Kwaidan (1964)
A collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes. (NR, 183 min.)
Showtimes
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
7:00 PM
Japanese New Wave series @ The Moxie
Free for Members
After more than a decade of sober political dramas and socially minded period pieces, the great Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi shifted gears dramatically for this rapturously stylized quartet of ghost stories. Featuring colorfully surreal sets and luminous cinematography, these haunting tales of demonic comeuppance and spiritual trials, adapted from writer Lafcadio Hearn’s collections of Japanese folklore, are existentially frightening and meticulously crafted. This version of Kwaidan is the original three-hour cut, never before released in the United States. [Criterion]
Starring: Rentarô Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Language: Japanese
Genre: Folk Horror, Drama, Fantasy
"A film you will not soon forget."
— William J. Nazzaro, Arizona Republic
"An artistic triumph for the director Masaki Kobayashi, his cameramen and his art directors."
— Wanda Hale, New York Daily News
"The use of electronic and natural sound in a non-naturalistic way is hauntingly and chillingly effective."
— James Price, Sight & Sound
"[Kwaidan] combines the fantastic color of Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits with Poe-like burstings of Gothic horror."
— Clifford Terry, Chicago Tribune
"Couple these sound effects and voices with some remarkable pictorial images and the consequence is a horror picture with an extraordinarily delicate and sensuous quality."
— Bosley Crowther, New York Times
"This awesome and enthralling Japanese [film] weaves a spell of enchantment with its weird stories, which unfold amidst settings of surrealistic splendor that have been photographed in the most breathtaking color since Gate of Hell."
— Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
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