10 Most Savage Japanese Horror Films Ever
1. Onibaba (1964)
Two women - an elderly woman and her daughter in law - try to cope with the harsh post-conflict conditions in 14th century Japan. They kill soldiers and ransack their bodies for items they can sell in order to get food. A neighbour called Hachi comes back from the war, and informs the older woman that her son was killed in a battle. Hachi and the daughter in law get embroiled in a tumultuous non stop shag-fest, which angers the jealous older woman. However, the women remain pretty efficient killers of Samurai soldiers.
One night the older woman kills a soldier who has donned a devil-like mask. She removes it and decides to terrify her daughter in law. After being freaked out, the younger woman tries to take the mask off the older woman with great difficulty. When she sees what is under the mask, panic and mayhem set in, ensuring a grim finale to the film.
Japan, in the olden days, looks like a really harsh place to exist in. Mind you, I don't think anywhere on earth during the Middle Ages was particularly hospitable. Onibaba is an excellent film, extremely well helmed by director Kaneto Shindo who creates an aesthetic which is truly weird and discomforting. It is suspenseful, entertaining and possesses just the right amount of horror action to unsettle the viewer.
The fact it is filmed in black and white is a perfect stark accompaniment to the brutal times Japan is going through in the movie. The weird jazzy score just makes the film even more discordant and brilliant!
A lot of the film is taken up with the relationship between the mother and daughter in law. I know humans are humans and have certain 'needs' but it's hard not to feel very sorry for the mother when the daughter in law and neighbour Hachi start going at it like jackhammers. The mother is very jealous and she is bound to be thinking "Wow, that was indecent haste after the death of my son" when it comes to the girl's relationship with Hachi. Never mind the fact that she tries to bed Hachi herself and is humiliatingly rejected.
It's also impressive how the two ordinary women were resourceful and rather mercenary when it comes to securing their own existence. Killing Samurais - of all soldiers - like they are mere bugs to swat off is no mean feat. Onibaba has never really attained the following it deserves, which is a pity because it is such a fascinating and unique slice of Japanese Horror that will stay with the viewer because it is both really strange and haunting.