10 Great Monster Movies You May Have Missed

10. Kuroneko (1968)

Kuroneko or, to give the film its full title, Yabu no Naka no Kuroneko (A Black Cat in a Bamboo Grove) ranks among the best movies you may not have seen, in any genre. The film was directed by Kaneto Shindo, the multi-talented creative responsible for many classics of Japanese cinema, including Onibaba and Naked Island. Shindo also provided scripts for Kenji Mizoguchi, Seijun Suzuki and an impressive list of other legendary directors. He was a pioneer of independent film in his native country, being one of the first to co-found his own company.

Shot in black and white, Kuroneko's setting is feudal Japan, and the 'monsters' in this case are the deadly spirits of Yone and her daughter-in-law, Shige. Murdered by a troop of samurai, the two women return as vicious killers, seducing and then murdering unsuspecting samurai by tearing their throats out with their cat-like teeth.

A splendid twist arises when a samurai named Gintoki is tasked with tracking down and destroying the vengeful spirits. The problem, as Gintoki soon discovers, is that Yone and Shige are none other than his deceased mother and wife.