Deep and dark with tall grass all around

Just a little bit further...

Onibaba (1964) "Devil Woman"

Written and Directed by Kaneto Shindo

Criterion Collection Spine #226

The hole is deep and dark. It’s ensconced on all sides by tall grass and near it a swamp area.  It’s the perfect place to dump the bodies of murdered samurai after stripping them of their armor and valuables.  The goods are then exchanged with a merchant for bags of millet.

Such is the living of a young woman (Jitsuko Yoshimura) and her old, but spry mother-in-law (Nobuko Otowa) in writer-director Kaneto Shindo’s erotic horror piece Onibaba set in 14^th century Japan where skirmishes linger from a war that many believe to have been over.  The two women work in tandem to ambush weakened wandering samurai by spearing them and dumping their bodies in the hole.  It’s their only means of survival as they’d likely starve without the millet acquired from trading the samurai valuables.

Shindo’s noir-like canvas of tall reeds, swamps, smoldering hot nights where women sleep in the nude, shabby huts and suggestive score are ideal for this story.  Complicating matters we’re introduced to Hachi (Kei Sato) who fought in the war with the young woman’s husband.  The young woman falls for Hachi to the chagrin of the old woman who is determined to keep the girl away from him. She also thinks Hachi could have saved her son and even wonders if he is lying about him dying in the war. This is where things get interesting.

Like the best suspense films, Onibaba shows us just enough to get the adrenaline going without showing too much.  Shindo introduces a wandering samurai complete with a strange battle mask to hide his “handsome face”. Later we see an apparition-like figure with the same mask.   

We are to believe some of this may be the result of the young woman and Hachi’s midnight trysts which are a sin, accordingly to the old woman. 

Even if one doesn’t buy into ghosts and curses, Shindo delivers with a suspenseful and thrilling narrative.  Something must also be said for a creating a chilling environment to accompany such a tale. It’s so vivid and haunting one is not likely to forget it any time soon.