Kuroneko

 Gather round for a good, old-fashioned Japanese ghost tale.  Malevolent female ghosts are terrifying the countryside, brutally murdering every samurai that passes their way. A military hero has been ordered by his lord to find the ghosts and terminate them. The plot thickens when he realizes that they are the spirits his wife and mother, raped and murdered by a band of samurai while he was waging war elsewhere. It's the classic Japanese dilemma: do what's expected of you or do what your heart tells you--an especially hard decision in this case, since his lord will kill him if he doesn't follow orders.

The film is rife with indelible, grotesque imagery that will stay with you long afterwards. The newly mastered Criterion Collection brilliantly highlights the creepy swamp where all the horrific action transpires. 

Director: Kineto Shindo

Black and White, English subtitles

Released: 1968, Run time: 99 minutes