Onibaba, which literally translates to “demon hag,” artfully frames the fable of two medieval women who make a living murdering samurai in the war-torn countryside and selling their armor for food. A returning soldier falls in love with one of them and the ominous arrival of a masked stranger upend their desperate cycle of violence. The women’s raw scheme seems to calls up the denizens of hell. This twisted folktale, masterfully directed by the prolific Kaneto Shindo and shot in lush, monochrome widescreen, set the bar for Japanese horror with its’ all-consuming dread and terrifying iconography.
Witney Seibold discusses Onibaba on the New Beverly blog.
