“Kwaidan” (1964)
The rare anthology film nominated for an Oscar (Best Foreign Language film), Masaki Kobayashi’s “Kwaidan” is four-headed omnibus tale centered on Japan’s obsession with folkloric tales of spectral comeuppance based on the novel “Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things.” “The Black Hair” is not unlike “Ugetsu,” or several Japanese ghost stories about a samurai with good intentions who abandons his wife for wealth only to find dark retribution in store for him. “The Woodcutters” centers on a snow witch, a love story and heartache and “In a Cup of Tea” about a samurai and a ghostly reflection in his cup he cannot shake. But the most profound and memorable of them all is “Hoichi the Earless,” a tragic tale about a blind musician playing music for the late infant at the behest of a dead samurai. Existential and unhurried, at three plus hours, “Kwaidan” might be best digested in chunks if you’re watching the Criterion version at home, but as a surreal gearshift for Kobayashi, auteur of humanist social dramas, it’s a fascinating and transfixing look at punishments due.
“Empire of Passion” (1978)
While transgressive, taboo-busting Japanese New Wave director Nagisa Oshima’s best known work is likely, “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” starring David Bowie, followed by the controversial, nearly soft-core porn “In the Realm of the Senses,” it’s his erotic and haunting “Empire of Passion” that is perhaps his most unrelenting and potent experience. Sensual and nightmarish in tone, blending horror and the evocative, “Empire of Passion” is essentially a chilling ghost story that leans heavily on the themes of guilt, murder and retribution, not unlike Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” (a play one could argue the film is loosely based on). Centering on the aftermath of lust and the haunting sins of crimes, the plot of “Empire of Passion” (also known as “Phantom Love” and perhaps an indirect sequel to “In The Realm Of The Senses”) focuses on an adulterous couple — a peasant woman and her younger male concubine — who conspire to murder her husband and dump the body down a well. The act is simple. The consequences— gossip, suspicion, climaxing with the husband’s apparition returning to as the law investigates in a frenzied pitch of anxiety and unease— are anything but. And atmospheric mists and shadowy cinematography make for a sinister patina of dread that is utterly chilling.
“Ghostbusters” (1984)
The alchemy for horror/comedy is always a tricky one to pull off. Laughter usually follows intense scares as a means of easing the tension, so the addition of comedy can often feel forced, redundant, or tip the scales of the film into more overtly comedic territory. Ghostbusters, admittedly, is more comedy than anything else, but it’s a testament to the high-wire act it walks in how it manages to add horror, sci-fi, and action into the mix without falling. It all starts with the cast. The three leads – Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis – have never been more on top of their comic games, and the supporting cast – Sigourney Weaver, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, and William Atherton – matches them at every turn. Beautifully lensed by Laszlo Kovacs, Ghostbusters is essentially a series of scary, thrilling, and funny scenes and set-pieces elevated by top-notch special effects (that still hold up), iconography forever burned into our popular culture, and the interplay between the cast. It’s an impressive time capsule given that this alchemy has never been figured out again, not by Ivan Reitman (in the empty 1989 sequel or 2001’s attempted rehash “Evolution”) nor Paul Feig (the wincy 2016 reboot that we all rooted for and ended up falling hard).“The Devil’s Backbone” (2001)
If “The Goonies” was made for adults but instead of an action-adventure it was a somber reflection of being haunted by the past, it would look something like Guillermo del Toro’s second entry in his Spanish cinematic trilogy. While visually less-iconic than 2006’s “Pan’s Labyrinth,” The Devil’s Backbone at least equals the third entry in terms of eeriness and sorrow. Set in the final year of the Spanish Civil War, Carlos (Fernando Tielve) is brought to a remote orphanage in Spain, an orphanage with an allegiance to the Republic who is funding their cause. When Carlos arrives, he starts to see visions of a ghost, a young boy named Santi (Junio Valverde) who died at the orphanage. It an unsubtle but effective plot thread, Carlos befriends the school bully, and as we see the carnage and loss through the eyes of this young boy, it works as a metaphor for reaching across the aisle and ending this pain (relevant, as it’s something that both this country – and the World – could use a little more of right now). It isn’t quite the flashiest film in del Toro’s career, but the restraint makes it one of his most accomplished.
“The Uninvited” (1944)
An American gothic haunted house tale that liberally lifts from Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” released four years earlier, Lewis Allen’s “The Uninvited” is nevertheless a classically told, spellbinding story of suspense, thrills, madness and family secrets. The dependable Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey play a pair of siblings who are able to buy a beautiful seaside mansion at a bargain price thanks to unsavory rumors about the house. On the other side of the story is the sellers, a cantankerous old man who just wants to get the house of his hands and the more charitable granddaughter (Gail Russell) still emotionally attached, trying to warn the pair about the spirits that lurk inside. Understated, but immensely watchable, “The Uninvited” is one of those durable, melodramatic, but still spooky Hollywood film that endures and transcends genre.
Honorable mentions
Of course, there’s mainstream efforts like “The Six Sense” and both versions of “The Ring,” but we tried to hew closer to some more classic and more-beloved picks by the staff. Other films not mentioned on the main list we wanted to shout out include “Beetlejuice,” “The Conjuring,” 1990’s “Ghost,” “The Ring,” the “Paranormal Activity” movies, “Insidious,” “Ju-on: The Grudge,” “The Innkeepers,” “The Legend Of Hell House, “Ghosts of Mars,” “The Ghost And Mrs. Muir” and umm, “Ghost Dad.”
There’s hundred of them really, from 1921’s “The Phantom Carriage,” William Castle‘s “House on Haunted Hill” (1959) and “13 Ghosts” (1960), several Roger Corman films, Mario Bava‘s “Black Sabbath,” the apparition elements of Jacques Rivette’s fantastical and chimeric “Celine and Julie Go Boating,” and Carlos Saura’s affecting coming of age tale “Cria Cuervos” to name just a few. Perhaps our biggest purposeful “omission,”and perhaps one that some may not absolutely categorize as a ghost movie is that of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca,” a spectacular gothic film we decided to overlook simply because we had similar films about ghosts, love and longing that are perhaps not quite as well known (and “The Uninvited” perhaps being a riff on the film itself). The point is, this is just a smattering of spectre tales and some of the best that we love. Sound off in the comments section and let us know your favorite spook tale and go out of your way to see David Lowery’s phenomenal “A Ghost Story” which comes out in limited release on Friday July 7th. — Rodrigo Perez, Kyle Kohner, Ryan Oliver, Anthony Casella, Jason Ooi and Mike Beales.