A
legend existed in the rural Japanese mountains of a powerful ghost called
the Snow Witch. She was known to mercilessly kill anyone who crossed
her path. One particularly snowy day, a carpenter and his apprentice
traveled into the forest looking for a perfect tree to sculpt into a
statue for the town shrine. They find the tree and the carpenter creates
his idol. But later that night the Snow Witch invades their cabin and
she kills the artesian as he sleeps. However - most uncharacteristically
- she spares the life of assistant Yosaku with a warning not to ever
mention her or the events of the night. He swears and she leaves. The
assistant takes the statue to town where he claims that he alone had
created it. The townsfolk marvel at his craftsmanship and he becomes
a celebrity. A short time later, a beautiful woman named Yuki arrives
in the village. Yosaku falls in love with her and they get married,
moving to the cabin in the woods.
The
paragraph above describes events which serve as character development
- a prequel, of sorts - an expansion upon the first story in the Internationally
successful ghost omnibus CHAIN
(1964). Kwaidan was directed by Masaki
Kobayashi. The first 25 minutes of that film was incorporated [with
some create re-dubbing] into this feature film by workhorse chambara
director Tokuzo Tanaka (DEMON
OF OE MOUNT). The production is exceptional and this newly minted
version excels as a terrific example of Japanese ghost cinema, as significant
as classics like GHOST
STORY OF YOTSUYA, LADY
VAMPIRE, GHOST
CAT MANSION, and Chusei Sone's erotic HELLISH
LOVE, et al.
A Japanese
film with English subtitles; widescreen format, fully uncut (80 minutes),
DVD encoded for ALL REGION NTSC WORLD FORMAT; extras include selected
trailers
Adult
Material/Violence:
Recommended for Mature Audiences