Kaneto Shindo

Onibaba

Onibaba

Deep in the windswept marshes of war-torn medieval Japan, an impoverished older woman and her daughter-in-law murder lost samurai and sell their belongings for the most meager of sustenance. When a bedraggled neighbor returns from battle, lust, jealousy, and rage threaten to destroy the trio’s tenuous existence, before an ominous, ill-gotten demon mask seals their horrifying fate. Driven by primal emotions, dark eroticism, a frenzied score by Hikaru Hayashi, and stunning images both lyrical and macabre, Kaneto Shindo’s chilling folktale Onibaba conjures a nightmarish vision of humankind’s deepest desires and impulses.

Film Info

  • Japan
  • 1964
  • 102 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 2.39:1
  • Japanese
  • Spine #226

BLU-RAY EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES

  • High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Audio commentary from 2001 featuring director Kaneto Shindo and actors Kei Sato and Jitsuko Yoshimura
  • Interview from 2003 with Shindo
  • On-location footage shot by Sato
  • Trailer
  • PLUS: An essay by film critic Elena Lazic, a 2001 director’s statement by Shindo, and a version of the Buddhist fable that inspired the film

Cover illustration by Edward Kinsella

Purchase Options

BLU-RAY EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES

  • High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Audio commentary from 2001 featuring director Kaneto Shindo and actors Kei Sato and Jitsuko Yoshimura
  • Interview from 2003 with Shindo
  • On-location footage shot by Sato
  • Trailer
  • PLUS: An essay by film critic Elena Lazic, a 2001 director’s statement by Shindo, and a version of the Buddhist fable that inspired the film

Cover illustration by Edward Kinsella

Onibaba
Cast
Nobuko Otowa
Older Woman
Jitsuko Yoshimura
Young woman
Kei Sato
Hachi
Jukichi Uno
Samurai
Taiji Tonoyama
Ushi
Credits
Director
Kaneto Shindo
Production design
Kaneto Shindo
Kaneto Shindo
Produced by
Hisao Itoya
Hiroshi Matsumoto
Setsuo Noto
Kaneto Shindo
Cinematographer
Kiyomi Kuroda
Film editor
Toshio Enoki
Sound
Tetsuya Ohashi
Music
Hikaru Hayashi
Costume supervisor
Yoshio Ueno

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