The Ghost of Yotsuya (Japan, 1959)

This horror tale relates the consequences of a Japanese legend which tells of a man who has to betray his wife in order to achieve power.

Based on one of the oldest ghost stories in Japanese mythology, The Ghost of Yotsuya blends dreamlike  and beautiful visuals with restless spirits and nasty gore. It's director Nobuo Nakagawa's (Jigoku) take on the rich kaidan folktales, and it comes off as not just a spooky ghost story but a strong Edo period film as well. If you love Kwaidan (1964) and want more of that, The Ghost of Yotsuya will quench any thirst for malevolent spirits and vengeful phantoms from beyond the grave.

Genre: Horror

Jigoku (Japan, 1960)

A group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the Gates of Hell.

Jigoku (a.k.a. The Sinners of Hell) was the last movie made by the studio Shintoho, thus it became a very rushed production due to budget cuts and all the actors having to help with the sets. Even still, Jigoku turned out to be a bold and different film for its time and is now considered to be a cult classic. It deals with heavy buddhism themes involving hell and how one must atone for sins. The effects and make-up are very dated naturally but the whole depiction of hell and the amount of suffering the sinners has to go through is as effective and horrific as it was way back when, and it goes to show that even with limited means director Nobuo Nakagawa could create a long standing movie because of his visions and ideas.

Genre: Drama/Horror