Kwaidan

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Lars N Not at all without merits but waaaaay too long and waaaaay too slow. It's severely lacking in the kinetic energy of predecessor, Harakiri, and Samurai Rebellion, the film that came after. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/28/25 Full Review Audience Member An epic movie with four distinctly composed stories that lure you in with a nuanced pace. There is an otherworldliness to the movie, it doesn't really fall into a specific horror category, except for maybe ghosts, it feels like you're watching legends on the screen. It is based on the book by Koizumi Yakumo (Patrick Hearn), who has an interesting story in his own right. You can see the movie's influence on other horror directors, from John Carpenter to Takashi Shimizu. It was shot entirely in an airplane hangar with meticulously hand-painted sets. It is a movie with stellar deliberate vision of folklore, superstition, and legend all wrapped into over 3 hours of glorious color, sound and imagery. An unhurried, beautifully made film. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/24/24 Full Review Audience Member Really great movie; the production is splendid! Hand drawn sets and décor galore! Very, very spooky too, but don't go in expecting some kind of modern horror flick. Atmosphere is all that matters. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/11/24 Full Review Taylor L Masaki Kobayashi don't miss. Kwaidan is a horror anthology with narrative design that seems to have been composed straight from the pen of Edgar Allan Poe - less superficially gruesome, more eerie and unsettling. There's a particular emphasis on worldbuilding and character intended to set the stage for an inevitable tragedy, usually based in human weakness but punished with poignant supernatural consequences. It's got the fear of a moralistic old European fairy tale without the obvious intent or thematic simplicity. While each component is narratively tight, Kwaidan's most distinctive feature is its visual design, constantly reinforcing the fantastical nature of the stories with lurid colors and expressive backdrops. The film is gorgeous to look at, a feast of creative set design that brings to life the period setting while also giving an air of mystery, tinged with that fear of the unknown. If there's a weakness to the film, it's the same one that plagues most anthology films - a lack of coherence between the parts. The pieces of Kwaidan aren't really connected and could exist independently as short films. That doesn't make the individual pieces bad in any way, just a bit fragmented where period contemporaries like Ugetsu or Onibaba are each carefully crafted wholes, focusing more comprehensively on theme and giving more developed arcs to their characters. (4/5) Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/15/22 Full Review Audience Member Now I won't say this is a bad movie, because it isn't, it's a very good movie. If you have the time to spend and the patience, this movie is a great way to spend an evening. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review dave s Set in Japan at the time of the samurais, Kwaidan is an anthology of four stories dealing with Japanese folklore, all involving the supernatural. Sadly, the film doesn't seem to offer up much in the way of thrills or chills, most of the tales being a bit bland and uneventful. However, from a production perspective, it is pretty spectacular. Effective lighting, ornate sets and costumes, great cinematography, and a creepy music score help to create a somber and chilling atmosphere. Unfortunately, despite being nice to look at, it all becomes a bit of a storytelling slog and makes one wonder if, because of the running time of close to three hours, it's worth setting aside the time to watch. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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