Kuroneko

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Kuroneko

1968,

1h 39m,

Horror/

Fantasy

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Watchlist

96%

25 Reviews

Tomatometer

84%

500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

96%

Tomatometer

25 Reviews

84%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

In this ghost story based on a folk tale of feudal Japan, a group of samurai mercenaries led by Raiko Minamoto storm the home of Yone and her daughter, Shigei, pillaging their food before raping and murdering the pair and finally burning the house down. When the samurai are set upon by vengeful vampire-like ghosts, it falls to the warrior Gintoki to slay the malicious spirits, but his connection to the victims leads to conflict.

J. Hoberman

The New York Review of Books

Aug 14, 2020

The movie's implacable sense of poetic justice is only equaled by its graphic smarts.

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Scott Tobias

AV Club

Jul 25, 2018

B+

With Kuroneko, Shindô obscures the thin line separating the dead from the living-through which spirits, sin, and passion move freely.

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Ty Burr

Boston Globe

Oct 28, 2010

3.5/4

There's a witchy, atmospheric timelessness to the movie that extends well past the unadorned sets.

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Maggie Roberts

Screen Slate

Aug 26, 2026

This striking introduction to Kaneto Shindo’s Kuroneko (1968) gestures at the core thematic fascinations in his work, namely women’s struggles, wartime, and class conflict.

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David Pountain

Vague Visages

Dec 12, 2023

Kuroneko's otherworldly visuals evoke a reality shaped by great and sinister powers, and a world where fate will always scupper the impudent plans of hubristic men.

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Oct 29, 2022

It’s one of the greatest of Japanese ghost stories, a horror film of elemental drive, social commentary, feminist rage, and visual grace ...

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Theodore S

Oct 13, 2018

A lovely treat, not exactly a horror movie, but indeed with strong elements of it. It's a ghost story the aesthetics of which are high-level: visually this film is captivating beyond words. It has this otherwordly feeling and at the same time strong Japanese flavour of samurai and Japanese history. Not without some feminist agenda, but it doesn't mar the movie, it is used cautiously and in little doses. It's also a strangely interesting mixture of the supernatural world with ours and both are interconnected to the point that the same principles apply to the both of them.

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Draco G

Jul 2, 2018

Elegant, beautiful, heartwrenching, and spooky ghost story about love, loss, and revenge. Some of the most spectacular images put to film - gorgeous is putting it mildly.

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Kylo S

May 9, 2017

the best japanese horror movie of all time

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Kaneto Shindô

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Kichiemon Nakamura

Actor

Nobuko Otowa

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Synopsis

In this ghost story based on a folk tale of feudal Japan, a group of samurai mercenaries led by Raiko Minamoto storm the home of Yone and her daughter, Shigei, pillaging their food before raping and murdering the pair and finally burning the house down. When the samurai are set upon by vengeful vampire-like ghosts, it falls to the warrior Gintoki to slay the malicious spirits, but his connection to the victims leads to conflict.

Director: Kaneto Shindô
Screenwriter: Kaneto Shindô
Genre: Horror, Fantasy
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (DVD): Oct 18, 2011
Runtime: 1h 39m

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