In Kuroneko, the haunting successor to Onibaba (see Thursday, June 26), Shindo engages himself more completely in the netherworld of demons and violence. Set in 12th-century Japan, a band of marauding samurai stumble upon two women living in an isolated hut. The warriors rape and murder the defenseless women and burn their shack to the ground. Moving swiftly from a long, quiet introduction to abrupt violence, the film sustains a frightening and suspenseful pace throughout.

Appearing as themselves and a black cat, the ghosts of the two women viciously revenge themselves on their assailants. As the irony of fate would have it, the young warrior chosen to exorcise these malevolent spirits is Gintoki, husband of the younger woman and son of the other. His efforts to destroy these apparitions who prey on samurai result in a macabre and terrifying conclusion.