Greetings boils and ghouls, it is your old pal Eerie Evan,
giving you your daily dose of horror as the calendar steadily marches on
towards All Hallows Eve. Today, I’ve got a special little film for you, a beast
from the east called Kwaidan.
Before Ju-on, before Ringu, was Kwaidan. Kwaidan (literally meaning 'Ghost Stories') was a horror anthology of not one, not two, not three, but four, count ‘em, four separate stories. Directed by Masaki Kobayashi (who is most famous for a film called The Human Condition, which is a trilogy concerning the effects of WWII on a socialist and a pacifist –a very different kind of horror than what we are looking at today), the stories are based on the book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcido Hearn. Hearn, was an early mid 19th century scholar of Japanese culture and folklore. This book as you more learned types may have guessed, is where the title of the film originates.
Kwaidan creates a ravishing visual spectacle making use of meticulously
hand-painted sets that could be hung up in any art gallery. In fact, it takes
some time to notice that the backdrops are not natural, while at the same time
giving the viewer the feel that something is not quite right here. Kobayashi
also makes use of sound, letting some scenes play out in total silence, while
others are filled with jarring noises and auditory oddities – the sound as a
whole is slightly out of sync with the action on the screen.
While this may seem annoying in truth it is barely noticeable. When the viewer does realize this, it only compounds to the atmosphere of tension and increases the otherworldly quality of the action playing upon the screen. Kobayashi’s stories extend beyond the frame of the camera (supposedly, it was filmed inside of an aircraft hangar, because no other location would have a proper sound stage) and become larger than life itself.
But that is not why Kwaidan is on this list. Kwaidan is on this list because instead of the spirits seeking vengeance, it humanizes them, making them an unstoppable force of poetic justice. The living characters in Kwaidan exemplifies the folly and weaknesses of human character. Now THAT IS scary if you ask me.
Perhaps the most forward looking of the stories in Kwaidan is that of the eternally young wife in The Black Hair. This tale in particular seems to be the launching pad for the creepy women with long black hair covering their face fad that Japan goes through in the 90s and early 2000s.
They say the subtle knife cuts deepest, and Kobayashi’s film is indeed that – subtle. Sometimes the feeling of something being ‘off’ is a hell of a lot scarier than being afraid of some guy with a mask made out of bologna and a chainsaw killing you. If you are a fan of J-horror, this is a fine one folks.
I've embedded a link to the trailer below, just encase this particular offering frightens up your fancy.
Until next time,
Eerie Evan.
Before Ju-on, before Ringu, was Kwaidan. Kwaidan (literally meaning 'Ghost Stories') was a horror anthology of not one, not two, not three, but four, count ‘em, four separate stories. Directed by Masaki Kobayashi (who is most famous for a film called The Human Condition, which is a trilogy concerning the effects of WWII on a socialist and a pacifist –a very different kind of horror than what we are looking at today), the stories are based on the book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcido Hearn. Hearn, was an early mid 19th century scholar of Japanese culture and folklore. This book as you more learned types may have guessed, is where the title of the film originates.
Kwaidan creates a ravishing visual spectacle making use of meticulously
hand-painted sets that could be hung up in any art gallery. In fact, it takes
some time to notice that the backdrops are not natural, while at the same time
giving the viewer the feel that something is not quite right here. Kobayashi
also makes use of sound, letting some scenes play out in total silence, while
others are filled with jarring noises and auditory oddities – the sound as a
whole is slightly out of sync with the action on the screen. While this may seem annoying in truth it is barely noticeable. When the viewer does realize this, it only compounds to the atmosphere of tension and increases the otherworldly quality of the action playing upon the screen. Kobayashi’s stories extend beyond the frame of the camera (supposedly, it was filmed inside of an aircraft hangar, because no other location would have a proper sound stage) and become larger than life itself.
But that is not why Kwaidan is on this list. Kwaidan is on this list because instead of the spirits seeking vengeance, it humanizes them, making them an unstoppable force of poetic justice. The living characters in Kwaidan exemplifies the folly and weaknesses of human character. Now THAT IS scary if you ask me.
Perhaps the most forward looking of the stories in Kwaidan is that of the eternally young wife in The Black Hair. This tale in particular seems to be the launching pad for the creepy women with long black hair covering their face fad that Japan goes through in the 90s and early 2000s.
They say the subtle knife cuts deepest, and Kobayashi’s film is indeed that – subtle. Sometimes the feeling of something being ‘off’ is a hell of a lot scarier than being afraid of some guy with a mask made out of bologna and a chainsaw killing you. If you are a fan of J-horror, this is a fine one folks.
I've embedded a link to the trailer below, just encase this particular offering frightens up your fancy.
Until next time,
Eerie Evan.
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