The Ghost of Yotsuya

"The Story of the Ghost of Yotsuya" (Japanese: Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan) is a classic Japanese horror film directed by Nobuo Nakagawa. published in 1959. The film is based on the play of the Kabuki theater "Yotsuya Kaidan" – a masterpiece of the XVIII century, written by Nanboku Tsuruya. The story of a woman who pursues her husband after dying a painful death has frightened the Japanese for centuries.

Having received another refusal to marry, as it seemed to him, a rich bride, the vile samurai Iemon kills a potential father-in-law and fraudulently marries his daughter Willow. A year later, the couple already has a baby, but absolutely no means of livelihood. When Iemon turns up a profitable passion, he plans to get rid of his wife.

The ghosts of innocently murdered people (first of all, their own wife) haunt the main character, sending terrifying visions to him. They appear suddenly in unexpected places, floating in a river of blood, hanging from the ceiling, peeking out of the gaping earth, etc. Ghosts appear several times in the place of other people, forcing the murderer trying to defend himself to accidentally stab them. Also, the murderer and his accomplice repeatedly have visions of snakes (perhaps because the victim was born in the year of the snake).

Ghosts assume the appearance that their bodies had immediately after death. They are material and able to interact with the outside world (so, in one of the scenes, the ghost's hand appears from under the ground and grabs his killer by the leg).

The ghost of a wife appears not only to her husband, but also to her sister. She does not see fatal injuries on the body of the deceased, only the pallor betrays her ghostly nature. The ghost does not talk to his sister, but silently takes her to the surviving victim of the same killer. The ghost also appears to this person, but already in a dream, and tells the whole truth about the atrocities of the main character of the film.

The ghost finds peace after revenge is accomplished and his killer dies.