Japan, 1968
99m
35mm film, black and white, 2.35:1
mono, Japanese
A Japanese horror film directed by Kaneto Shindô.
Plot Summary
Two women are raped and killed by samurais and return as ghosts to take their revenge.
Credits
Crew
Directed by: Kaneto Shindô
Toho Company
Produced by: Nobuyo Horiba, Kazuo Kuwahara, Setsuo Noto
Written by: Kaneto Shindô
Directors of Photography: Norimichi Igawa, Kiyomi Kuroda
Editor: Hisao Enoki
Music by: Hikaru Hayashi
Sound: Tetsuya Ôhashi
Make-up: Shigeo Kobayashi
Art Director: Takashi Marumo
Cast
Kichiemon Nakamura (Gintoki)
Nobuko Otowa (Yone)
Kei Satô (Raiko)
Rokkô Toura (samurai)
Kiwako Taichi (Shige)
Taiji Tonoyama (farmer)
Hideo Kanze (Mikado)
Eimei Esumi
Shôji Ôki
Kentarô Kaji
Masaru Miyata
Noriyuki Nishiuchi
Eishu Kaneda
Jôji Taki
Miyako Kasai
Kayoko Sebata
Chiyo Okada
Harumi Hirota
Yoshiko Uchi
Alternative Titles
The Black Cat
Czarny kot – Poland
El gato negro – Venezuela
O Gato Preto – Brazil
Kobieta kot – Poland
Kolasmena pathi – Greece
Kuroneko – English language title
Press
1969
Kine Weekly vol.620 no.3201 (15 February 1969) p.17
A straightforward horror story. this has considerable Dower, but is, still, a little too long.
Good, out-of-the-rut specialist fare. […]The age of the samurai in Japan is a wonderful period for adventure stories and this one, introducing vengeful ghosts, has an eerie feeling as well. The director is inclined to dwell too long on some scenes; but the black-and-white photography has been deployed with great artistry, picking out the characters in pools of light against the gloom of night (when nearly all the action takes place). The ghostly properties of the two women are also intelligently handled and the idea that they are, by nature, carnivorous cats drives home the horror. These parts are played with a quiet dignity that reveals deep emotion by Nobuko Otowa and Kiwako Taichi and the role of the young samurai, Gintoki, is handled by Kichiemon Nakamura with authority and vigour. – from a review by Graham Clarke
References
Periodicals
- Kine Weekly vol.620 no.3201 (15 February 1969) p.17 – review (by Graham Clarke)
Books
- The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror by Phil Hardy (ed.) p.202
- Cinematic Vampires by John L. Flynn pp.160
- The Encyclopedia of Japanese Horror Films by Salvador Murguia (ed.) pp.181-182 – credits, review (by Seán Hudson)
- Feature Films, 1960-1969: A Filmography of English-language and Major Foreign-language United States Releases by Harris M. Lentz III p.242
- Kine & TV Year Book 1970 p.112
- Unsung Horrors by Eric McNaughton & Darrell Buxton (eds) pp.232-233 – illustrated review (by Kieran Fisher)
- World Filmography 1968 by Peter Cowie (ed.) p.432
