Kiyoshi Yamamoto
2021
Kwaidan
Masaki Kobayashi
Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.
Kwaidan
誘拐
Takao Okawara
Tetsuya Watari, Masatoshi Nagase
The film opens with kidnappers of a corporate executive making an unusual ransom demand: that a wizened executive from another company haul large bags of money through downtown Tokyo as the media documents his every move. When the first old man almost dies from exhaustion, a second, and eventually a third elderly corporate fat cat is ordered to do the same. The police detective assigned to the case (Tetsuya Watari) and his younger partner (Masatoshi Nagase) are livid with indignation at this sorry spectacle. They learn that these four men were involved in a massive industrial spill that poisoned an entire rural hamlet 20 years previous. Suddenly, the detective -- who studied in the States and apparently absorbed some John Wayne-like mannerisms in the process -- isn't sure who are the victims and who are the villains.
Abduction
ブルークリスマス
Kihachi Okamoto
Hiroshi Katsuno, Keiko Takeshita
UFOs appear on Earth, and people who actually see them suddenly find that their blood has turned blue. Soon panic and hysteria result in the new "blue-bloods" being persecuted by the rest of mankind, and eventually certain all-too-familiar measures begin to be taken against them.
Blood Type: Blue
水霊 ミズチ
Kiyoshi Yamamoto
Haruka Igawa, Mio Suzuki
Newspaper correspondent Kyoko Togakure visits a nursing home in the outskirts of Tokyo. She finds the dead body of a resident. It was an apparent suicide. He's holding a piece of paper with the mystifying word "Death Water" written on it. Nearby are blood-stained scissors, and his eyes are squashed. She has no idea that this death is just the beginning of a horrendous nightmare.
Death Water
Okaruto tanteidan: Shi-ningyô no hakaba
Kiyoshi Yamamoto
Sayaka Hosaka, Hitomi Miwa
Out of curiosity decides Nanami and Daisuke to join the school's "occult detective club" which is currently examining a curse that has to do with a student who killed herself last year. An old doll found in the back of her closet turns out to be what drove her to suicide. They get to a "cemetery, however," but the "dead" dolls detects intruders and come alive.
Occult Detective Club: The Doll Cemetery
