Assistance in identifying a film

[Michael McCaskey]

There are a number of ghostly movies that have kaidan 怪談 in the title. I didn't read your inquiry carefully enough, and found these two possibilities:

1) Shikiyoku kaidan: hatsujo onna yurei (1995) 
Directed by Satoru Kobayashi

2) Otsuyu: Kaidan botan-d?r? (1998)

since they seemed to be the closest to 1999. But then I saw that you thought the film might have been made some decades earlier.

There are some more kaidan titles back when you think it was made. One way to track them is first via imdb.com, and then if you wish you can fine-tune via the plot in Japanese via

 http://www.walkerplus.com/movie/kinejun/

or the jmdb, or other similar source. Some of the imdb ones don't have any plot descriptions, though most do.

I wish I had seen the film--it sounds quite memorable. Hopefully someone else will have seen it and be able to give you better information.

Michael McCaskey

----- Original Message -----
From: Mindy Varner <melinda.varner at colorado.edu>
Date: Thursday, June 8, 2006 1:20 pm
Subject: Assistance in identifying a film

> 
> Hello all,
> Since we're on the topic of J-horror, I'm seeking assistance in 
> identifing a
> film that I was shown a number of years ago while in Japan (around 
> 1999).  I
> thought it was titled Kaidan or Kwaidan, but it is not the 1964 Masaki
> Kobayashi of the same title. Like the Kobayashi film, it may have 
> been a
> collection of short pieces (then again, maybe not-- some years 
> have now
> passed!) 
> 
> I vividly recall one scene where a man who has killed his wife is 
> confrontedby her spirit/corpse when a wagon he has pushed into the 
> river springs out
> of the water, terrifying him. There is also an appearance of a 
> rokurokubi(woman whose neck becomes serpentine with her head 
> extending out before her
> body, terrifying two men).  Does this ring a bell with anyone?  I 
> would love
> to know what this film actually is and obtain a copy. From the 
> style of the
> production, I'd guess it was produced in the late 1960s or early 
> 1970s. It
> was in color.
> 
> Any leads would be most appreciated!
> 
> Mindy Varner
> 
> 
>