Onibaba(1964)
1964 · Kaneto Shindō · 105 min
While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are devastated when they learn that Kichi has died, but his wife soon begins an affair with a neighbor who survived the war, Hachi. The mother disapproves and, when she can't steal Hachi for herself, tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.
Horror
7.7498 votes
TMDB score
4/5
Intensity
2/5
Gore
5/5
Stays with you
How Onibaba scares
It opens slow and stays slow, building through long stretches of silence, wind through tall reeds, and the daily grind of survival before tightening into something much more unsettling in its back half. The horror creeps in sideways, through jealousy, isolation, and human desperation, long before anything overtly frightening appears. Once a strange mask enters the story, the mood shifts into something eerier and more suffocating, though the movie never fully abandons its grounded, human core. This is a heavy, atmospheric watch for people who like their horror slow, moody, and more upsetting than thrilling.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, Onibaba rates psychological 5/5, visceral 3/5, gore 2/5, lingering effect 5/5, and overall intensity 4/5.
- Psychological: 5 of 5
- Visceral: 3 of 5
- Gore: 2 of 5
- Lingering: 5 of 5
- Intensity: 4 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 10 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 60 of 100 — leans Real-world
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 80 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, sweaty simmer of tension and jealousy that tightens gradually before exploding into a nightmarish, relentless final stretch.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5.
How scary is Onibaba?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, Onibaba 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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