Why do I watch horror movies? I do not even believe in the supernatural, let alone ghosts. Probably some childhood fear of the dark remains in our minds, providing a bridge to horror even for those who consider themselves enlightened. And the atmosphere of horror movies grabs you: the slow threat, the sure feeling that something is about to happen...
J-horror is a genre of Japanese film that originated somewhere in the mid-nineties of the last century, culminated in movies like Ringu and The Grudge, and still leads a ghostly existence. It is a type of horror film that eschews baroque effects, has little or no CGI, and seeks to shock with quiet understatement. This is in part because the directors had small budgets - most of the films were originally made for the direct-to-video market. As is often the case, compelling circumstances gave birth to a new genre.
Although J-horror uses certain elements common to Japanese horror in general (whether film, Kabuki, drama, etc.), such as female ghosts without feet but with grudges, it is a sub-genre and not representative of all Japanese horror. For example, much more elaborate horror films were made in the sixties, and in the 19th century, Kabuki grande-guignol was popular.
Most J-horror features a dead girl, often with her long black hair hanging down in front of her face. This not only makes her creepy, but also means that she is free of any moral compass and follows her own desires - loose hair is traditionally a sign of wantonness in women.
Water also plays a large role; many of the girls have been involuntarily exposed to the wet element (drowned in an old well, for example) and are therefore both wet and dead. Ask Freud if he thinks this means something special.
With J-Horror, the Definitive Guide to The Ring, The Grudge and Beyond, David Kalat has written a history of J-Horror and done a very good job. He dedicates whole chapters to the big franchises like Ringu, The Grudge and Tomie, listing the numerous movies and their differences. He is a great help to navigate through the dark landscape of J-horror. And he does not limit himself to Japan, but also unravels the ramifications of J-Horror in Korea, Hong Kong and the United States.
In "J-Horror Has Two Daddies" he describes the history of the huge Ringu franchise and its founders, writer Koji Suzuki and director Nakata Hideo. The surprising thing is that neither of them is really interested in horror: Suzuki seems to be more interested in how to be the perfect dad for his kids, and Nakata has since moved on to samurai movies. But maybe because of that they created the first peak of J-horror and put the new genre firmly on the ghost map. I'll never forget how the ghost of Sadako crawls out of the old well, a little bit further every time we see her, long black hair in front of her face, and finally comes crawling out of the TV...
"The Haunted School is about scared kids, for scared kids - demonstrating the genre's strong roots in young heroes/heroines and youthful audiences - none other than the American slasher films. The nineties saw an avalanche of movies about haunted schools, among which Hanako, Phantom of the Toilet is my favorite, if only for the title.
"Junji Ito Will Not Die" delves into the macabre manga by Ito Junji (highly recommended for those with strong stomachs) and the movies based on it, most notably the Tomie franchise about a girl who is killed but refuses to die, her insatiable appetite for love bringing her back to life again and again. She seduces legions of young men with only one goal: to kill them and then to be killed herself...
While the Tomie movies are not as good as the original manga, another work based on Ito's nightmarish stories, Uzumaki (The Spiral), made by (despite the name, Japanese director) Higuchinsky, is a great art movie. Higuchinsky beautifully captures the madness of Ito's universe in its total obsession with killing spirals.
Another art director is introduced in "You are the Disease and Kiyoshi Kurokawa is the Cure": Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who goes far beyond the horror genre and often just plays with its conventions. The only pure J-horror movie he made is "Pulse", the rest does not fit into any genre - "Cure", for example, is more of a dark thriller in the vein of "Seven".
"A Ghost is Born" introduces the other big Ju-On franchise, The Grudge, and its director Shimizu Takashi. At first glance a normal haunted house story, the terrible grudge of these Japanese ghosts becomes a virus that threatens society. And that little boy with his white face and blank stare is really scary, even more than his ghostly mother crawling down the stairs.
In "The Unquiet Dead" Kalat provides a summary of the countless other J-horror movies from this decade. Some of the movies worth watching are Shikoku, Inugami, Trick, Parasite Eve, Suicide Club... even though none of them really fit the genre. It was all-around indie Miike Takashi who hit the mark with One Missed Call. The movie became famous for its "ringtone of death" and I can assure you that you will look at your cell phone in a different way after watching this movie.
"Whispering Corridors" takes us to Korea and K-horror, a considerable amount of atmospheric, supernatural shockers. Whispering Corridors is one of them, as is Memento Mori, both in the haunted school tradition, but for me the strongest by far is A Tale of Two Sisters by Kim Ji-Woon. It is an eerie psychological horror story with a convoluted plot that will leave you speechless.
Next we travel to Hong Kong for the Chinese take on nightmares and ghouls, in the sophisticated The Eye of the Pang Brothers (what if your eyes become unreliable and actually belong to someone else?) and the final chapter brings the American remakes, which - although they cannot touch the originals and I do not see the reason for such remakes, since everyone can watch the original films with subtitles - at least had the effect of bringing people to the original J-horror films - including David Kalat, as he tells in the beginning of the book.
Japanese Film
Also read my post on Japanese Horror Films.
Water also plays a large role; many of the girls have been involuntarily exposed to the wet element (drowned in an old well, for example) and are therefore both wet and dead. Ask Freud if he thinks this means something special.
With J-Horror, the Definitive Guide to The Ring, The Grudge and Beyond, David Kalat has written a history of J-Horror and done a very good job. He dedicates whole chapters to the big franchises like Ringu, The Grudge and Tomie, listing the numerous movies and their differences. He is a great help to navigate through the dark landscape of J-horror. And he does not limit himself to Japan, but also unravels the ramifications of J-Horror in Korea, Hong Kong and the United States.
In "J-Horror Has Two Daddies" he describes the history of the huge Ringu franchise and its founders, writer Koji Suzuki and director Nakata Hideo. The surprising thing is that neither of them is really interested in horror: Suzuki seems to be more interested in how to be the perfect dad for his kids, and Nakata has since moved on to samurai movies. But maybe because of that they created the first peak of J-horror and put the new genre firmly on the ghost map. I'll never forget how the ghost of Sadako crawls out of the old well, a little bit further every time we see her, long black hair in front of her face, and finally comes crawling out of the TV...
"The Haunted School is about scared kids, for scared kids - demonstrating the genre's strong roots in young heroes/heroines and youthful audiences - none other than the American slasher films. The nineties saw an avalanche of movies about haunted schools, among which Hanako, Phantom of the Toilet is my favorite, if only for the title.
"Junji Ito Will Not Die" delves into the macabre manga by Ito Junji (highly recommended for those with strong stomachs) and the movies based on it, most notably the Tomie franchise about a girl who is killed but refuses to die, her insatiable appetite for love bringing her back to life again and again. She seduces legions of young men with only one goal: to kill them and then to be killed herself...
While the Tomie movies are not as good as the original manga, another work based on Ito's nightmarish stories, Uzumaki (The Spiral), made by (despite the name, Japanese director) Higuchinsky, is a great art movie. Higuchinsky beautifully captures the madness of Ito's universe in its total obsession with killing spirals.
Another art director is introduced in "You are the Disease and Kiyoshi Kurokawa is the Cure": Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who goes far beyond the horror genre and often just plays with its conventions. The only pure J-horror movie he made is "Pulse", the rest does not fit into any genre - "Cure", for example, is more of a dark thriller in the vein of "Seven".
"A Ghost is Born" introduces the other big Ju-On franchise, The Grudge, and its director Shimizu Takashi. At first glance a normal haunted house story, the terrible grudge of these Japanese ghosts becomes a virus that threatens society. And that little boy with his white face and blank stare is really scary, even more than his ghostly mother crawling down the stairs.
In "The Unquiet Dead" Kalat provides a summary of the countless other J-horror movies from this decade. Some of the movies worth watching are Shikoku, Inugami, Trick, Parasite Eve, Suicide Club... even though none of them really fit the genre. It was all-around indie Miike Takashi who hit the mark with One Missed Call. The movie became famous for its "ringtone of death" and I can assure you that you will look at your cell phone in a different way after watching this movie.
"Whispering Corridors" takes us to Korea and K-horror, a considerable amount of atmospheric, supernatural shockers. Whispering Corridors is one of them, as is Memento Mori, both in the haunted school tradition, but for me the strongest by far is A Tale of Two Sisters by Kim Ji-Woon. It is an eerie psychological horror story with a convoluted plot that will leave you speechless.
Next we travel to Hong Kong for the Chinese take on nightmares and ghouls, in the sophisticated The Eye of the Pang Brothers (what if your eyes become unreliable and actually belong to someone else?) and the final chapter brings the American remakes, which - although they cannot touch the originals and I do not see the reason for such remakes, since everyone can watch the original films with subtitles - at least had the effect of bringing people to the original J-horror films - including David Kalat, as he tells in the beginning of the book.
Japanese Film
Also read my post on Japanese Horror Films.