Empire of Passion(1978)
1978 · Nagisa Ōshima · 105 min
A married woman and her lover murder her husband and dump his body into a well, but his ghost returns to haunt them as the local gossip intensifies.
Drama · Romance · Horror
6.8140 votes
TMDB score
4/5
Intensity
2/5
Gore
4/5
Stays with you
How Empire of Passion scares
There's a heavy, suffocating sense of guilt hanging over every scene, more like a slow nightmare than a traditional scare-fest. The pace is unhurried and dreamlike, with long stretches of quiet dread building toward moments of real unease rather than jolts or shocks. Its horror comes from shame, obsession, and the past refusing to stay buried, wrapped in a doomed love story set in old rural Japan. This is for viewers who want something moody, artful, and unsettling rather than a straightforward fright ride.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, Empire of Passion rates psychological 5/5, visceral 2/5, gore 2/5, lingering effect 4/5, and overall intensity 4/5.
- Psychological: 5 of 5
- Visceral: 2 of 5
- Gore: 2 of 5
- Lingering: 4 of 5
- Intensity: 4 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 8 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 12 of 100 — leans Supernatural
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 78 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A slow, quiet drama that simmers with guilt and unease, building gradually into a tense, haunted unraveling by the end.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 0, 1, 1, 3, 4, 2, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5.
How scary is Empire of Passion?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, Empire of Passion rates 4/5 — one of the more punishing watches in the catalog, building its fear through slow-burn dread rather than shocks. The fear is mostly in your head — it unsettles far more than it assaults. Expect it to be moderately gory and genuinely disturbing. Expect it to stay with you for days.
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