Stories and Studies of Strange Things.. A guide to my most valuable Japanese horror.

It's hard to describe the extent of my love for classical Japanese culture and the impact it has had on me.. But if the Halloween mood doesn't leave you all year round, as it does me, here is a small list of my most inspiring Japanese horrors:

This movie should definitely be first on the list - Kwaidan. Its a 1964 anthology horror film directed by Masaki Kobayashi. It is based on stories from Lafcadio Hearn's collections of Japanese folk tales. I have a huge collection of Japanese folk tales in my library, which I read as a child, so I have been returning to this film for many years..

Another treasure - Kuroneko or "A Black Cat in a Bamboo Grove". Its a 1968 film directed by Kaneto Shindo, and an adaptation of a supernatural folktale. Set during a civil war in feudal Japan, the film's plot concerns the vengeful spirits, or onryō, of a woman and her daughter-in-law..

And this completely unique film Onibaba, also directed by Kaneto Shindo in 1964, may have made me pay attention for the first time to how everything mystical is connected to the social agenda.. The film is set somewhere in Japan near Kyoto, in the mid-fourteenth century during a period of civil war. Two fleeing soldiers are ambushed in a large field of tall, thick reeds and murdered by an older woman and her young daughter-in-law..

The last film on the list may not belong to the horror genre, but only the great Kurosawa was able to convey all the horror and all the tragedy of Macbeth..

Throne of Blood is a 1957 film directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film transposes the plot of William Shakespeare's play Macbeth from Medieval Scotland to feudal Japan, with stylistic elements drawn from Noh drama..

This list is just a drop in the ocean of this unique classical Japanese culture, which has always been my inspiration since my childhood.. But in the end, one more treasure - Yamata no Orochi..