Onibaba is a supernatural horror film based on a Buddhist fable. It's about a couple of women in feudal Japan surviving the hardships of war by murdering and robbing stray samurais who wander unwittingly into their path. Their domain is a huge field of tall reeds with an ominous deep hole at its centre where they dispose of the unfortunate men they kill. Things are complicated when a male neighbour returns from the war and unleashes sexual tensions within the women which ends in horror. And that is to say nothing of the demon mask...

Onibaba is an artistically strong piece of cinema. From the outset the film is aurally intense, with repetitive beating drums announcing the beginning of the tale. The widescreen frame is consistently used brilliantly, with beautifully lit black and white photography. From the constantly swaying reeds to the close-ups of the protagonist's faces, the visuals capture the mysterious yet ominous beauty of the natural world, while emphasising the intense emotions of the protagonists. The setting ensures that the atmosphere is one of claustrophobia. In fact one of the themes of Onibaba is the way that the natural landscape can shape the way we are. The field of reeds allows the women to get close enough to kill warriors; it is one of the things that shapes them into killers, as it allows them to murder at will undetected. Similarly, the film is an allegory on capitalism. The war has forced these starving women to find their own way to survive the hardships all around them. They take extreme measures to feed the capitalist machine, as they murder and sell on that which they steal to a local low-life. Capitalism has dehumanised them and the black hole in the centre swallows up the victims. But aside from this, it is an intense human drama intertwined with eerie supernatural horror. The scenes near the end of the film with the demon in the reeds are beautifully creepy. While the horrific curse of the mask results in some scary and disorientating final scenes. In addition, there is a powerful depiction of female sexuality. These women are no shrinking violets. They are aggressive, amoral and deadly.

Onibaba is a film that is sumptuous both visually and aurally; yet its characters and story are devoid of beauty. It's one of the best examples of a horror art film.

While not the greatest Japanese movie ever made, this proves that you don't need Akira Kurasawa to direct an excellent Japanese film.

"Onibaba" is Japanese for "grandma-monster" and this refers to a story the older woman tells the younger in order to get her to stay home and stop carrying on her affair with a ne'er-do-well. Unfortunately, when the older lady dresses up AS the monster in order to scare her, things change for the worse unexpectedly.

Despite this brief description, this isn't really a horror movie, but a tale about three basically greedy people. So what did I like about it? Well, the story has such interesting twists and turns that keep the viewer guessing and it is a good study of human nature in its worst form. Overall, very odd but captivating.

A frightening and disturbing tale of sexual obsession, jealousy, and a cursed mask, ONIBABA is one of the very few classic horror films made in Japan (the only other I've heard of from around the same period is KWAIDAN). It's a surprisingly adult film in tone, and contains some fairly bloody scenes for the time, as well as a lot of nudity. This taste for the extreme has been echoed in the string of recent Japanese 'torture' films that the world has had to endure. The horror only really comes into the film in the last half an hour, and the rest of the film is taken up with characterisation between the three principal characters. A brooding atmosphere of foreboding and unseen terror is built up in this time, helped by an basic yet effective soundtrack which hints at terrible things living in the dark.

Perhaps one of the most striking points of this film is the setting, a gigantic wheat field. We never see events outside of this field, the camera never leaves it. This gives the film a unique feel. Scenes of swaying wheat in the moonlight are beautifully shot via some crisp cinematography. In fact, scenes in which the young girl runs terrified through the field at night contain the same raw horror as similar scenes in THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT do.

The acting is fine from all cast members, and each character has reasons for their actions and is sympathetic. We know that the two women are doomed from the start, but their eventual downfall still manages to be a masterpiece of chilling, understated terror. The ending, in which the younger woman is pursued by the older, whose face is now horribly disfigured, is simply terrifying. Even simple scenes, like where one character descends into a pit of skeletons, are hugely atmospheric and genuinely frightening, even when nothing happens in the end. For most parts dramatic and sad, the tragic nature of the film makes ONIBABA a real classic and a must see for fans of horror from this period.