n Kuroneko, the haunting successor to Onibaba (1963), Kaneto Shindo delves into a netherworld of demons, violence and sexuality. Moving from a long, quiet introduction to abrupt violence, the film sustains a frightening and suspenseful pace throughout. Set in 12th-century Japan, it tells of two women, living in an isolated hut, who are raped and murdered by a marauding band of samurai warriors. Returning in human and in feline form, the women set out to avenge their deaths. As fate would have it, the young warrior chosen to exorcise these malevolent spirits is Gintoki, the husband of the younger woman and the son of the older. Despite its strange, hallucinatory atmosphere, Kuroneko, like Onibaba before it, stands out as a pointed condemnation of Japan's feudal past and the warrior caste system that brought misery to its people.