Qualities of a Nightmare




Viewed while awake, I had to completely abandon logic to appreciate this movie.
The film takes on qualities of a nightmare not merely in imagery, but in that the character behavior and story progression make no sense in several places.

It does have its moments, whether sleeping or awake. I noticed a few scenes that certainly are influential on a few other later films.


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If you think this is scary I recommend Onibaba, it is even more frightening of a film and its by the same director.

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I agree that the film takes on the quality of a nightmare (or dream), just like Onibaba does. For me these movies are fantasy horror cinema its purest form. There's no place for logic and rational order here - the structures of 'real' experience dissipate and we exist in nebulous region between the natural and supernatural.

Something like that at least! I'm harking back to stuff I grappled with in film studies ages ago and for me, Kuroneko really captures that spirit you refer to. It's not about making sense, and I think that makes the horror all the more exhilarating and the film all the more beautiful...

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