How many curses can a man suffer? Cursed by the sin of his father, and the sin done to his wife, the main character of this film does not have a lot going for him; except, his manly charm that have women falling themselves over for him. That's what this film is about, cursed by love and cursed to be loved.
This movie opens like a Japanese fairy tale not unlike the 1964 version of "Kaidan". A tale of greed and murder told in theatrical like black and white film, where a businessman was killed by a samurai over a debt, but before he drawn his last breath, he cursed the samurai's family. Later, when the orphaned samurai's son met the daughter of his father's victim, as if by magic, they fell in love and soon after, fall out of love. The daughter fell ill and before she died, out of jealousy she cursed her lover to suffer the lost of women he loves. The cursed man fled for his life, to another city, another town where once again women fall in love with him and the curses continue.
I was surprised that this film is own by Liongate films and didn't saw its U.S. DVD distribution, whereas Takashi Shimizu's "Rinne" or "Reincarnation" did. Perhaps "Kaidan" is too much of an eastern horror film for a western audience. I doubt target audience for horror films in America would be interested in watching a horror movie base in 19th century Japan with samurai and geisha.
Kaidan is more of a telling of a love story that involves supernatural elements than just a normal western type of horror story. I found myself drawn into the story of this movie and watched as the cursed man's journey ran its faithful course. Since this movie doesn't have a U.S. release, I have to settle for a blurry VCD version although the English subtitle in the movie is much better than other Japanese VCD movies.
This movie opens like a Japanese fairy tale not unlike the 1964 version of "Kaidan". A tale of greed and murder told in theatrical like black and white film, where a businessman was killed by a samurai over a debt, but before he drawn his last breath, he cursed the samurai's family. Later, when the orphaned samurai's son met the daughter of his father's victim, as if by magic, they fell in love and soon after, fall out of love. The daughter fell ill and before she died, out of jealousy she cursed her lover to suffer the lost of women he loves. The cursed man fled for his life, to another city, another town where once again women fall in love with him and the curses continue.
I was surprised that this film is own by Liongate films and didn't saw its U.S. DVD distribution, whereas Takashi Shimizu's "Rinne" or "Reincarnation" did. Perhaps "Kaidan" is too much of an eastern horror film for a western audience. I doubt target audience for horror films in America would be interested in watching a horror movie base in 19th century Japan with samurai and geisha.
Kaidan is more of a telling of a love story that involves supernatural elements than just a normal western type of horror story. I found myself drawn into the story of this movie and watched as the cursed man's journey ran its faithful course. Since this movie doesn't have a U.S. release, I have to settle for a blurry VCD version although the English subtitle in the movie is much better than other Japanese VCD movies.