Kwaidan (Kaidan) tells four nightmarish tales that are: The Black Hair, The Woman of the Snow, Hoichi the Earless and In a Cup of Tea.
Masaki Kobayashi’s Kwaidan (Kaidan) is told to be one of the most meticulously crafted supernatural fantasy films and I'm pretty sure that it's safe to say that it is. Japanese horror from 1964 may not be something that you tend to see every day and even though the four tales that Kwaidan tells may seem to be extremely predictable, they're still quite fantastic, not to mention hyper atmospheric and if you have a real interest in Japanese horror, the film is well worth a look. What is not to expect here are massive scares a la Ringu, Ju-on etc. Kwaidan is instead more focused on telling simple, yet quite haunting stories that can be seen more like old fairy-tales with a horror twist to them rather than scary films. If you're looking for hard hitting scares and wants fast-paced horror, look elsewhere because that is so not what this film is about.
First out is a piece called The Black Hair and even though that is something that is quite common in Asian horror cinema these days - hair - keep in mind that this film is old and I think it's safe to say that black hair was not as commonly used in films back then. It tells the story of a poor samurai who has a loving and very patient wife, but the samurai is sick and tired of living in poverty and so he divorces his wife and marries a rich man’s daughter. The years go by and the samurai discovers that wealth means nothing compared to true love and realizes that he should've never left his first wife. Eventually he divorces his rich wife to return to his old one and when he meets her, he sees that she hasn't changed a bit, and her black hair looks as beautiful as ever. I can't tell you what happens next, but this simple story might be the best one out of the four, as it is somewhat horrific. Well, maybe not these days, but I'm sure it was scary as hell back when it was made, and at the same time it still works ok even today. It may seem a little bit slow moving, something that all the stories have in common, but at least it delivers a very genuine feel that is hard to find in most movies these days.
 
The second story is called The Woman of the Snow and while it may be way too predictable, it's still excellent. It tells the story of a poor woodcutter who, together with a friend, happens to be lost in a snowstorm. They seek shelter in a shack where a ghost-like woman appears before the two. She blows her icy breath over the woodcutter's friend's body which kills him, but she spares the woodcutter's life and he has to promise her to never tell anyone what he has seen. Ten years go by and the woodcutter has found himself a wife that he has three kids with, strange thing though is that his wife does not appear to age at all. She also bears a slight resemblance to the ghostly woman and one evening the woodcutter decides to tell her about what happened to him in the snowstorm ten years ago. Predictable indeed but still well worth watching. The scenery is absolutely amazing and all the backgrounds are handpainted sets which gives the film a fantastic look. Not nearly as "horrific" as the first story, but still a great supernatural tale. (Both stills as seen above are from The Woman of the Snow.)
Moving on to the third story that is called Hoichi the Earless that begins with a very drawn out battle at sea. We get to hear from a narrator that since that battle took place, the beach has been haunted and is infested with all these crabs that has human faces. Pretty freaky eh? Well, it sure sounds much worse than it is. Soon we're introduced to Hiochi, a young blind musician who becomes famous for his singing style. One night he's left to guard the monastery when spirits appears before him and wants him to sing for them. He starts singing to them every night, but soon Hiochi becomes pale and sick and the monastery’s head monk warns him about singing to the spirits as eventually they'll rip him apart. To protect him, the monk paint Hiochi's entire body with prayer verses to ward off spirits.. but he forgets one thing and that is to paint Hiochi's ears! Don't expect gore, but this tale is much more gruesome than the previous two as well as the fourth one. It also has a historical touch to it which is quite interesting.
Last out is something called In a Cup of Tea where a warrior discovers the reflection of some strange man in his cup of tea. He spills the tea on the ground and pours himself a new cup, but the same thing happens. Eventually he ignores the reflection and just drinks the tea, but later that same night, he's visited by the man in the flesh. Even though the man asks, the warrior pretends that he hasn't seen him before and to get rid of him he stabs him with his sword. But instead of bleeding like a normal person, the man goes through a wall, proving to the warrior that he's some kind of phantom. Later on, three other spirits show up where the warrior lives and tells him that the man he hurt will come back to make him pay for what he did. This story was a little freaky and ends in a very cool way that I, for obvious reasons, can't reveal to you. It's not scary, but it sure has some haunting imagery that might stick in your head when turning the film off.
What you need to have to watch Kwaidan is an interest in Japanese (horror) tales, add to that some patience and a genuine interest in film because this is everything but commercial. The film moves kinda slow, runs for 183 minutes(!), but at the same time, you could watch one story at the time and call it a day whenever you like. Don't expect hardcore scares or even too much horror for that matter, but instead Kwaidan has a lot of beauty to offer and the film looks like nothing else.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Ghost Stories, Weird Tales, Kaidan
MOVIE YEAR: 1964
DIRECTOR: Masaki Kobayashi
WRITING CREDITS: Lafcadio Hearn, Yōko Mizuki
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Rentaro Mikuni, Tatsuya Nakadai, Katsuo Nakamura
COUNTRY: Japan
RUNTIME: 183 min
RATING: 9/10
Kwaidan Website/IMDB Click here
Kwaidan Trailer Click here
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