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, the chilling folktale Onibaba by Kaneto Shindo conjures a nightmarish vision of humankind’s deepest desires and impulses.
Special Features
- On the Blu-ray: Restored high-definition transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- On the DVD: High-definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound and enhanced for widescreen televisions
- Audio commentary from 2001 featuring director Kaneto Shindo and actors Kei Sato and Jitsuko Yoshimura (Blu-ray only)
- Interview from 2003 with Shindo
- On-location footage shot by Sato
- Trailer
- Stills gallery featuring production sketches and promotional art (DVD only)
- Filmmaker’s statement from writer/director Kaneto Shindo
- English subtitle translation
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition (DVD only)
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Elena Lazic (Blu-ray only), a 2001 director’s statement by Shindo, and a version of the Buddhist fable that inspired the film
Blu-ray cover illustration by Edward Kinsella (pictured); DVD cover by Lucien S. Y. Yang
Special Features
- On the Blu-ray: Restored high-definition transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- On the DVD: High-definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound and enhanced for widescreen televisions
- Audio commentary from 2001 featuring director Kaneto Shindo and actors Kei Sato and Jitsuko Yoshimura (Blu-ray only)
- Interview from 2003 with Shindo
- On-location footage shot by Sato
- Trailer
- Stills gallery featuring production sketches and promotional art (DVD only)
- Filmmaker’s statement from writer/director Kaneto Shindo
- English subtitle translation
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition (DVD only)
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Elena Lazic (Blu-ray only), a 2001 director’s statement by Shindo, and a version of the Buddhist fable that inspired the film
Blu-ray cover illustration by Edward Kinsella (pictured); DVD cover by Lucien S. Y. Yang
Cast
- Nobuko Otowa
- Woman
- Jitsuko Yoshimura
- Young woman
- Kei Sato
- Hachi
- Jukichi Uno
- The samurai
- Taiji Tonoyama
- Ushi
Credits
- Director
- Kaneto Shindo
- Film editor
- Toshio Enoki
- Sound
- Tetsuya Ohashi
- Music
- Hikaru Hayashi
- Director of photography
- Kiyomi Kuroda
- Original screenplay
- Kaneto Shindo
- Art direction
- Kaneto Shindo
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A scene from Onibaba
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