SciFi Japan - Toho Horror Classic KWAIDAN — New 4K Restoration Opens at Film Forum in NYC on September 11

Toho Horror Classic KWAIDAN — New 4K Restoration Opens at Film Forum in NYC on September 11

A new 4K restoration of Masaki Kobayashi's acclaimed ghost story anthology KWAIDAN will have its US premiere next month at the Film Forum. Photo courtesy of Janus Films. ©1965 TOHO CO., LTD. ©2026 Janus Films

Director's Cut of Masaki Kobayashi's Stylish Ghost Story Quartet
Source: Janus Films, Film Forum
Special Thanks to Jason Zuriff, Cinetic Marketing

Starting September 11th, Janus Films and the Film Forum in New York present the New 4K Restoration of the Original Director's Cut of the Toho horror classic KWAIDAN (怪談, Kaidan, 1964).

After more than a decade of sober political dramas and socially minded period pieces, the great Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi shifted gears dramatically for this rapturously stylized quartet of ghost stories: Rentarô Mikuni finds a skeleton at the feast when he adds a second wife; woodcutter Tatsuya Nakadai meets a strange woman in the snow; a blind biwa player gives a command performance for a spirit; and an apparition appears in a cup of tea.

Featuring colorfully surreal sets and luminous cinematography, these haunting tales of demonic comeuppance and spiritual trials, adapted from writer Lafcadio Hearn’s collections of Japanese folklore, are existentially frightening and meticulously crafted.

KWAIDAN runs at the Film Forum through Thursday, September 17th, with a nationwide rollout to follow.

Watch the Trailer HERE

KWAIDAN - 4K Restoration by Toho Co., Ltd.

Winner — Special Jury Prize — Cannes Film Festival
Nominee — Best Foreign Language Film — Academy Awards

Japan, 1964
Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Based on a collection of folktales by Lafcadio Hearn
Starring Tatsuya Nakadai, Rentarô Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe
Approx. 183 min.

Film Forum
209 West Houston St. west of 6th Ave.
Map and Directions
Box Office: 212-727-8110

About Janus Films

Founded in 1956, Janus Films was the first theatrical distribution company dedicated to bringing international art-house films to U.S. audiences. Janus handles rights in all media to an extensive library that ranges from classics by Agnès Varda, Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, Ousmane Sembène, and Chantal Akerman to major works by contemporary masters like David Lynch, Wong Kar Wai, Jim Jarmusch, Lucrecia Martel, and Edward Yang. Recent 4K re-releases include Akira Kurosawa’s SEVEN SAMURAI, Zeinabu irene Davis' COMPENSATION, and Wim Wenders' PARIS, TEXAS. Beginning with its Academy Award-winning run for Paolo Sorrentino’s THE GREAT BEAUTY, Janus Films has established a track record of releasing such celebrated new theatrical films as the Academy Award® winning DRIVE MY CAR and FLOW, Payal Kapadia’s ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT, David Cronenberg’s THE SHROUDS, and Jia Zhangke's CAUGHT BY THE TIDES, as well as new work by Jerzy Skolimowski, Catherine Breillat, Nuri Bilge Ceylon, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Lila Aviles, and Alain Guiraudie, among others.