THE GHOST OF YOTSUA: Fun 1950s Horror Movies to Watch During Halloween
The Ghost of Yotsuya is required viewing material for anyone who loves horror films. It tells a legendary eerie tale of betrayal, murder, and ghostly revenge! It’s one of the most famous Japanese ghosts stories of all time and was a huge influence on the Japanese horror films that we see today.
The story is based on the 1825 play Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan, which was written by Tsuruya Nanboku IV. The basic premise of the story follows a woman who haunts her husband after she dies a miserable death.
A ruthless samurai named Iemon Tamiya wants to marry a woman named Iwa, but after her father refuses, “Iemon kills him and disposes of the body with assistance of Naosuke. Later, tiring of his wife and wishing to marry the heiress Ume Itō, Iemon plots to murder his wife by mixing a poison into her tea and also killing her admirer Takuetsu. Her health deteriorates into a slow agonizing death. The ghosts of Iwa and Takuetsu appear and take vengeance on Iemon and his new wife.”
The story has been adapted for film over 30 times, but director Nobuo Nakagawa's The Ghost of Yotsuya is considered the best one out of all of them. This is one of those films that you have to see. It’s just an old fashioned creepy movie that any true movie fan will appreciate.
If you haven’t already seen it, it’s currently available to watch on Hulu under the title Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan. You can find the trailer for it below. To check out the other 1950s horror movies that I've recommended this Halloween, click on the following links: The Screaming Skull and The Tingler..