KWAIDAN
Special Features: New 4K Restoration
After more than a decade of sober political dramas and socially minded period pieces, the great Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi shifted gears dramatically for this rapturously stylized quartet of ghost stories. Featuring colorfully surreal sets and luminous cinematography, these haunting tales of demonic comeuppance and spiritual trials, adapted from writer Lafcadio Hearn’s collections of Japanese folklore, are existentially frightening and meticulously crafted. The great Tatsuya Nakadai stars in the second story of four as poor woodcutter Minokichi, who has a chance encounter with a ghostly yuki-onna, a Japanese folkloric figure. One of Nakadai and Kobayashi’s eleven collaborations, KWAIDAN showcases just how well Nakadai’s precision and intensity worked with Kobayashi’s signature blend of artistic sensibilities and realism. For years, KWAIDAN existed in the 161-minute cut presented at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival; this new restoration presents Kobayashi’s original three-hour cut. (Note adapted from Janus Films.) DIR Masaki Kobayashi; SCR Yōko Mizuki, from short stories by Lafcadio Hearn; PROD Shigeru Wakatsuki. Japan, 1964, color, 183 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED
In Memoriam: Tatsuya Nakadai (1932–2025)
Run Time: 183 Minutes
Opening Date: Sunday, October 25, 2026
Genre: Horror
