Popular reviews

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  Review by laird ★★★★★ 4

  Takes the experiences of watching a play, reading a book of folk tales, viewing a painting, listening to avant garde music, and having a dream and turns them into a movie. A stylized theatrical back drop, a lighting change, a slightly off-kilter motion, a slightly off-sync cue in Toru Takemitsu's otherworldly soundtrack and suddenly you're transported into the dream. Timeless, but maybe 1960s Japan would have special attraction to moral lessons like: "next time stay at home" or "keep your promises, for the sake of the children, because the past will come back to haunt you" or "remember the past, tell its story well, but don't blindly adhere to it" or "don't be a security obsessed jerk who drinks a soul in my unfinished story or whatever the lesson was in that last one."

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  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★★ 1

  Scary stories to tell in lush unreality.

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  Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½ 8

  88/100

  As a collection of spooky, transfixing stories fabricated through heightened artificiality and blooming colors, Kwaidan slams the viewer into a mesmerizing trance. It's a beautiful mix of apparitions, surreal visions, and stories birthed from the past, and while the stories vary in quality (1st two - stunning, 2nd two - merely good), by the film's startling, dissonant conclusion, it doesn't really matter. This is a masterful movie.

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  Review by matt lynch ★★★★★

  the past is jealous.

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  Review by Matt! ★★★★½

  (Generally ominous noises)

  ……

  …*TWANG*…

  ……

  …*screeeeeech*…
  
  ……

  Japanese folklore really knows how to transfix you in its ambience, doesn’t it? An anthology consisting of four hauntingly dream-like ghost stories, all of which originate from tales told over a century ago (and compiled by a Greek dude?), Kwaidan is a mesmerizing exercise in the power of the surreal. Though the last of the four stories is easily the weakest, all serve as timeless fables encapsulated in trance-inducing images and sounds, driven by looming set pieces and vibrant colors. Naturally, the pacing of such a film may lose some viewers (it’s literally a 3+ hr movie with maybe 30 min of dialogue), but the talent behind its execution is exceptional. 

  I’ve…

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  Review by nick ★★★ 5

  Despite its horror classic status, Kwaidan doesn't wow me at all, mostly due to its overlong runtime and unevenness in terms of stories. Style-wise it's top-notch without a doubt, but style just couldn't survive without decent stories.

  Detailing four traditional Japanese ghost folklores, Kwaidan is a visually stunning hit-and-miss. Each of the four stories indeed has its merits that warrant a cinema adaptation, but director Masaki Kobayashi's confounding decision to stretch these simplistic tales into a 3-hour marathon is simply uncalled-for anyway you look at it.

  "The Black Hair", the opener of Kwaidan, is an underwhelming at best choice to start off this long and winding journey, and the only positive takeaway for me is probably Rentarō Mikuni's acting and…

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  Review by Sean Fennessey ★★★★★ 1

  Few things better.

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  Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★★½ 10

  Kobayashi strikes again, baby! And now he brings the color, his wonderful camera work, striking cinematography, a masterclass on blocking and direction, interesting performances, crazy eyebrows and four spooky stories!

  I would have welcome a faster pacing, but I guess by now the slow burn comes with the Masaki Kobayashi package. Also as it happens with any anthology film, some are better than others. But I loved the core theme they all share together: death and the fear of getting old, at least, that's what I get as everyone who died always aged to death.

  One thing that has been discussed is the use of color and lighting in this movie to highlight different emotions and enhance either the horror…

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  Review by reibureibu ★★★★★ 12

  Hauntological materialism. no notes

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  Review by Justin Peterson ★★★★ 5

  (Halloween Movie Fest 2021)

  Criterion Collection Spine #90
  (Foreign language film - Japanese)

  Grab your favorite caffeinated beverage, because you are in for one beautifully spooky but incredibly slow-burning and long pairing of Japanese ghost stories.

  "It was an eternal pledge to me in exchange for your life. I told you that if you broke it, I would kill you. You've betrayed me!"

  Woven within Kwaidan's three-hour runtime there is a solid horror anthology, but it takes a frustratingly long time to get to the best parts. Which caused me to have to muscle through it over the course of a couple of days.

  (Quick Hits) ... Spoilers:

  - Part One - Black Hair was my least favorite since it…

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  Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★★ 1

  76/100

  A.V. Club review. Still can't believe "The Woman of the Snow" got cut for the U.S. release, as it's far and away the best of the four, in terms of both visual splendor and overall creepiness.

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  Review by braden ★★★★

  “To get rid of the spirits, you must stay calm, and never call for help”
  
  Masaki Kobayashi’s ‘horror’ anthology Kwaidan is a series of four supernatural samurai tales that deliver on their premises with gorgeously haunting atmospheres and vastly impressive production. While in general I’m not a big fan of anthology movies, each of these stories feel memorable and spooky in their own way - featuring maybe some of my all time favourite cinematography as well as fantastic melodramatic sets and performances that create a distinct storybook-like feeling and ghostly undertone. As you’d expect some sections are greater than others, but as a whole it’s a really unique take on the idea that’s completed with excellent consideration and remarkable filmmaking. 

  Stories Rank:
  1. The Woman of the Snow
  2. Hoichi the Earless
  3. In a Cup of Tea
  4. The Black Hair