Movies like Kwaidan
If you like "Kwaidan" you are looking for anthology, disturbing and suspense movies about / with samurai, ghost, supernatural, supernatural horror, marriage, folk horror and macabre themes of Drama, Fantasy and Horror genre shot in Japan.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps:
1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
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Kwaidan (1964)
23K
Original name: 怪談
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Japan
Duration: 183 min.
Story:
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.
Style:
anthology, disturbing, suspense, scary, bleak, surreal, creepy, cult horror, jidai geki, tense ...
Plot:
samurai, ghost, supernatural, supernatural horror, marriage, folk horror, macabre, naval battle, japanese mythology, promise, snow, visceral, spirit, surrealism, betrayal, suicide, evil spirit, buddhist, tragedy, brutality, life & death, greed, monk, heroes, escapades ...
Time:
19th century, 17th century, 12th century, 13th century, 11th century, 1900s, middle ages ...
Place:
japan, asia, kyoto japan, tokyo
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to Kwaidan
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out atmospheric, serious, psychological and suspenseful films with plots about macabre, supernatural, death, danger, storytelling, surrealism and brutality mostly in Drama, Horror and Fantasy genres. Some movies like Kwaidan: The Shining (1980), Onibaba (1964), The Witch (2015), The Company of Wolves (1984), Dreams (1990). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
1.2M
Genre: Drama, Horror
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 146 min.
Story:
Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.
Style:
psychological, suspense, scary, disturbing, atmospheric ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
isolation, hotel, insanity, supernatural, psychopath, stephen king, ghost, snow, imaginary friend, danger, evil, haunting ...
Time:
20th century, year 1980, 80s, 1920s, 70s
Place:
colorado, denver colorado, persia, usa, miami ...
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Czechoslovakia
Duration: 77 min.
Story:
Valerie, a Czechoslovakian teenager living with her grandmother, is blossoming into womanhood, but that transformation proves secondary to the effects she experiences when she puts on a pair of magic earrings. Now seeing the world around her in a ...
Style:
fairy tale, allegory, surreal, sexual, suspenseful ...
Audience:
teens, pre-teens
Plot:
innocence, teenage girl, folk horror, wedding night, surrealism, menstruation, folklore, magic realism, older man younger woman relationship, supernatural, female protagonist, vampire ...
Time:
19th century, year 1970, near future
Place:
central europe, eastern europe, europe, czech republic
Similarity:
100%
25K
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
In medieval times, on a remote plain, a widow and her mother-in-law kill wandering samurai, put their bodies in a hole in the ground and sell their armour and valuables, until the daughter-in-law falls in love with one of their intended victims.
Style:
black and white, scary, surreal, art house, creepy ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
folk horror, samurai, swamp, murder, witch, sexuality, sex, medieval, survival, danger, vengeance, samurai sword ...
Time:
middle ages, medieval times, 14th century
Place:
japan, asia, east asia, tokyo
Similarity:
100%
348K
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Canada, USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
In 1630s New England, William and Katherine lead a devout Christian life with five children, homesteading on the edge of an impassable wilderness, exiled from their settlement when William defies the local church. When their newborn son vanishes and ...
Style:
dark, atmospheric, disturbing, scary, satanic ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
witch, supernatural, folk horror, curses spells and rituals, witchcraft, religion, wilderness, black magic, paganism, family bonds, isolation, sacrifice ...
Time:
17th century, 2010s, year 2015, year 2016, 19th century
Place:
new england, america, new hampshire, usa, canada
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: UK
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
An adaptation of Angela Carter's fairy tales. Young Rosaleen dreams of a village in the dark woods, where Granny tells her cautionary tales in which innocent maidens are tempted by wolves who are hairy on the inside. As Rosaleen grows into ...
Style:
gothic, fairy tale, sexy, cult classic, dark ...
Plot:
werewolf, surrealism, little red riding hood, legends and myths, grandmother, woman in danger, wolf, dangerous animal, coming of age, girl, folk horror, beast ...
Time:
18th century, year 1984, 80s, 20th century
Place:
ireland, england, europe
Similarity:
100%
32K
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 119 min.
Story:
A collection of magical tales based upon the actual dreams of director Akira Kurosawa.
Style:
anthology, psychedelic, cerebral, philosophical, art film ...
Plot:
dream, surrealism, artist, tunnel, art, nuclear disaster, environmentalism, magic realism, spirit, radiation, philosophy, beautiful scenery ...
Time:
year 1990, 80s, 20th century
Place:
japan, mount fuji, asia, pacific ocean, tokyo
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 169 min.
Story:
Because every 27 years evil revisits the town of Derry, Maine, it chapter two brings the chapters - who've long since gone their separate ways - back together as adults, nearly three decades after the events of the first film.
Style:
slasher, scary, spooky, epic, psychological horror ...
Audience:
kids, adult
Plot:
clown, killer clown, stephen king, evil clown, fear, asthma, group of friends, supernatural horror, villain, evil, carnival, panic ...
Time:
year 1989, year 2019, 80s, 2010s, year 2016
Place:
maine, los angeles, new york, usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Country: USA, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand
Duration: 130 min.
Story:
A fantasy re-telling of the medieval tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Style:
cerebral, costume drama, bleak, surreal, fairy tale ...
Audience:
date night, adult
Plot:
creature, medieval, king arthur, myth, ghost, arthurian legend, headless horseman, knight, monster, legend, monarch, fear ...
Time:
middle ages, medieval times, 2020s
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Horror
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
Satan-worshiper Prince Prospero invites the local nobility to his castle for protection against an oncoming plague, the Red Death. He orders his guests to attend a masked ball and, amidst an atmosphere of debauchery and depravity, notices the entry ...
Style:
gothic, grindhouse, suspense, surreal, suspenseful ...
Plot:
murder, macabre, edgar allan poe, medieval, supernatural, revenge, life & death, plague, good versus evil, folk horror, brutality, masquerade ...
Time:
middle ages, medieval times, victorian era
Place:
italy, europe
Similarity:
100%
89K
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 133 min.
Story:
Peace in 17th-century Japan causes the Shogunate's breakup of warrior clans, throwing thousands of samurai out of work and into poverty. An honorable end to such fate under the samurai code is ritual suicide, or hara-kiri.
Style:
black and white, philosophical, jidai geki, melancholic, captivating ...
Plot:
samurai, suicide, poverty, revenge, seppuku, duel, japanese culture, tragedy, life & death, courage, sword fight, society ...
Time:
17th century, year 1962
Place:
japan, asia, east asia, tokyo
Similarity:
100%
10K
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
The year is 1816. A sprawling villa in Switzerland is the setting for a stormy night of madness. On this night of the "Haunted Summer," five famous friends gather around an ancient skull to conjure up their darkest fears. Poets Lord ...
Style:
gothic, surreal, sexy, gothic horror, creepy ...
Plot:
insanity, demon, surrealism, mad scientist, seance, goth, mind game, obsession, drug, haunted house, hallucination, writers ...
Time:
19th century, 1810s, regency period
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Japan
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
During a dark time in the Heian period, when evil forces threaten the kingdom, the emperor relies on the Onmyoji to keep the supernatural forces in line. But as political events become highly charged, friction within the order leads to betrayal. ...
Style:
epic, exciting, atmospheric, suspenseful, serious ...
Plot:
destiny, medieval, danger, supernatural, ghost, heroic mission, intrigue, dishonesty, escapades, betrayal, battles, curses spells and rituals ...
Place:
japan
Similarity:
100%
10K
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Japan
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
In a small town in Japan, Kirie comes upon her boyfriend's father silently videotaping a snail. Later, the mans obsession with spirals becomes more and more bizarre, ending in his suicide in a washing machine which turn his body into a spiral. ...
Style:
dark fantasy, creepy, surreal, suspenseful, scary ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
supernatural, curse, obsession, small town, surrealism, darkness, insanity, transformation, body horror, mental disorder, danger, curses spells and rituals ...
Place:
japan, tokyo
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Poland
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
Set in pre- World War II era. A young man is on a strange train to see his dying father in a sanatorium. But the place is going to ruin and recalls a lot of memories from the past. He is beset by soldiers from the past, colonial black mercenaries, ...
Style:
surreal, psychological, psychedelic, dark, cerebral ...
Plot:
surrealism, alternate dimension, alternate reality, metaphysics, nightmare, female nudity, renaissance, magic realism, time travel, macabre, trippy, existentialism ...
Time:
year 1973, 20th century
Place:
poland, eastern europe
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Japan
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
In the Sengoku period, a woman and her daughter are raped and murdered by soldiers during a time of civil war. Afterwards, a series of samurai returning from the war through that area are found mysteriously dead with their throats torn out. The ...
Style:
suspenseful, bleak, scary, serious, black and white ...
Plot:
folk horror, samurai, rape and revenge, murder, supernatural, japanese mythology, curse, vengeance, rape, revenge, black cat, supernatural horror ...
Time:
12th century, year 1968, middle ages
Place:
japan, asia
Similarity:
100%
36K
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: UK, Canada
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
Because of the actions of her irresponsible parents, a young girl is left alone on a decrepit country estate and survives inside her fantastic imagination.
Style:
surreal, disturbing, psychedelic, cult classic, bleak ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
isolation, imagination, heroin, mental illness, drug addiction, surrealism, addiction, abandoned house, imaginary friend, mentally challenged, death by overdose, talking doll ...
Time:
year 2005, 2000s, 21st century
Place:
denmark, austin texas, texas, usa
Similarity:
100%
98K
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
Seven years after the death of his wife, company executive Aoyama is invited to sit in on auditions for an actress. Leafing through the resumés in advance, his eye is caught by Yamazaki Asami, a striking young woman with ballet training.
Style:
psychological thriller, scary, tense, twist ending, disturbing ...
Plot:
torture, femme fatale, sadism, extreme, violent, psychopath, murder, psychotic woman, sex, widower, twists and turns, revenge ...
Time:
90s, year 1999, 20th century
Place:
japan, asia, tokyo
Similarity:
100%
142K
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
Style:
surreal, psychological, avant garde, art house, experimental ...
Plot:
surrealism, baby, existentialism, nightmare, insanity, psychology, dream, loneliness, psychosis, factory, dark humor, eccentricity ...
Time:
70s, year 1977, 20th century
Place:
america, philadelphia
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
With the disappearance of hack horror writer Sutter Cane, all Hell is breaking loose...literally! Author Cane, it seems, has a knack for description that really brings his evil creepy-crawlies to life. Insurance investigator John Trent is sent to ...
Style:
surreal, psychological, atmospheric, gothic, lovecraft ...
Audience:
date night
Plot:
small town, insanity, supernatural horror, book, paranoia, ghost town, investigation, hallucination, gory, novelist, writers, american horror ...
Time:
20th century, 90s, distant future
Place:
new england, new hampshire, manhattan new york city, england, europe ...
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, War
Country: Mexico, Spain
Duration: 118 min.
Story:
Living with her tyrannical stepfather in a new home with her pregnant mother, 10-year-old Ofelia feels alone until she explores a decaying labyrinth guarded by a mysterious faun who claims to know her destiny. If she wishes to return to her real ...
Style:
fairy tale, dark fantasy, surreal, atmospheric, gothic ...
Audience:
kids, teen fantasy, date night, adult, teen drama
Plot:
monster, fantasy world, imagination, creature, mythology, macabre, legends and myths, magical, young heroes, imaginary, good versus evil, maze ...
Time:
1940s, 2000s, year 1944, 20th century, year 2006
Place:
spain, south america, europe, canada
Similarity:
100%
36K
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Country: Mexico
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Faced with his own mortality, an ingenious alchemist tried to perfect an invention that would provide him with the key to eternal life. It was called the Cronos device. When he died more than 400 years later, he took the secrets of this remarkable ...
Style:
gothic, surreal, creepy, scary, cult classic ...
Plot:
immortality, vampire, addiction, death, goth, invention, aging, blood, danger, haunted by the past, race against time, body horror ...
Time:
16th century, 90s, 1930s, 20th century, year 1997 ...
Place:
south america, mexico, los angeles, usa, latin america ...
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Horror
Country: France, West Germany
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and ...
Style:
surreal, controversial, demonic, mind bending, creepy ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
surrealism, occult, insanity, obsession, body horror, cosmic horror, possession, supernatural power, private detective, supernatural horror, berlin wall, sex ...
Time:
year 1981, 80s, 20th century, year 1980
Place:
germany, west berlin west germany, berlin germany, europe, west germany ...
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 137 min.
Story:
A young couple moves into an infamous New York apartment building to start a family. Things become frightening as Rosemary begins to suspect her unborn baby isn't safe around their strange neighbors.
Style:
psychological, classic horror, surreal, psychological horror, atmospheric ...
Audience:
teens, adult
Plot:
satanic cult, devil, pregnancy, paranoia, satanism, satanic ritual, witchcraft, secret society, supernatural horror, coven, occult, antichrist ...
Time:
60s, 20th century, year 1965, year 1966, year 1968 ...
Place:
manhattan new york city, new york, persia, eastern europe, usa ...
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.
Style:
gothic, dark, creepy, scary, gothic horror ...
Plot:
haunted, supernatural, haunting, old mansion, macabre, children, hide and seek, ghost story, haunted house, schizophrenia, insanity, paranoid ...
Time:
19th century, victorian era, 1800s, year 1961, 1860s ...
Place:
england, britain, europe, london
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
A woman in the midst of an unpleasant divorce moves to an eerie apartment building with her young daughter. The ceiling of their apartment has a dark and active leak.
Style:
splatter, suspenseful, disturbing, creepy, cult horror ...
Plot:
ghost, haunted house, nightmare, haunted, losing-it hero, haunted by the past, danger, family problems, custody, parents and children, single parent, elevator ...
Time:
year 2002, 2000s
Place:
japan, asia
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
While driving, the pregnant horror-movie actress Kyôko Harase and her fiancé are in a car crash caused by the Toshio's friend. Kyôko loses her baby and her fiancé winds up in a coma. Kyôko was cursed together with a television crew when ...
Style:
atmospheric, scary, suspenseful, serious, disturbing ...
Plot:
vengeful ghost, ghost, afterlife, ghost story, curse, haunted house, traffic accident, pregnancy, revenge, danger, supernatural, abandoned house ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
japan, asia
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 129 min.
Story:
Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the ...
Style:
sincere, jidai geki, talky, touching, lyrical ...
Plot:
samurai, poverty, feudal japan, sword fight, asian history, friendship, love story, tragedy, character study, samurai era, visceral, assassination ...
Time:
19th century, 2000s, y2k, 1800s, year 2002
Place:
japan, east asia, asia, tokyo
Similarity:
100%
11K
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 77 min.
Story:
A young priest is ordered to preside over the wake of a witch in the church of a remote village. This means spending three nights alone with the corpse with only his faith to protect him.
Style:
scary, dark fantasy, gothic horror, serious, stylized ...
Plot:
witch, folk horror, curses spells and rituals, church, supernatural, supernatural ability, evil dead, corpse, danger, escapades, cossack, medieval ...
Time:
medieval times, middle ages, year 1967, 19th century
Place:
ukraine, soviet union, kiev ukraine, russia
Similarity:
50%
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
While performing in a touring kabuki troupe, leading female impersonator Yukinojo comes across the three men who drove his parents to suicide twenty years earlier, and plans his revenge, firstly by seducing the daughter of one of them, secondly by ...
Style:
atmospheric, stylized, realistic, psychological, serious ...
Plot:
samurai, revenge, female impersonator, sword fight, obsession, gender bending, thief, samurai sword, kabuki, voyeur, murder, lgbt ...
Time:
year 1963, 1830s, 19th century, 1810s, 1930s
Place:
japan, asia, east asia, tokyo
Similarity:
100%
261K
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: Mexico, USA
Duration: 149 min.
Story:
Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist, brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
Style:
gothic, dark fantasy, dark, atmospheric, grim ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
mad scientist, frankenstein's monster, storytelling, monster, fire, love, flashback, blind man, butterfly, captain, ship, north pole ...
Time:
19th century, 1850s, victorian era, 1810s
Place:
edinburgh scotland, vienna, london
Similarity:
100%
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