Kwaidan: The Illusion of Life
Photo: Toho There were two massively influential Japanese horror films released in 1964. Onibaba put an unsettling hanniya mask at the center of a grim civil war story; Kwaidan is…
Harakiri: A Gut-Wrenching Challenge
Photo: Shochiku After completing his epic ”Human Condition” trilogy of films in 1961, Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi turned to the samurai. His own family hailed from a samurai and he…