei Shimada. A masterpiece of its kind, which is also the scariest and disturbing for some people.

    92/100

    Chawan no naka (In a Cup of Tea)

    Being the most phantasmagoric, this is the worst story of the whole bunch, but I was still entertained. A writer tells the story of a samurai who keeps seeing a haunting face reflected in his cup of tea. After tossing the water and breaking the cup, he keeps appearing in the damn cups... "Should I drink it, then? That may not be such a good idea..." Although somewhat silly, it is scary and works more as a supernatural thriller than a horror short story. It got extra points because of the performances and the little touch of madness and insanity, including the unexpected ending which freely plays with the different existent forms of storytelling within cinema.

    85/100

    Another wonderful fact of the film is that it seems that each horror segment was directed by a different director, just like it is normally done nowadays such as in Sam gang yi (2004), a compilation of horror segments Miike, Park and Chan made famous. Another well-known example is the whole project of Grindhouse (2007). This is not the case; Kobayashi is a genius and has effectively proved that he is capable of using different cinematic styles in one single project.

    A wonderful horror film that deals with disturbed and lost spirits, lurking demons and creepy ghosts of persons that once were but not anymore, Kaidan is a loyal representation of the classic Japanese folklore and the kind of stories with which several people from a very different culture than the Western one grew up with. Among the best of its kind.

    FINAL SCORE: (86 + 89 + 92 + 85) / 4 = 88/100

    88/100
  • jscottcorley
    September 16, 2009
    jscottcorley
    Quite good. Some tales were stronger than others. Traditional Japanese structure. Solid.
  • rogeriosm
    July 6, 2009
    rogeriosm
    Kaidan is a movie that portrays popular ghost stories of Japan. Kobayashi is a skilled master, and in this film the viewer is blessed with an amazing expressionist-influenced photography. Kobayashi is able to shoot very beautiful shots, with a accurate sense of composition, also ...( read more)move the camera slowly through the scene, and still be able to provide bold camera movements and twists, all according to the objective he intends to convey.
  • bbliumis
    January 19, 2009
    bbliumis
    IF U KNOW THE STORIES OR READ THE BOOK.
    THEN U KNOW WHAT I M TALKING ABOUT

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