The Ghost Cat and the Mysterious Shamisen (Kaibyo nazo no shamisen)

One of Japan’s few surviving pre-war horrors, a genre that was soon to be suppressed by the increasing state censorship. Japan’s first scream queen Sumiko Suzuki plays Mitsue, the possessive actress betrothed to apprentice shamisen player Seijiro. When his lost cat Kuro brings home a beautiful girl, dark jealous passions are invoked in Mitsue and the cat is the first to suffer at the end of her hairpin. Director Kiyohiko Ushihara employs an arsenal of dark double exposures, slow motion sequences and specially-developed lenses to convey this dark, uncanny tale.

Screening made possible by the National Film Centre and screened in association with Zipangu Fest.