Bakeneko: A Vengeful Spirit

Bakeneko is an interesting film, yet another ghost story movie from the later 60's, but not as powerful or compelling as Kuroneko, or Kwaidan. Briefly, it is about a man, Nabeshima Naoshige, who murders his lord, Takafusa Ryuzoji, for power and his wife. Ryuzoji's wife drowns herself along with her cat in a nearby marsh to avoid Naoshige's clutches. This sets the stage for a decade later, as Naoshige has become a powerful and evil lord, who becomes enamored with a village woman. His attempts to steal and control her causes a curse to befall on him, when she kills herself at the same marsh as Ryuzoji's wife. Thus his downfall begins......... I don't find it as compelling partly because of the execution of the story, decent as it is. Maybe it is the direction, which is workmanlike but not spectacular. I don't get the same sense of creepiness or foreboding as in Kuroneko. Perhaps also, the Naoshige character is too evil, and not as interesting a character, so certainly I want to see his demise, but I didn't care one way or another. Everything moves from a to b to c in a straightforward but bland manner. It is a black and white film, letterboxed with english subtitles, and there are moments of good cinematography, but maybe that was because the director wasn't looking. As I said, an interesting movie recommended to the diehard film lover.