| Kaidan | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Hideo Nakata |
| Produced by | Taka Ichise |
| Written by | Satoko Okudera |
| Starring | Kuroemon Onoe Kumiko Aso Asaka Seto |
| Music by | Kenji Kawai |
| Cinematography | Junichiro Hayashi |
| Distributed by | Toho Company Ltd. |
| Release date(s) | August 4, 2007 |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Kaidan (怪談 Kaidan) is a 2007 Japanese horror film directed by Hideo Nakata. The title means 'ghost story'. The screenplay for this film was written by Satoko Okudera, based on the kaidan-banashi "Shinkei Kasanegafuchi" by Enchou Sanyutei.[1]
The theme song of the film, called "Fated", was sung by Ayumi Hamasaki[2].
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Oshiga (Kuroki) and Osono are sisters abandoned by their father. Oshiga is a respected teacher who runs a school for young girls in Edo. Despite her age, she falls in love with a young tobacco vendor named Shinkichi (Kunoemon Oroe), who lives with his uncle. Shinkichi and Oshiga decide to live together as husband and wife, but Shinkiichi begins flirting with the school's students, especially Oisa. Miserable and invidious, Oshiga becomes mean to the students who leave one by one.
Oshiga quarrels with Osono, who disapproves of her relationship with Shinkichi; she then runs away. Shinkichi admonishes her and declares he wants to end their relationship. Oshiga pleads with him not to leave, and then Shinkichi accidentally wounds his wife with her shamisen's bachi, right on her left brow. They reconcile, but Oshiga slowly falls ill from her wound. During the festival, Oisa meets Shinkichi who went to buy some medicine for the Oshiga, and they rent a hotel room.
Oshiga meanwhile dies, and and is given a proper burial. Shinkichi discovers in a letter left by Oshiga that warns if he remarries, she will haunt his new wife until the latter dies. He and Oisa elope, fleeing the city, but the couple lose their way in the rain. Oshiga's vengeful spirit constantly terrorises the pair, and she makes a frightful apparition to her husband. He defends himself by striking her with a scythe; to his horror he realises he stuck it in Oisa's neck.
Shinkichi meanwhile passes out on the road, before waking up in the house of a wealthy man. They discover Oisa's corpse, and Shinkichi runs away to Hanyo, where he re-encounters Osono. Osono and Shinkichi mourn the death of Oshiga, and Osono finds her former brother-in-law a job. He gives her a small bell as a present, and he is called by the master of the house. He and his wife want him to marry their daughter Orui who is Oisa's cousin. Shinkichi initially declines, but after a blue snake attacks Orui, who falls face-first into the fireplace and gets a burn in the same place as Oshiga's scar, he relents.
Shinkichi marries Orui and they have a son, who is born unusually pale and has a scar on his left brow. The child displays strange characteristics, such as remaining silent, which troubles Shinkichi.
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