Shinshaku Yotsuya kaidan: kôhen

THis is the second half of a two-part movie. It follows THE YOTSUDA PHANTOM. Ronin Ken Uehara and gangster Osamu Takizawa, have just killed Kinuyo Tanaka in a horrifying fashion, and gotten rid of a witness or two. They've sunk the bodies..... but apparently the lady's spirit haunts her sister (also played by Miss Tanaka) and Uehara. The murderers' plans gradually disintegrate under a a police investigation and Uehara's apparent insanity. Will Takizawa wind up killing everyone?

It's based on a play by Nanboku Tsuruya (1759-1829), a kabuki playwright given to supernatural and macabre themes. This was turned into a movie several times, beginning with a silent version in 1925. Although director Keisuke Kinoshita did not write the screenplay, he had a fondness for kabuki, and made a couple of other movies that show the form's influence, particularly THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA; the strong moral components and violent themes seem to have resonated with him.