Kwaidan (1964)

"Kwaidan" is a collection of four classic Japanese ghost stories that were translated, rewritten, and published by American Lafcadio Hearn in 1904. The film feels like a living painting, with minimal dialogue or action but still being stretched out to a full 183 minutes. Maybe it's because it was only 1964 or perhaps because of the Japanese culture at the time that "Kwaidan" feels like a made-for-tv movie, more of a fairy tale than horror film. Stark colors are used with obvious fake backgrounds, which adds a certain flare and unnatural feel that seems appropraite for a ghost film.

I was familiar with three of the four stories after reading Lafcadio Hearn's work and was quite impressed.

The first story, "The Black Hair", is about a poor man who leaves his wife for a rich woman, only to be be disgusted by her personality and habits. He eventually leaves her and returns to his first wife but things have changed...

"The Woman in the Snow" is a typical Japanese tale where a spirit/ghost/monster makes their intended victim promise to never tell anyone but this encounter in exchange for saving their life. The victim promises, soon marries the spirit/ghost/monster in human form, breaks the promise and is killed. The segment "Lover's Vow" from "Tales from the Darkside the Movie" was inspired from this story.

"Hoichi the Earless" is one of the more errie stories in Hearn's collection and this lives up to that telling. Hoichi, a blind musician, is living and working at a shrine. One night when he is left alone, a samurai comes and asks Hoichi to perform for his master. He is taken a ways away and performs for a full royal court, singing about the Battle of Dan-no-ura. He spends the night doing this and returns to the shrine late in the morning. This happens a few nights in a row, which concerns the priest of the shrine. He discovers that Hocihi is being led away and is performing for a full court of ghosts. Before they are able to claim his soul forever, the priest and his apprentices cover Hoichi with prayers and tell him to ignore the commands of the samurai. That night when the samurai comes, he can not see Hoichi, except for his ears which were accidentally overlooked during the preparation. The samurai ghost takes Hoichi ears and never returns.

The fourth story is an complete piece titled "A Cup of Tea" where various people keep seeing a face in their cup of tea.

"The Black Hair"

"The Woman in the Snow"

"Hoichi the Earless"

"A cup of tea"

Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990)

“Tales From the Darkside: The Movie” is a fun anthology that has three great acts that are connected together with a cute “Hansel and Gretel” style story about a boy who is biding his time from the evil witch that wants to cook him as the main course for a dinner party. What’s noticeable about this film is that the cast consisted of some established actors as well as a few who were just cutting their teeth and have risen to stardom since then such as Steve Buscemi and Julianne Moore. The make-up and special effects are fine considering when this film was made although the gargoyles in the third act look too much like puppets to be effectively scary.

The first story arc is an adaption of Author Conan Doyle’s story “Lot 249” about a graduate student (Steve Buscemi) who uses a mummy to exact revenge against those who have wronged him.

The second story arc is an adaption of Stephen King’s short story “The Cat from Hell” about a hit man who is hired by an eccentric owner of a pharmaceutical company who is being terrorized by a black cat.

The third story arc is an adaption of an old Japanese ghost legend Yuki-Onna, about a painter who witnesses a gargoyle murdering a human. The gargoyle is about to kill the painter but spares his life, making him promise to never tell anyone about this moment; if he ever breaks the promise, the gargoyle will find him and kill him. The painter promises but how long can he keep this secret?

The witch and her dinner

The Gargoyle and the painter

Author's Note - Anthologies

Some of my favorite horror moments come from short pieces that are collected in anthologies. Anthologies themselves can be very hit or miss and I prefer the ones that have an over-arching storyline to tie everything together; all of the movies I’m reviewing this week are of this nature except for “Trilogy of Terror”, which has one of the most memorable stories around. A proper anthology will showcase established directors and a star-studded cast; Stephen King and George A Romero were involved in one way or another in a few anthology projects that I have enjoyed.