Featured Audience Ratings

• Pierluigi P

  
  It takes real talent in an artist to make a ghost story scary and poetic, and here are four of them. Before, only in the Powell/Pressburger films I had seen such pictorial beauty.

• danny d

  
  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… More
  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 ever 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.

• Greg S

  
  Four supernatural Japanese folk tales: a samurai is haunted by regret when he leaves his poor wife for a rich one; a snow-spirit spares the life of a young man on one condition; ghosts demand a blind harpist perform for them; a man sees an apparition in a cup of water. Slow,… More
  Four supernatural Japanese folk tales: a samurai is haunted by regret when he leaves his poor wife for a rich one; a snow-spirit spares the life of a young man on one condition; ghosts demand a blind harpist perform for them; a man sees an apparition in a cup of water. Slow, beautiful, hypnotic, poetic; eye-popping sets and masterfully eerie music. A masterpiece.

• Devon B

  
  Anyone who's ever seen "The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)", or any of his previous films based on Poe's stories, knows Vincent Price's contribution to horror. He seems to specialize in the weird and the offbeat, the creepy and the sometimes trippy. I get the… More
  Anyone who's ever seen "The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)", or any of his previous films based on Poe's stories, knows Vincent Price's contribution to horror. He seems to specialize in the weird and the offbeat, the creepy and the sometimes trippy. I get the feeling Vincent Price would've felt right at home in Kwaidan (if he had been in Japan at the time), a japanese ghost film that leans toward the avante garde. Kwaidan is actually four short separate movies, each with highly stylized sets and costumes (painted backgrounds with giant eyes in the sky). In story one, a samurai leaves his wife for a rich woman but realizes his mistake as he's constantly haunted by her memory. In the second story, A man trapped in a blizzard is spared by a snow vampire on the condition he never tell a soul the story of meeting her. In the third story, a young blind priest is asked to sing the story of an ancient battle to the ghosts of the participants. In the fourth story, a swordsman goes to get a drink and sees a stranger's face in the cup. All these stories play out almost like silent films, as there is very little dialogue, but there is a jarring, dischordant soundtrack. The art direction is very imaginative, everything looks like a graphic novel, unfortunately, it takes forever to turn each page. The movie is glacially-paced. I hit the fast forward button and it only made the actors move in real time. The stories are all too predictable as well, there's virtually no suspense generated. Perhaps these simple stories were taken from children's fairy tales. Perhaps this film is so inaccessible to me because it was written for another culture at another time. If so, I don't know. You could watch old episodes of Rod Serling's "Night Gallery" and get the same effect in a fraction of the time it takes to watch Kwaidan.

• Stella D

  
  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

• Arash X

  
  Sheer beauty, My fav. segment is A Woman In The Snow

• Saskia D

  
  Kwaidan are Japanese Ghost Stories. It's like looking at a beautifull painting and reading poetry at the same time.

• Stephen M

  
  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… More
  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, and 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

• vieras e

  
  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… More
  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 opinion, 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.

• Cindy I

  
  If you believe the Japanese only started making ghost movies with Ringu, think again, and then take a look at this foursome of tales to make your hair stand on end and your flesh creep. Each story stands alone in its spookiness. My favorite is the first -- "Black Hair", in… More
  If you believe the Japanese only started making ghost movies with Ringu, think again, and then take a look at this foursome of tales to make your hair stand on end and your flesh creep. Each story stands alone in its spookiness. My favorite is the first -- "Black Hair", in which a man divorces his wife for a younger, richer woman. When he realizes his mistake and returns to the first wife, he slowly discovers that...haha. You'll have to watch for yourself. But all the stories are good in their own right. And the film looks great -- filmed completely on a soundstage, many of the scenes look like paintings come to life. A good film for those who enjoy art films, but also like to have the bejeebers scared out of them every so often.

• Kylie B

  
  Visually stunning, especially the sets for The Snow Woman segment (the stylised nature of the background reminded me of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari) and the stories chosen I found engaging, though not frightening. It is shot to be very slow moving, which, although setting an ominous… More
  Visually stunning, especially the sets for The Snow Woman segment (the stylised nature of the background reminded me of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari) and the stories chosen I found engaging, though not frightening. It is shot to be very slow moving, which, although setting an ominous and creepy tone to the preceedings, also means that towards the end of the 3 hour stint I found my concentration waning. However, this is definately a film to watch if you're a film enthusiast, even if you only watch it once.

• Michael G

  
  The ghost stories themselves aren't amazing but the visual translation is. The set designs and lighting lend for a visual orgy. A beautiful, beautiful movie. Great score too. My only gripe is that the last story bored/annoyed me a little bit--especially with the Japanese Richard… More
  The ghost stories themselves aren't amazing but the visual translation is. The set designs and lighting lend for a visual orgy. A beautiful, beautiful movie. Great score too. My only gripe is that the last story bored/annoyed me a little bit--especially with the Japanese Richard Simmons face showing up in the cup. It could've easily been lopped off to keep the somewhat tedious 2 1/2 plus running time factor out of the equation. But The Woman in the Snow was definitely my favorite of the four. And whatever you do--if you want to be able to appreciate this movie on any level whatsoever, do not start watching it after midnight or within 3 hours of your bedtime because the whole thing's probably going to turn into one of the biggest wastes of time ever.

• Luke B

  
  A stunningly well crafted artistic masterpiece. Multiple different horror stories are told, each of fantastic quality. The visuals are pure gold, with incredible lighting and amazing set design. A must see for those that appreciate any art.

• Eric B

  
  As the title suggests, Masaki Kobayashi's "Kwaidan" is a collection of ghost stories: "The Black Hair" (approximately 35 minutes), "The Woman of the Snow" (41 minutes), "Hoichi the Earless" (71 minutes) and "In a Cup of Tea" (25… More
  As the title suggests, Masaki Kobayashi's "Kwaidan" is a collection of ghost stories: "The Black Hair" (approximately 35 minutes), "The Woman of the Snow" (41 minutes), "Hoichi the Earless" (71 minutes) and "In a Cup of Tea" (25 minutes). The film is more than the sum of its parts, because the grand impact of a three-hour epic overshadows individual segments that are long on atmosphere but a bit thin on plot. Really, one could summarize any of the premises in a sentence. Man dumps loving wife for woman from more prestigious family, has second thoughts and returns to first wife with unexpected results. Man saved from snowstorm death by mysterious woman, draws her wrath after breaking promise not to tell others. Blind man recruited to sing traditional ballads for a ghost army, has trouble backing out. Man magically sees another man's face in his tea, makes the mistake of wronging him. Simple tales, told with beautiful cinematography and sets. The film is entirely shot inside a studio -- even battle scenes on a lake -- and Kobayashi has great fun concocting impossible, painterly skies. Most memorably, "Woman of the Snow" even adds giant, ominous eyes hanging in the background.

• Matthew Y

  
  Kwaidan is a collection of Ghost stories from the famed author Lafcadio Hearn set in the samurai times of feudal Japan. The film was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language category and is often counted among some of the greatest of Japanese cinema. Like any anthology… More
  Kwaidan is a collection of Ghost stories from the famed author Lafcadio Hearn set in the samurai times of feudal Japan. The film was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language category and is often counted among some of the greatest of Japanese cinema. Like any anthology film the quality varies from story to story. The first film has good build-up and complete garbage for payoff, the second is one of Hearn's most famous fables of a Snow Witch and a woodsman, the third one is over an hour long and easily makes the entire film worth your while. Hoichi the Earless has amazing set designs and costumes. It is a picturesc account of an epic naval battle shrouded in a thrilling ghost tale. The final short is also strong but the film should have ended on its strongest note with Hoichi which could have easily been extended to its own feature length film.

• Chris B

  
  A collection of short horror films that are done with style and grace and make up for the small budgets associated with them. The first of the four short films is called Black Hair and is about a samurai who leaves his wife in order to marry and move up the social ladder and is… More
  A collection of short horror films that are done with style and grace and make up for the small budgets associated with them. The first of the four short films is called Black Hair and is about a samurai who leaves his wife in order to marry and move up the social ladder and is driven mad in the end when he finally comes back home and discovers his wife is dead but her spirit still lingers at night. The second story is called The Woman of the Snow and is about a man who must keep his oath to a spirit in order to save his life. The film is happy and it isn't until he breaks his oath that everything crumbles apart. The third film is called Hoichi the Earless and the title says it all. The blind protagonist is summoned by spirits to play his instrument, in which he is highly skilled at, and comes under a curse until his friends try and save him. The final of the four films is called In a Cup of Tea and is about a spirit who is seen in this cup and what the consequences are for drinking the spirit. These are visually quite impressive, especially The Woman of the Snow and Hoichi the Earless and are very atmospheric and traditional Japanese Horror.

• Lesley N

  
  Spooky but not scary (it IS a PG rating) set of four Japanese ghost stories - Black Hair, The Woman In The Snow, Hoichi The Earless and In A Cup Of Tea - by Masaki Kobayashi. Beautifully fimed from the start, with brightly coloured inks spreading into water, and painted backdrops of… More
  Spooky but not scary (it IS a PG rating) set of four Japanese ghost stories - Black Hair, The Woman In The Snow, Hoichi The Earless and In A Cup Of Tea - by Masaki Kobayashi. Beautifully fimed from the start, with brightly coloured inks spreading into water, and painted backdrops of sunsets and skies. Very slow too.. or mediative, depending on your point of view. Too slow for me.

Read all 17 featured audience ratings