Since we’re getting close to Halloween (literally only a few days away), I thought it prudent to choose something from the horror genre. Here we have another example of Japanese dramatic horror from the 60s, interestingly released just a year before Kwaidan. However, the two films are rather different in their concepts and approaches: Kwaidan is a series of cinematic ghost story plays while Onibaba is more of a dark drama that becomes more horrific as it goes along. Personally, I found Onibaba to be a pretty solid experience, but it will require a viewer who is willing to let the scenario build over the runtime. It’s not going to give you the horror outright, rather the film is about how a negative situation goes from bad to worse and how the self-serving actions people take often lead from one thing to another. But before I get too much into discussing my perspective, let’s have a rundown of the story.
Set during a time of war in Japanese history, the story follows two women, one older and one younger, who live in a marsh near a river. The older woman is the mother of a man who was drafted into the war, while the younger woman is the man’s wife. The two make their living killing wounded soldiers, looting their corpses, dumping the bodies into a pit, and selling the materials to a dealer. Sadly, though, the dealer doesn’t tend to give them much for what they sell, even propositioning the older woman for sex in exchange for an extra bag of money, which she, of course, refuses. One day, Hachi, a neighbor who was drafted along with the unnamed man, returns home. He has dinner with the two women and explains that both he and the man managed to escape from the army but were later attacked by farmers after they stole food along the way home. Hachi was able to get away from the farmers, but the man wasn’t so lucky. The older woman clearly distrusts Hachi, as she claims that he didn’t even try to save her son. She also warns the younger woman to stay away from him, as Hachi seems to be eyeing the younger woman as a potential wife, but the younger woman ends up being seduced by Hachi anyway (a little odd, considering that he was rather creepy towards her, but maybe things were different then or maybe she’s just into that). This pisses the older woman off, since she needs the younger woman to help her kill soldiers, and she tries to keep Hachi away from the younger woman, even propositioning for her to have sex with him in the young woman’s place. However, Hachi is uninterested, saying that the younger woman has her own life to live, and the older woman can’t keep her forever. One night, while the young woman is out with Hachi, a soldier in a demon mask orders the older woman to show him the way out of the marsh. She asks him to take off the mask, but he claims that his face is too beautiful for anyone to see, lest they fall for him. Of course, the older woman sees through his nonsense, and also figures that he’ll probably just kill her after she shows him the way out, so she tricks him into falling down into the pit they push bodies into. When she goes down into the hole to steal his stuff, she rips the mask off his face (revealing a less-than-beautiful face), which seems to give her an idea. What does the older woman do with this mask? Well, you’ll just have to see for yourself.
So, like I said before, this isn’t really a straight-up horror film. For most of the runtime, it’s a dark drama, but it does seem to have an underlying eerie atmosphere leading up to the more horrific end. The film is shot in black and white, which really seems to heighten the surrounding environment that the characters live in. You see, they live in a marshland which is covered in tall, leafy reeds that seem to go on for miles. The reeds create this sense of disorienting claustrophobia with how they move in the wind and the shadows that the leaves cast between each other, giving off a sense of never knowing quite where you are (even though the characters do) nor what might be hiding out there among the rows. Now, this sort of idea has been played with in other horror films, usually involving grain fields, especially corn, and the feeling that something is hiding out of sight in there, but Onibaba makes this a little more interesting due to its setting. Marshlands are not made up of solid and tilled soil, they’re much looser and murkier, owing to the consistency of the ground and all the surrounding water, so its much easier for someone to get stuck and sink out there among the wild plants, as well as for something to appear from out of the muck. The soundscape is also effectively minimalistic, mostly relying on environmental sounds with a small amount of music used in the background. This allows the audience to really feel the surrounding area and become immersed in the situation. The music does seem to follow in a similar tradition that Kwaidan did of drumming and vocalizations, not unlike many of their old plays (and, to be honest, this film also feels like an old story that they might have told on stage), but the film’s overall presentation is much more crafted within the cinematic world as opposed to the cinematic-play style of Kwaidan, so don’t go in expecting the same sort of experience. I don’t want to give away the ending, but I do want to say that when we get to the more horror-influenced scenes, even though we know what’s going on behind them, the way some of them are composed is incredibly creepy and striking, including the final grotesque reveal. A lot of the cinematography in this film is very good in general, with beautiful environmental shots of the marsh and the night sky (which is recurrently cut to several times) as well as interesting shots such as ones framed from within the pit as bodies fall down into it. The production crew did a fine job overall, though I will note that sometimes the environmental lighting did throw me off a bit. During scenes that are meant to take place at night, sometimes the way the light comes through makes it appear to be daytime, so that was a little disorienting (and not in the good way). Also, in terms of the story, I do think the film does well in telling this classic tale of drama, conflict, and how far we will go to keep what we have, but I found that the younger woman’s relationship with Hachi seemed rather off. I’m guessing the idea is that he seduced her, but before they become involved, he wasn’t really charming her or anything. Mostly, he was just straight-up perving on her, and she didn’t seem all that interested. Then, all of a sudden, she runs to his house one night, throws a large rock into it and hides among the reeds. He comes out, finds her, drags her into his hut, and they have sex. Next day, they’re a couple. Maybe I’m looking at this from too much of a modern perspective, maybe it was a reflection of how younger folk were at that time or how women were just expected to be back then, and maybe some people are just into that sort of thing, even now, but something about this just seemed odd to me. Overall, though, I think Onibaba was a well-made film that executed its story with effective style and a good amount of weight. It might not be my most favorite film in the world, but I think it makes for a good watch if you want to see how the drama of a situation and the self-serving desires within can lead to terrible outcomes.
So, I think Onibaba would make for some good Halloween viewing for those that want something a little different and want their horror to build up over time. Plus, it would definitely make an interesting predecessor to your Rings and Grudges and the like, showing a story that’s reminiscent of stories that inspired films such as those. It might come across a bit dated to modern eyes, and maybe less relatable to western eyes than eastern ones, but I think the film has enough interesting compositional aspects to make it a worthwhile experience that you’ll definitely want to watch in low lighting on a windy night. So watch out for the Onibaba, she might not seem like much at first, but be mindful as she just might sneak up on you.