Onibaba
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77% Critic Match

Onibaba

The most daring film import ever...From Japan!

7.7 / 10 1964 1h 45mNR Japanese
Horror

Storyline

While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are devastated when they learn that Kichi has died, but his wife soon begins an affair with a neighbor who survived the war, Hachi. The mother disapproves and, when she can't steal Hachi for herself, tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.

Cast & Crew

Nobuko Otowa

Nobuko Otowa

Woman

Lead
Jitsuko Yoshimura

Jitsuko Yoshimura

Young Woman

Kei Satō

Kei Satō

Hachi

Jūkichi Uno

Jūkichi Uno

The Samurai

Taiji Tonoyama

Taiji Tonoyama

Ushi

SM

Someshō Matsumoto

Runaway Warrior

KK

Kentarô Kaji

Runaway Warrior

Fudeko Tanaka

Fudeko Tanaka

Old Woman

What People Are Saying

4.0
A staggering achievement of craft and ambition. Kaneto Shindō's vision lands with breathtaking precision.
Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
4.0
Every frame feels alive. Onibaba is the rare release that takes its audience seriously.
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker