I like Toho movies, for the most part anyway. They have a real charm about them but when they merge their bleak samurai films with horror they just don't seem to be able to pull it off and Kaidan (Otherwise known as Ghost Stories) is an example of this.
Standing at just over three hours in length it's a 4 story horror anthology all set around the same feudal Japanese time period. Each is a ghost story but alas the quality is not consistent, I'd say two are bad, one is really bad, and one is extremely enjoyable.
The second story really does save this but immediately looked familiar. If you've ever seen Tales from the Darkside (1990) you'll recognize The Woman in the Snow as Lovers Vow and is the highlight of Kaidan.
What I have to point out though is how good it all looks, this is of course a fairly early Toho film to be released in color and they truly make the most of it. The film has some astonishing visuals and on that front they unconditionally knocked it out of the park.
I always go into Toho movies wanting to like them and for the most part I do, this however is three quarters bad and is only notable for the one single story (Which is well worth a watch).
Should have been better.
The Good:
Some incredible visuals
Second story is very good.
The Bad:
Some really bad sound editing
Most of the stories just aren't very interesting
Standing at just over three hours in length it's a 4 story horror anthology all set around the same feudal Japanese time period. Each is a ghost story but alas the quality is not consistent, I'd say two are bad, one is really bad, and one is extremely enjoyable.
The second story really does save this but immediately looked familiar. If you've ever seen Tales from the Darkside (1990) you'll recognize The Woman in the Snow as Lovers Vow and is the highlight of Kaidan.
What I have to point out though is how good it all looks, this is of course a fairly early Toho film to be released in color and they truly make the most of it. The film has some astonishing visuals and on that front they unconditionally knocked it out of the park.
I always go into Toho movies wanting to like them and for the most part I do, this however is three quarters bad and is only notable for the one single story (Which is well worth a watch).
Should have been better.
The Good:
Some incredible visuals
Second story is very good.
The Bad:
Some really bad sound editing
Most of the stories just aren't very interesting