01
Kwaidan
Why this pick
Like Jigoku, it turns Japanese spiritual dread into elaborate, unforgettable imagery, using stylised colour and ritualistic pacing to make moral transgression feel cosmically frightening.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1960 1h 41m JPN
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
Jigoku
HorrorDrama
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved Jigoku, try these.
01
02
The Ghost of Yotsuya
Why this pick
Nakagawa’s earlier ghost tragedy shares Jigoku’s fierce moral logic, theatrical visual boldness, and mounting sense that cruelty inevitably summons a horrifying reckoning.
03
Onibaba
Why this pick
Its spare, feverish black-and-white nightmare turns guilt, desire, and desperation into physical horror, matching Jigoku’s punishing atmosphere and visceral intensity.
04
Kuroneko
Why this pick
This eerie period ghost story combines sensual monochrome beauty with vengeance and damnation, offering the same grave, folkloric horror and moral unease.
05
The Cremator
Why this pick
A macabre descent into self-justifying evil, filmed with grotesque expressionist flair; it shares Jigoku’s darkly ironic vision of guilt becoming an inescapable spiritual trap.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
A young Tokyo theology student, Shirō (Shigeru Amachi), is set to marry his girlfriend, Yukiko (Utako Mitsuya), the daughter of his professor, Mr. Yajima. After announcing the engagement, Shirō's dark and unsettling colleague, Tamura (Yōichi Numata), drives Shirō home, suggesting that Shirō had been sleeping with Yukiko for some time. Taking a side street at Shirō's request, Tamura hits and kills drunken yakuza gang leader, Kyōichi. Though Shirō wants to stop, Tamura keeps driving, stating that it does not concern him and that ultimately, the murder is Shirō's fault for asking him to drive down the street. Unbeknown to either of them, Kyōichi's mother (Kiyoko Tsuji) witnessed everything and resolves to find and kill them.
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