Trippy looking movies. I just put Ugetsu, Onibaba and Kwaidan on my netflix queue…
I don’t find cats scary, either. I am actually very fond of cats.
But, if the atmosphere of the film is done right…even I can be creeped out by cats (especially demon or ghost cats!).
Any animal can scare me when it’s pissed off (pissed as in angry, not drunk *edit although I guess an angry drunk cat would also…never mind). But the tale is not of just a scary cat but how the cat transfers demonic energy to humans. Then they become possessed & very scary. Trust me, if you’re a fan of old Hammer or Corman horrors you’ll like some of these movies.
I’ve heard that TCM occasionally shows some of the Kaidan films as part of their underground lineup, including the ones that Criterion has the rights to. I’ve never seen any of the broadcasts though.
I just saw Mansion of the Ghost Cat and Ghost of Kasane Swamp. Both are very good horror films from my favorite Japanese director Nobuo Nakagawa.
‘Kwaidan’ is great. As is ‘Ugetsu Monogatari’. Has anyone seen ‘Kaidan Yuki Jorou’/‘Ghost Tale of The Snow Witch’? It is based on the Yuki-Onna tale but has some differences as it is extended and not based on Koizumi Yakumo/Lafcadio Hearn’s version.
Speaking of which has anyone else read any of the collections of Japanese folklore collected by Koizumi Yakumo/Lafcadio Hearn (such as ‘Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things’, ‘In Ghostly Japan’ et cetera)? The film ‘Kwaidan’ is based on his retellings of Japanese folktales. Actually the narration is very close to that found in the books, both the Japanese language narration and the English subtitles.
If you liked ‘Kwaidan’ you should also see other works by the director, Kobayashi Masaki (who is very underrated by audiences), such as the Human Condition trilogy and especially ‘Samurai Rebellion’. He is my favourite director along with Ingmar Bergman (who has a similar style in some ways).
Shindô Kaneto’s ‘Onibaba’ is also a film that should be watched by fans of ‘Kaidan’ films.
‘Hausu’ is a funny deconstruction of the genre, there is ‘Jigoku’ from 1960, ‘Jigoku’ from 1970 and ‘Jigoku’ from 1999, ‘Tokaido Yotsuya kaidan’ with Wakayama Tomisaburo, and many others. Most recent offerings are nothing to shout home about.