Although often described as a horror movie, Onibaba is for the most part completely devoid of any scary moments. In fact, the only thing it has in common with modern horror fare is that it seems to contain a strong subtext trying to keep young women's more frisky urges in line and discouraging them from having any fun.
Caught in the middle of political turmoil in feudal Japan, a girl and her mother-in-law try to survive by killing soldiers who stray into the nearby cornfields and scavenging their weapons and armour to sell to the local arms dealer. When the rogue Hachi returns from the war alone, bringing news of the sons death, the older lady is suspicious of his story and to her disgust he begins to try and seduce her daughter-in-law. Scared that she will be left to fend for herself, and also a little jealous if her strange and suggestive handling of a nearby tree is anything to go by, she tries to keep the two apart, even resorting to dressing as a demon to scare the girl on her nightly trips to Hachi's hut.
For the most part Onibaba is fairly dull, with an unnecessary number of long shots of the whispering cornfields. The girl is clearly just sex-mad after being cooped up with her mother-in-law and would jump on any man she found - although strangely Hachi keeps his big white Japanese man-pants on throughout. The whole idea of the nearby pit the two women use to dispose of the bodies being a source of ancient evil is left completely unused and, despite the demon mask being very effective, it's not at all scary because we know exactly who is behind it. However, just as I was beginning to get seriously bored of the whole 'horny lass running through corn sees demon and runs home screaming' affair, two deliciously unpleasant fates befell two of the unsavoury lead characters. Shame all the good bits are left for the last 5 minutes. |
