Watch Onibaba

Part antiwar treatise and part horror film, Masahiro Shinoda's Onibaba is notable for its startling visuals and its depiction of scavenger women attempting to survive in the aftermath of war during feudal Tokugawa era Japan. Stripping dead samurai of their armor, weapons and any currency they may have on their corpses, the women sink further into depravity as their paranoia causes them to turn on each other while unaware of the karmic retribution that awaits them as a result of their misdeeds. Shot in Black and White, Onibaba is one of Shinoda's most strikingly original films, especially when compared to his more pedestrian samurai chanbara (sword swinging) fare.