Ghost Stories (Kwaidan)

Name: Ghost Stories (Kwaidan)
Duration: 3 h 3 min

3hr 3m

A collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes. More Details »

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Trailer 1 (01:27)

Movie Info & Cast

Director:

Masaki Kobayashi

Producer:

Shigeru Wakatsuki

Writer:

Yôko Mizuki, Lafcadio Hearn

Release Date:

Nov 22, 1965

Runtime:

3hr 3m

Synopsis

A collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes.

Cast

Michiyo Aratama
Misako Watanabe
Rentarô Mikuni
Kenjirô Ishiyama
Ranko Akagi
Fumie Kitahara
Kappei Matsumoto
Yoshiko Ieda
Otome Tsukimiya
Kenzô Tanaka

Letterboxd User Reviews

4.2

RATINGS 921 FANS

4.2

Oct 10, 2014

Takes the experiences of watching a play, reading a book of folk tales, viewing a painting, listening to avant garde music, and having a dream and turns them into a movie. A stylized theatrical back drop, a lighting change, a slightly off-kilter motion, a slightly off-sync…

1.8K Likes

laird

Apr 24, 2020

Scary stories to tell in lush unreality.

1.1K Likes

Josh Lewis

Dec 28, 2013

the past is jealous.

707 Likes

matt lynch
Feb 26, 2016

88/100 As a collection of spooky, transfixing stories fabricated through heightened artificiality and blooming colors, Kwaidan slams the viewer into a mesmerizing trance. It's a beautiful mix of apparitions, surreal visions, and stories birthed from the past, and while…

561 Likes

SilentDawn

Jan 18, 2023

(Generally ominous noises) …… …*TWANG*… …… …*screeeeeech*… …… Japanese folklore really knows how to transfix you in its ambience, doesn’t it? An anthology consisting of four hauntingly dream-like ghost stories, all of which originate from tales told over a century ago…

476 Likes

Matt!

Oct 31, 2023

Few things better.

325 Likes

Sean Fennessey
Jun 8, 2022

and in 1964, Kobayashi invented art direction:

302 Likes

Will Steele

Kobayashi strikes again, baby! And now he brings the color, his wonderful camera work, striking cinematography, a masterclass on blocking and direction, interesting performances, crazy eyebrows and four spooky stories! I would have welcome a faster pacing, but I guess by…

283 Likes

Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine

Aug 10, 2023

Hauntological materialism. no notes

243 Likes

reibureibu

See All Reviews on Letterboxd.com

Queue Community Reviews

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Top Reviews

Shawn loved

Kwaidan

Kwaidan isn’t interested in making you jump—it wants to haunt you long after the credits roll. Each of its four ghost stories explores a different aspect of the human experience: regret, broken promises, memory, and the mysteries that refuse to be explained. Masaki Kobayashi’s use of color, painted…

20D

Aaron Hajduk liked

Kwaidan

Kicking off my Folk Horror Fall (countdown to Halloween) with Kwaidan. You get 4 ghost stories, all folk tale inspired. It is beautifully filmed. The use of colors & sounds, sometimes via the absence of or singularity of color, to convey the settings, atmosphere and intensity works really well.…

1Y

CvptvinHowdy is "meh" on

Kwaidan

The shots and color in this film and in all 4 segments are beautiful. I do favor the first 2 segments because the atmosphere makes me feel more of the Japanese folklore ghost stories. After the intermission is when I lost interest and felt the runtime. Still a good anthology.

1Y
Superbad liked

Kwaidan

A bit long but otherwise pretty good The story w/ the snow lady is probably my favorite

1Y

Amelia liked

Kwaidan

I need to rewatch this but I remember really liking the stories in it

3Y

Juliette Sirieix loved

Kwaidan

Really interesting even if sometimes too long

3Y
Emma liked

Kwaidan

Watched the first half Very very pretty

2M