9. Onibaba (1964)
Another cult film that like many of its brethren on the list, is way ahead of its time, Onibaba is a movie set in 14th century feudal Japan where there are wars a plenty. A young man gets sent off to fight and his mother and wife are left to survive in a very hard dog eat dog society. They keep themselves afloat by killing weary soldiers and selling their armours and goods to a greedy merchant. The wife of the dead soldier falls in love/lust with his friend who managed to escape death. The mother in law is unimpressed by this and is overcome with feelings of resentment and rejection. She places a demonic mask upon her face which gets stuck whenever the rain washes over it. She gets the daughter in law to hammer it off but she is covered in sores and the daughter in law screams that she is a demon and runs off. It is up for debate as to whether Onibaba is a horror film, an arthouse film or a period drama. It is truthful to say that it contains all three elements. Shot on stark black and white, the cinematography is startling, yet beautiful. The use of black and white photography is chillingly effective, portraying desperate times in Japan in which people were forced to do desperate things for a bowl of millet. The acting is first rate - especially from the mother in law who has to deftly portray the emotion of jealousy. I was rather surprised by the amount of nudity in the film - in one scene the actress playing the mother in law has one of her boobs hanging out for no discernible reason for the duration of the scene. The movie is also pretty frank when it comes to portraying sexuality and acts of violence. It was probably easier to make films in colour back in Onibaba's day, so fair play to the director Shindo for using the black and white medium to such stunning effect.