Fresh
An eerie, meticulously plotted samurai ghost story full of gorgeous visual flourishes.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Kuroneko
Beware what lurks in the bamboo forest craving the blood of samurai!
1968 · 1h 40m · NOT RATED
Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Directed by
Kaneto Shindō
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Kuroneko
Overview
In the Sengoku period, a woman and her daughter are raped and murdered by soldiers during a time of civil war. Afterwards, a series of samurai returning from the war through that area are found mysteriously dead with their throats torn out. The governor calls in a wild and fierce young hero to quell what is evidently an Onryō ghost.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
94%
Tomatometer
Fresh
Shindo's evocation of the central haunted bamboo grove is all night shadows and luminescent mist.
Michael Atkinson, L.A. Weekly
Fresh
There's a witchy, atmospheric timelessness to the movie that extends well past the unadorned sets.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Fresh
A ghost story that's more eerie than unnerving, and often hauntingly lovely.
Manohla Dargis, New York Times
Fresh
Nippo-Gothic horror fables have a long tradition of proto-feminist outrage... Kaneto Shindo's Kuroneko may take the cake.
Michael Atkinson, Village Voice
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