Kuroneko (1968)

What to Expect

Kuroneko is a unique, art-house movie about two women assaulted and murdered by Samurai soldiers passing through the woods. They burn down the small house to cover their tracks, and then disappear into the bamboo forest. There is a type of black and white cinematography that makes you feel the comfort and warmth of the glowing beams that light a person, or room, in a way that makes you feel centered and safe. Kuroneko is not one of these examples. This is high contrast photography taken to the extent of absolute blackness, giving the feeling that you cannot ever see what's going to happen, but you have to just wait for it. And the thing that's going to happen involves a white-clad ghost woman dropping from from the inky-black sky, ready for revenge. She will never let any man reach the safety of the village gates, and with good reason. Using the thick, bamboo forest as a setting is something that is unsettling, and something a lot of Western eyes may not have not seen before. It looks like the space between two worlds where a vengeful, supernatural cat-spirit can slice you to ribbons.