Film Series
Ghosts and Monsters: Postwar Japanese Horror
In the wake of World War II and profound social upheaval, Japanese filmmakers channeled national trauma into a rich and distinctive horror cinema. As Toho Studios created new mythologies in the form of iconic kaiju—pop culture-conquering monsters like Godzilla and Mothra—visionary stylists like Kenji Mizoguchi, Kaneto Shindô, and Masaki Kobayashi drew from the past, spinning atmospheric ghost stories from classic Japanese folklore. Fantastical, otherworldly, and wildly unique, these tales of rampaging beasts and supernatural terror are triumphs of cinematic imagination.
Atomic age anxiety spawns the most mythic movie monster of the 20th century.
Kenji Mizoguchi’s ravishing blend of social realism and the supernatural.
Meet Toho’s first female kaiju in this Pop Art marvel of fantastical strangeness.
An oozing alien vampire takes on humankind in this apocalyptic sci-fi freakout.
Four chilling ghost stories in one of the most visually splendorous horror movies ever.
Japanese horror pioneer Nobuo Nakagawa drags us through the pits of hell.
Hiroshi Teshigahara’s visionary blend of modernist ghost story and anti-capitalist screed.
Kaneto Shindô’s mesmeric tale of feline spirits out for witchy revenge.
Primal passions and twisted mind games in a psychosexual nightmare vision of feudal Japan.