Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Andres-Camara I assume that for them these stories will be known and nothing would collide, I half of the film had to be thinking that he wanted to tell me. While it is true that I am very analytical and when things are abstract I miss a bit. But this film for me is very abstract and that pulls me out.Finally I would say that I do not think it is bad as other films, it is done seriously, but its ingredients I do not like. So for my taste I do not approve.Spoiler: This is what you ask me when I finish watching the movie. It is a paranoia of the director or it is me who has become such a dog that I have been lost.You're watching the movie and you do not know if it's so badly made that it looks like theater or that they did not know how to do it better, but if it was so, it should have been all like that, not just part of the story. I imagine that being Japanese cinema, I will not understand their ways of seeing things, their stories, their times, because if, as always this cinema, it is not that it is slow, it is that it does not know the word ellipsis. A fantastic wardrobe that if, as always and some actors, also as always overacted, there will be who loves, I find it heavy.If it were not because it happens and it seems to be theater, the photograph would be very beautiful, but when it happens, it happens to be theater, the problem is that we are watching cinema. It is like the address, luckily it is not a sum of fast planes, but a sum of generals does not say much either.I assume that for them these stories will be known and nothing would collide, I half of the film had to be thinking that he wanted to tell me. While it is true that I am very analytical and when things are abstract I miss a bit. But this film for me is very abstract and that pulls me out.Finally I would say that I do not think it is bad as other films, it is done seriously, but its ingredients I do not like. So for my taste I do not approve.

MortalKombatFan1 This horror anthology made by Toho Studios in the 1960's is one of the more beautiful and eerie than it is scary. Based on four Japanese folk tales, the film has an air of artifice about it, using colourful lighting (which changes mid-scene for supernatural effect), fancy period costumes and makeup, and massive set-pieces (wheat fields and show covered forests are reproduced on the stage, an elaborate sea battle is shown against a painted backdrop). It was one of the most expensive movies made in Japan at the time, and it shows. With so much style, it could be said that the film is an exercise in excess, but really, the style lends itself perfectly to each story, and makes the images from these old tales fresh and unique even fifty years on.The first story, "Black Hair" shows a man leaving his wife to pursue wealth in the city by re-marrying the daughter of rich clan. He is happy at first, but when he thinks back about the woman he loved which he abandoned, revisiting their old abandoned homestead haunts him, literally. In "The Woman and the Snow", two men are stuck in a snow storm, and after his partner freezes to death at the hands of spirit in the form of a woman, he sees her and is spared. She tells him to never speak of seeing her to anyone and he can live. He does for a time, and meets a girl in a nearby village who looks suspiciously like her, only to fall in love with her and raise a family. After an intermission, the longest segment, "Hoichi, the Earless" follows. A blind minstrel, Hoichi, plays a song on the biwa about a fierce sea battle between two clans that ends in the death of a child emperor and his servants, who kill themselves by jumping overboard, rather than being captured by the enemy. Later, Hoichi is called upon by a ghost of the clan to come up upon a mountain top and sing their story to them forever. His disappearance from the monastery is noticed, and some monks are sent out to find him.The final story, "In a Cup of Tea", is an unfinished tale that acts as a coda to the film, being about an writer that must finish a story in time for his publisher and writes one about a man who drinks a cup of tea with the face of person in it. The person in the tea comes to life and visits him at his home over several nights, once by himself and then another time sending his guards. Only the tea drinking man can see the apparitions, which disappear and reappear every time he strikes them in fear. Does he go mad in the end? It is never said. It shouldn't work as an ending, but it does.Each tale acts as a sort of morality play, warning against the dangers of following strangers, or being mislead by women. They're deeply entrenched in folklore and eastern mysticism, and the grandiose camera work and haunting score by Toru Takemitsu make "Kwaidan" a very fine, if stately paced, ghost story anthology. The best segment is "Hoichi, the Earless", with its elongated prologue which is entirely sung by the main character, explaining the story to follow. "The Woman and the Snow" is a sort of love story which is beautiful and sort of tragic, and "Black Hair" has a justifiably bitter conclusion, which is also the scariest of the films.

the_wolf_imdb This movie is absolutely excellent and I would say it is essential for anyone who is into horror movies. It captures the true essence of kwaidan - the ghost horror stories. The modern Japanese horror cinema builds over principles of kwaidan, but these stories are the true roots. To ignore them is like to watch modern horror movies and to ignore the medieval legends. In many cases you will find the modern bloodfests are pure butcher dreams without any emotions or purpose.The true essence of the kwaidan is a STORY. The horror builds over supernatural consequences of guilt, wrong life decisions and sin. Especially the very first story, the story of samurai who left the woman who loved him, is something that will be similar to many people who have been abandoned or decided to abandon other who loved them only to regret it later. The haunting from such betrayal may not be supernatural - many people have committed suicide or drunk themselves to death because of guilt. Sometimes you really cannot understand the real value of something until you have lost it. This story is very very powerful one! The second story is another story about the love, but with a very unusual twist. There are similar European legends to that but not a single one comes with the final twist - even when the main hero fails the test, even when he betrays the supernatural being, the being is still bound to him by the means of their children. Most of the European stories would end in tragedy or would lead to the second chance, but there is completely different and maybe yet more powerful outcome.The third story is probably most unusual by Western standards, even if it is based on real events. In West tradition if you behave badly to ghosts, they will punish you. If you favor them, they will reward you. There we are faced with something really strange - even if you favor the ghosts, your life can be still in grave danger.The last story feels almost unfinished, it is most strange and probably is the weakest one. I would definitely rearrange the stories so the more powerful would be the very last.But anyway, this movie excels on so many levels! The art level with painted backgrounds is simply amazing and makes the movie worth watching alone. The sound seems to be minimalistic, mostly it is just sound based on some sort of wooden instruments, string instruments and some flutes, yet it is absolutely spot on and again, you may enjoy the movie just because of that.If you are fan of Japanese cinema or you do love horror stories you really should see this one. It is definitely extraordinary movie that you will remember for a long time. I wish there would more movies like this one!

Luis Angel Gonzalez This film, directed by great Masaki Kobayashi, is divided into four majestically portrayed ancient Japanese horror tales. Although they might come as soft and bland by today's standards, due to the old special effects and year of the film, they may still inflict impact on you if you are into Japanese culture or you enjoy visual films in general. Furthermore, I believe this film was not meant to actually take the scary direction; it actually takes the art and visual one.I personally loved all four stories, but if there is one story that represents the whole atmosphere throughout the film, it is the third one. The third story includes as much Japanese customs and culture as the other ones, but this has that ghostly feeling to it that makes it stand out from the other tales. It concerns a blind lutenist, who is then invited to play for the lord of a clan that was tragically massacred at sea, and are now wandering in torment. Of course, Hoishi, the lutenist, is not aware he is playing for ghosts.If you are expecting to be scared in this film, it is definitely not for you. You will probably get bored, as this film is almost three hours long. On the other hand, if you have the patience to appreciate every frame of the pictures and movement of the camera, then you should give this film a try, I'm sure it will not disappoint you.My rating: 9/10