I'd been hoping for some kind of lurid monster flick, but it's just a 1950s black-and-white ghost story with some snakes in it. I don't think it's based on folklore. (Japan has a snake demon called Nure-Onna, but she lives in seas and rivers.)

It's also a samurai film. Some men have been shitty and the victims are women. In one scene, a fat old man rapes a snake charmer (Okon, played by Ikuko Mouri)... and when her friend/partner arrives afterwards, he dismisses the rape as perfectly normal and to be expected. He greets the rapist warmly and they chat. There's talk about marriage.

There's a cursed family. Years ago, the father got cursed by a woman called Omiyo (played by Rumiko Komachi). They'd been in love, but his family wouldn't let him marry her because she was just a servant... and then she got burned in a mysterious fire. Jumping to the present, there's a female ghost with a burned face. We know where she came from. Unfortunately, these are tame 1950s ghosts rather than modern J-horror ghosts. They're not even glimpsed often. You can see them and survive, unless of course you later hang yourself. (This happens.) The film doesn't have many supernatural and/or creepy bits, but those it has are memorable, e.g. a flying severed head, or a coffin being unearthed and a hand emerging.

Most of the film is ghost-free and just involves people being their fairly unlikeable selves. The most memorable character is Ikuko Mori, who drapes herself in snakes, does carnival acts and provides some near-nudity. (For a 1950s black-and-white film, it's racy.) She's sharp-tongued, vivid and seems like the most intelligent person here.

If you like samurai films, by all means watch this. However, I didn't care. There are a couple of sword fights, but no one bleeds even when they've just been killed with a sword and they're wearing white. For all I know that might have been common in films of this vintage, but this is also a horror film. Well, technically. The horror elements are understated and almost delicate. It's roughly contemporaneous with the first Hammer horrors, but it's into atmosphere, not gore. That said, though, it's tempting to argue that the film's also about social justice and sexual equality. Many samurai films are male-dominated, but here the female characters are inescapable and all-important.

The film's energetic, though. The running time is short, the pace is dynamic and you'll always feel that something might be about to happen. It's definitely not dull. I've watched far, far worse.