Japanese director Kaneto Shindô has gained worldwide fame due to acute social dramas, but a couple of times in his long career turned to the genre kaidan - the films about the supernatural and if the "Yabu no naka no kuroneko" can be safely attributed to the mystical horror, Onibaba, came out on the screens in 1964, more difficult and most consistent with the author's style of Shindô.
Medieval Japan, by the river, among the thickets of reeds there is a dilapidated shack in which, having gone to war Kitty, left two women - his mother and wife. Beyond the river there is a war for the Imperial throne, and resourceful peasant women are hunted by the fact that they hunt wounded and deserters trying to cross the river. Coldly dealing with the wounded warriors, women change their armor and weapons for food, and patiently wait for the man to return from the war. One day, a neighbor of Khachi comes to them, who served with their son and informs that Kitty most likely died in a battle with which he managed to escape, and after a while starts to roll up to a young peasant woman and, not surprisingly, she reciprocates him, that's just mother-in-law is very disliked and from simple intimidation by stories about hell, she goes on to active activities.
Despite the fact that the film is considered a model of kaidan, mysticism in it is extremely small and it is difficult to compare the Demon Woman to the Black cats. Yes, the characters are mother and daughter-in-law, yes - again the war and cruelty of the samurai, but there is much more dirt in this film. Swarthy, chummy heroines are difficult to empathize with and, I confess, I'm amazed at how Sindo set the accents. On the one hand, these are ordinary women who were captured by circumstances and forced to go to the most monstrous acts for the sake of survival, but on the other hand the director makes clear that greed, cruelty and other vices are an integral part of their being. Mother calmly transfers the news of the death of her son, his wife, easily lies under his neighbor, a neighbor without remorse becomes their accomplice and enthusiastically preys on deserters.
Tarantino could well have called this film an The Hateful trio and would have been damned right. Expressive, evil work, with a chic black and white picture and a magnificent installation, emphasizing the emotions of the characters, makes an excellent impression and if you do not know him, then I think it is worth filling this gap.
注意! There are a lot of nude scenes in the film, so it's better not to show the children this fairy tale.
Sorry for possible errors. English - is not my native language.