The Ghost of Yotsuya

1959 [JAPANESE]

Action / Horror

18
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 73% · 2 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 73% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.0/10 10 2184 2.2K

samurai greed based on play or musical revenge betrayal murderer

Plot summary

This horror tale adapts the Japanese legend which tells of a man who faces the consequences of betraying his wife in order to acquire wealth and power.

Director

Nobuo Nakagawa Photo
Nobuo Nakagawa

Top cast

Shinjirô Asano Photo
Shinjirô Asano as Samon Yotsuya
Junko Ikeuchi Photo
Junko Ikeuchi as Ume Itô
Ryûzaburô Nakamura Photo
Ryûzaburô Nakamura as Yomoshichi Satô
Jun Ôtomo Photo
Jun Ôtomo as Takuetsu
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
704.47 MB
1280*520
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 16 min
Seeds 1
1.28 GB
1888*768
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 16 min
Seeds 11

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Uriah43 7 / 10

An Evil Man's Deeds Coming Back to Haunt Him

This film essentially begins with a young samurai by the name of "Iemon Tamiya" (Shigeru Amachi) asking a more high-level samurai named "Samon Yotsuya" (Shinjiro Asano) to marry his daughter "Iwa Yotsuya). In response, Samon angrily refuses because he considers Iemon to be much too hedonistic and of low-moral character. Not surprisingly, this infuriates Iemon and, as if to prove Samon's point-he furiously draws his sword and kills the older man on the spot. Having witnessed the murder and wanting to capitalize on it, a cunning peasant named "Naosuke" (Shuntaro Emi) appears from the shadows and advises Iemon on exactly what to do next. Needless to say, Iemon listens quite intensely and in relatively little time he does, in fact, marry Iwa. Likewise, Naosuke also gets closer to realizing his ambition of marrying Iwa's sister "Sode" (Noriko Kitazawa) who was always out of reach for him due to his low status in life. However, what neither Iemon or Naosuke realize is that, eventually, their evil deeds will catch up to them--and when they do--they come in a most bizarre manner. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a good horror film which took a bit of time laying down the foundation of the story before really increasing in intensity later on. Admittedly, the costumes and makeup used pale in comparison to the CGI and special effects found in more modern films of today. No question about it. But even so, I thought that the overall movie was still quite entertaining, and I have rated it accordingly.
Reviewed by rdoyle29 7 / 10

An okay flick with amazing, hallucinatory visuals

Shigeru Amachi wants to marry Katsuko Wakasugi, the daughter of prominent samurai Shinjirô Asano. Asano refuses the request, belittling Amachi who promptly murders him. Shuntarô Emi witnesses the murder and promises to help him cover it up, if he in turn helps him marry Wakasugi's sister. The two tell Wakasugi that her father was murdered by a notorious criminal and they will help her get revenge. Instead, they murder her sister's fiancé and Emi runs off with her.Months later, Amachi and Wakasugi are married and living in Edo. Amachi has fallen for Junko Ikeuchi, the daughter of a nobleman, and hatches a plan to rid himself of Wakasugi. He hires Jun Ôtomo to seduce her so that he can legally kill her, but the plan goes awry. Ôtomo ends up dead and Wakasugi is poisoned causing hideous facial deformities before she also dies. Amachi marries Ikeuchi, but the spirits of Wakasugi and Ôtomo haunt him leading him to ruin.This is probaby the best known adaptation of the kabuki play "Yotsuya Kaidan" (there are many). It's a fairly routine film from a story and characters perspective, but the film's vibrant colours and gory, hallucinatory visuals are really something.
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