History Film / Onibaba

* BlackAndGrayMorality: The Japan of ''Onibaba'' has been torn apart by a bloody civil war that has led to widespread death and famine, so virtue among the population is in shorter supply than food. Unable to farm, Kichi's widow and mother ambush and murder wandering samurai to loot their bodies for goods to sell for food, tossing the dead bodies into a giant pit. Hachi is a deserter who wastes no time romancing Kichi's widow (who is only too happy to reciprocate). Ushi takes advantage of the local peasants' desperation to indulge in price-gouging (unless the women are willing to sleep with him).

* DownerEnding: By the end of the film, [[spoiler:Hachi has been killed by a fellow deserter and Kichi's mother's face has been horribly scarred by the demon mask (and she may or may not take a fatal fall into the pit where she and Kichi's widow dump the bodies they have looted), leaving Kichi's widow alone to face an uncertain future]].
* DramaticUnmask: The older woman finally manages to yank the mask off the samurai's face, only to find that he is badly deformed. [[spoiler:At the end, after the younger woman resorts to whacking the mask off the older woman's face with a mallet, she is horribly deformed as well]].

* GreyAndGrayMorality: All of the main characters (and it's implied everyone else as well, with the scene of Hachi coming across an old woman and a young girl outside Ushi's cave carrying weapons and armor in baskets on their backs) survive by killing passing soldiers and selling their weapons and armor to a guy who sells it back to passing armies. This ''would'' be pretty "black," but it's clear that the endless wars are to blame for reducing the characters to this almost animalistic existence.

* LovableRogue: Hachi (at least, the girl seems to think so).
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: [[spoiler:The film offers to kinds of explanation as to why the mask won't come off. The supernatural explanation is that this is the result of a curse or some sort of divine punishment. The mundane explanation is that the mask simply got sticky after being exposed to rain (or, alternatively, that the old woman contracted a skin disease from the samurai who previously owned the mask). In the end, it is left up to the viewer to decide which of these is the more likely]].

* MrsRobinson: Kichi's mother makes a pass at Hachi. It's equal part lust and fear of Hachi and the younger woman pairing off and leaving her behind.

* PlotTriggeringDeath: Kichi's death in the war, as related to his mother and his widow by Hachi, is the catalyst for the turns the plot takes after the setting is established; now that his widow is unattached, she and Hachi begin a romance, which sends Kichi's mother into a jealous rage (out of a combination of her own desire for Hachi and fear of being left to fend for herself) and leads her to use the demon mask to scare her daughter-in-law into leaving Hachi.

* RuleOfThree: Three times, the older woman dons the demon mask to scare her daughter-in-law and prevent her from sleeping with Hachi. Two times, she succeeds. On the third night, however, the younger woman's passion proves to be stronger than her fear, and she ends up having sex with Hachi right in the middle of the field. The older woman decides to give up after this -- [[spoiler:and then it turns out that the mask won't come off ...]]

* MsFanservice

* ADateWithRosiePalms: The older woman fondles her breasts and then humps a tree after watching the younger woman have sex with Hachi.

* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:The film ends with the young woman leaping over the pit, and the older woman coming after her. However, the film cuts to black before we see the older woman landing on the other side, leaving open the possibility that she fell into the pit and died]].

* BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler:Literally, when Kichi's mother's attempt to scare her daughter-in-law backfires]].
* BlackWidow: Kichi's mother.

* ClingyCostume: [[spoiler:After a while, the mask doesn't want to come off]].

* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Hachi deserted the army because he did not want to be killed in the war. He's ultimately killed by another deserter who broke into his hut to steal some food]].
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:Possibly, if one subscribes to the theory that the mask is indeed cursed]].
* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler:The random deserter who shows up at Hachi's hut out of nowhere, and kills Hachi when he returns]].

* LovableRogue: Hachi (at least, the girl seems to think so).

* SkunkStripe: Appropriately, the murderous older woman sports one of these.

* ArmsDealer: Ushi, the shady merchant to whom the women sell the armour and weapons of their victims.
* BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler:Literally, when Kichi's mother-in-law's attempt to scare her backfires]].

* CoolMask: The mysterious samurai Kichi's mother-in-law leads through the susuki grass wears one of these, supposedly to protect his handsome face.

* DangerousDeserter: Groups of them pass through regularly, and they're often hungry. Hachi, himself is one of them, despite being somewhat more sympathetic than the norm, he is still a desperate, untrustworthy criminal.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: All of the main characters survive by killing passing soldiers and selling their weapons and armor to a guy who sells it back to passing armies. This ''would'' be pretty "black," but it's clear that the endless wars are to blame for reducing the characters to this almost animalistic existence.

* UntranslatedTitle: "Demon Hag", actually a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onibaba_(folklore) Japanese myth]].

* KickTheDog: Or eat the dog, if you're two peasant women on the ragged edge of starvation.

* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Hachi deserted the army because he did not want to be killed in the war. He's ultimately killed by another deserter who broke into his hut to steal food]].
* DemonicPossession: Or is it?

* BecomingTheMask: Literally, when Kichi's mother-in-law's attempt to scare her backfires.

* ClingyCostume: After a while, the mask doesn't want to come off.

* DiabolusExMachina: The random burglar, or whoever, who shows up at Hachi's hut out of nowhere, and kills Hachi when Hachi returns.
* DramaticUnmask: The older woman finally manages to yank the mask off the samurai's face, only to find that he is badly deformed. At the end, after the younger woman resorts to whacking the mask off the older woman's face with a mallet, she is horribly deformed as well.
* EvilMask: The mask eventually leaves its wearers horribly mangled, and may turn them into demons.

* RepeatCut: The final shot of the older woman's ghastly face as she leaps over the PitTrap is repeated six times, as she screams that she's not a demon, before the film cuts to black.