The boozy mercenary of the title, based on the actual historical figure of Naoyuki Ban (1567-1615), attempts to rid a haunted castle of spooks.
Nominated for Golden Berlin Bear.
A master sculptor and his apprentice are trapped in a bad snow storm after finding a special tree for carving a statue for the local temple. Finding refuge in an abandoned hut they celebrate their luck in finding the tree but soon they are visited by the Snow Witch who freezes the sculptor to death but takes pity on the apprentice. He must promise to never speak of this or she'll return and kill him.
A samurai kills a blind man who tells him to repay his debts. Because of the samurai's actions his entire family is to bear a terrible curse.
A ghost story about a woman who dies a violent death and appears to the man she loves as a vengeful spirit. This film marked the turning point in Daiei's shift in emphasis from thrillers to ghost stories.
In Numada, Jyoshu, Seijun's mistress dies a horrible death at the hands of a gang of vicious vassals plotting to embezzle the Kuroda family, and her beloved cat takes revenge by becoming an incarnation of the cat.
The video is a compilation of six short stories based on Japanese folklore legends. Each story is approximately 15 minutes long and are briefly introduced by a host. "Peony Lamp" is a story of love, death and ghosts. "She Bear" tells the story of a monster lady who terrorizes passers of a city tunnel. "Yamamba" is a spirit living in the depths of the forests waiting to feed on anyone who ventures there. "Nurarihyon" tells us of a playful spirit visiting a family's restaurant. "Heartbroken trip", a young woman visits a spa not knowing what awaits her. "Lost Souls" a stop during a long car ride turns into a nightmare.
A woman abandoned by the man she loved all her life becomes a ghost and takes revenge for her offense!
A store manager named Kinbei becomes enraged when the owners of the store decide to hand it down to an adopted son instead of him. He hatches a plot to murder them all, but as it turns out he has done this sort of thing before. As bodies pile up in the nearby Kagami Pond, a ghostly vengeance is about to be unleashed.
The treasures of the Aoyamas were buried at the bottom of the sea when a large earthquake occurred years before. Yumi Aoyama is the only person who knows the location, but her family dies one after another through curious incidents, as if the family were under a curse. Yumi is surprised by the ghost of a dead sister who looks the same as the grim figure who jumped into the old well alter stabbing herself with a sword. Fearful that a similar fate awaits her, Yumi seeks the help of her friend Kyoko. Later the ghost appears before Kyoko and her fiancé, Detective Nonomiya. In a haunted cave, Kyoko and Yumi are in deadly peril from those who seek treasures of the Aoyamas.
Ghost of the Pearl Divers
Follows the murder of a money-lending masseur by an impoverished samurai. The slain masseur's daughter will also fall victim to his curse, so that she can become empowered as an agent of her father's vengeance.
Princess Kiyo accidentally injures a local priest, Anchin, while on a hunt. She apologizes, but feels irritated by Anchin’s indifference to her in spite of her beauty. One night, while Anchin is recuperating in a hot spring, he is approached by Kiyo. She tells him that she is in love with him.
During a fever, Tateo, the male protagonist believes he is dying and has the hallucination that his beautiful wife, Reiko (Tamaki Katori), the daughter of a wealthy family, is having an affair w/ another man. He then tells her an ancient Chinese story: the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi wanted to test the faithfulness of his wife, so he faked his own death; the wife was grief-stricken and went into mourning. While funeral arrangements were in progress, a handsome young man came to call on Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi's wife soon fell into love w/ the young man and decided to marry hi. However, the young man fell ill; his servant said that the only medicine to cure him is human brain. Zhuangzi's wife eventually decided to break his husband's coffin and take his brain. However the young man turns out be Zhuangzi in disguise.
Ghost comedy film.
This film is about the curse of a jealous woman destroying the lovers on the run.
A quintessential example of the period "ghost cat" (bakeneko or kaibyo) movie, this was one of at least six such titles released by the studio Shinko Kinema between 1937-40 featuring Japan's first scream queen, Sumiko Suzuki. Here she plays Mitsue, the possessive onna-kabuki actress betrothed to apprentice shamisen player Seijiro. When one day Okiyo, a beautiful young girl of samurai class, is led to Seijiro's house by his lost cat Kuro, she becomes besotted with him. Dark jealous passions are invoked in Mitsue, which are intensified when Seijiro gifts Okiyo his precious shamisen. The cat is the first to suffer at the end of Mitsue's hairpin, but returns from the grave to assist Okiyo's younger sister Onui avenge her sister's murder.
Tanuma Kandayuu is a high class samurai of the house of Nabeshima. He finds a lavish board of Go (a Chinese Board game) at Kinbei's store. He recommend Kinbei to offer it to his lord. Kinbei hesitates at first, since he knows the board has a mysterious legend surrounding it; it's believed that for every game played on the board, one death is required.
A woman loses her son through an evil conspiracy and commits suicide. Shortly afterwards a ghost cat begins haunting the conspirators. This is Takako Irie's first bakeneko (ghost cat) movie; it started a Daiei cycle which was very popular at the time in Japan.
Okoyo, the mistress of Lord Arima, fears that she is being replaced by a younger woman named Otaki. In a fit of jealousy, she kills the younger girl. The dead woman's cat licks her blood and becomes a demon, seeking revenge on Okoyo