Scott LeBrun This haunting, beautiful, and atmospheric Japanese ghost story is set in the days of feudal Japan and tells of an evil rich family making life miserable for farmers working their land. When one farmer dies, his wife Sue (Chiaki Tsukioka) and daughter Asa (Yukiko Kuwahara) are made to work for domineering landlord Cyobei Onuma (Seizaburo Kawazu). Unspeakable tragedies befall this family, who just can't seem to catch a break. Poor Asa is continuously harassed by Onumas' sleazy son Takeo (Shingo Yamashiro), for one thing. During this period in history, it was considered an unwise move to kill a snake, and when the landlord & family have a serpent killed on their premises, it sort of kick starts a slow but steady turn in their fortunes."Snake Woman's Curse" is powerfully affecting, especially when one thinks of the misfortune that comes Asas' way. One just can't help but take some great pity on her and her parents. Even though one worker named Sutematsu (Kunio Murai) feels compassion for Asa, and swears that he will marry her, he doesn't always see things her way. When Takeo goes after her, Sutematsu is disgusted that she didn't try harder to fend off his advances and maybe kill him in the attempt. Screenwriter Fumio Konami & screenwriter / director Nobuo Nakagawa certainly build up quite a deal of contempt for our heartless antagonists.He also commendably plays this *just* right. Although there is a sufficient amount of grotesque imagery and makeup effects to add to various hallucinations, it's also quite possible that what the Onuma family experience is all in their heads, and that guilt is catching up with them. The compelling nature of the melancholy scenario is supplemented by that breathtaking scenery and widescreen photography. Also, Konami & Nakagawa take the trouble to balance some of the grief of the story with some well timed, and not excessive, comedy. Kameshichi, played by Shunji Sayama, is our principal comic relief character and he does a pretty amusing job.With lovely music by Shunsuke Kikuchi as accompaniment, "Snake Woman's Curse" manages to be an effectively eerie (if never all-out scary) shocker that also establishes a certain sympathy for the slithering cast members. The finale and resolution are quite memorable.Seven out of 10.

chaos-rampant The closest parable I can think of to the 60's boom of ghost stories, what is called kaidan in Japan, is the Roger Corman films based on Poe; unsophisticated but competent setups, in these films usually about karmic retribution for anomie, and a final third of horror visualized with some flair and ostentation. It's always this last part that is worth watching, with the first just the solid groundwork.As with the Corman/Poe films, some of these largely identical films are just more satisfying than others. This is one of those middling affairs and what is to blame, I think, is that it just came out when this cycle was already obsolete and about to be eclipsed from the second end of a double-bill by the new fashion of yakuza and chambara films.The '59 version of Ghost of Yotsuya by the same filmmaker one could even say it was fresh, aesthetically vibrant, even though the staged illusions were adopted directly from kabuki; by '68 it was tired material film-wise.Shiro Toyoda's films are interesting counterpoints from this time, when the kaidan film was on its way out; knowing how repetitive these had been, Toyoda reworked conventions into more personal portraits of madness. I suggest you seek those out instead.

MartinHafer The plot for "Kaiden Hebi-onna" is very simple, yet it's a very good story and one well worth seeing. And, on top of that, the film was quite scary and has a really nice message about justice.The film is set in the Meiji period. While the country is beginning to modernize late in the 19th century, this portion of Japan is still entrenched in the old ways and the landlord is, essentially, the unquestioned boss.A poor farmer and his family are in debt to the landlord and is he is working himself to death trying to repay this money. However, it's just not possible and eventually he literally kills himself overworking. The unjust landlord then decides, almost immediately, to take their farm and make them practically slave laborers. While technically free, the mother and daughter aren't and their lives are much worse than before the father's death.During one of the master's rants, he ends up hitting the mother--knocking her to the floor and killing her. Later, the master's son begins to force his attentions on the daughter and eventually he repeatedly rapes her. Eventually, she is so disheartened that she takes her own life.At about that time, retribution begins from the dead family. Not only do their ghosts begin to haunt the wicked family, but these evil family members begin to hallucinate--seeing their loved ones becoming snake-like before their very eyes. Additionally, real live snakes begin to appear all around them. It's obvious that the wicked family truly deserves this curse--and it sure isn't their consciences bothering them because they have none! What happens next? Tune in and see for yourself.I liked the film. It had nice acting, deft direction and, what I really appreciated, was that it was scary and effective but not gratuitous or overly graphic. I especially appreciated how the rapes clearly occurred but were not shown nor were they sensationalized--something I have unfortunately seen too often in some Japanese films (such as the awful "Hanzo" a series and most of the "Lone Wolf and Cub" films). A very effective and well-made movie.

ferbs54 And you thought that you had a lousy landlord! Just take a look at what mother Sue and daughter Asa have to put up with, in veteran director Nobuo Nakagawa's 1968 offering, "Snake Woman's Curse." After their husband/father has been worked to death by landlord Onuma, in the village of Onuma on the shores of northern Japan at the beginning of the Meiji Period (around 1868), the two women are compelled to work in the master's house, weaving for 16 hours a day, performing other slavelike labor, and knuckling under to the occasional sexual attack by Takeo, the "young master." Fortunately, when these two poor women reach their physical limits and expire, their vengeance has just begun, as their spirits come back to seek a playful and haunting revenge on Onuma and his entire family. Beautifully shot and skillfully produced, "Snake Woman's Curse," though never at all frightening, still manages to please. Featuring gorgeous seaside locations and an abundance of attention to period detail, the film is great to look at, and pretty Sachiko Kuwahara is quite appealing and touching as the downtrodden Asa. After two viewings, I'm still a trifle unclear as to who the snake woman of the title is--Sue or Asa--and truth to tell, many incidents in the film go largely unexplained. The picture ultimately winds up feeling like a Japanese fable conflated with one of those old EC comics; the ones in which the spirits of the disgruntled dead take a grisly vengeance on their living malefactors. And I suppose being forced to see your new bride covered with scaly snake skin on your wedding night is a pretty good vengeance for starters, right? From first shot to its memorable final image (the spirits of the dead walking toward a rising sun), the film manages to keep the viewer focused and guessing. In all, a modestly entertaining picture that will most likely please horror fans who are game for something different....