Review of Kuroneko (1968) by Keenan S — 04 Aug 2014

Kuroneko is an eerie, atmospheric, and creepy ghost story. It's a ghost story that tells a familiar tale that you see a lot in Japanese films from the late 90's and early 2000's, followed by the infamous remake craze in the previous decade of Japanese films. However, don't worry, it doesn't fall into the cheesy (Or in some cases, just flat out awful) pitfalls of those other ghost stories. No, this is one with real atmosphere, real moments of terror, and things like story and character development. It's truly an exceptional horror film that still holds up quite nicely, and strangely, reminds me of fellow Japanese ghost story, Ugetsu, though the two are tonally and thematically different.

When a mother and her daughter-in-law are brutally raped and murdered, followed by having their farmhouse burned down by a band of samurai, the spirits of the dead women make a deal with demons to exact their revenge on samurai by having the young woman ask a samurai to escort her home, seducing the samurai, and then, ripping out their throats.

When multiple samurai keep turning up dead, a new samurai fresh out a victorious battle named Gintoki is sent to kill the supposed beast that is murdering the samurai. Gintoki is also living with the fact that he has no idea what has happened to his mother and wife, and makes a frightening and disheartening discovery when he encounters the spirits in the woods, that not threaten him, but the spirits themselves as they struggle to uphold their deal with demons.

Now Gintoki must confront the horror, learn the true fate of his loved ones (Beyond the just the realm of their human fates), and also, survive.

The story feels much like a fable or folk tale, and very dark one at that. The revenge angle of the spirits is indeed familiar, as seen in films like Ju-On and its subsequent remakes. However, this particular story revolves more around its characters, rather than just a revenge angle. It explores their torment that continues long after their deaths and the feeble attempts to retain some level of contact with their past living lives. It's a tragic tale, but it's also one that is frightening in the uncertainly of one's fate after death, especially when one dies in such a horrific way. One also can't help but feel sympathy for Gintoki, who is forced to deal with the fate of his loved ones even after their deaths and there's nothing he can do about it.

The acting is quite good, which is a rarity in many horror films. The actors never turn the film into something cheesy, but they maintain the atmosphere and immerse themselves into their tortured roles believably. It's hard to really pick a best role, but my pick would go to Kichiemon Nakamura as Gintoki as he finds his character caught between the realm of the living and the realm of sinister, demonic evil. His character was very engaging to follow as he confronts not only the demons, but also his own personal demons as he is forced to confront the truth.

Kuroneko is a stylish, frightening, atmospheric, and overall superb horror film that has clearly influenced many modern Japanese films in tone and style. But, it's still one of the very best of its kind and it should be more widely known. If you love a good, old-fashioned horror film that carefully develops its characters and story, and has plenty of atmosphere and genuine horror, Kuroneko will fill the void you need filled.