10 Essential Movies Guillermo Del Toro Demands You See

5. Onibaba

Guillermo del Toro's fascination for myth and folklore isn't limited to the Western tradition, as his appreciation of Keneto Shindo's Onibaba shows. It's a horror movie which revels in poetic imagery, often beautiful and chilling at the same time. Two women live amidst the reeds of a wasteland torn apart by civil war, preying on wandering soldiers and trading their possessions for food and other supplies. After tricking a samurai into falling to his death in a pit of their making, one woman dons his mask and unleashes a demon. Paired with Kuroneko to form a "perverse, sweaty double bill", del Toro reflects on the "serious damage to my psyche" these sexually charged horror movies inflicted. Onibaba has certainly stood the test of time, not least on account of its precise, otherworldly imagery which, in the words of del Toro, "show mankind trapped in a cosmically evil world." Also recommended: Kuroneko