Kwaidan

“A fairy tale that is both incredibly scary and incredibly beautiful.” – Guillermo del Toro

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.  (Dir. by Masaki Kobayashi, 1965, Japan, in Japanese with English subtitles, 183 mins., Not Rated)