Onibaba (Japan, 1964)

Director Kaneto Shindo is one of the most prolific film directors from Japan. His tenth film, Onibaba, tells the story of two women trying to survive in medieval rural Japan by killing lost warriors and stealing their belongings. When one soldier comes back, a triangle of love is formed. Then all of a sudden, a warrior shows up with a demon mask. One of the woman kills him and uses the mask to scare the other woman from going to visit the soldier at night. The movie is black & white, and the cinematography is excellent. For a movie from the sixties, it looks really new. The eerie music and atmosphere makes the film scary and worth watching. The story is apparently an adaptation of a Buddhist tale. Director Shindo made this film during the summer of 1964 in the middle of a swamp, in the middle of too many production difficulties (the hot humid weather, constant flooding, crabs, mosquitoes, etc.) This is one of the most interesting Japanese films I have seen.