The theme for this week was J-Horror, something so fitting for the start of October. If you know nothing about J-Horror and its influence than you are surely missing out. I was SO excited to know my class went over something that is so underrated for how TERRIFYING it is. I remember seeing parodies of movies like The Grudge in Scary Movie 4 and being so interested in what it was that I borrowed a copy of The Grudge from my friend who got it from the then open Blockbuster. I don't believe I slept at all for the next month and wished I had stopped at the parody movies... Japanese Scary Stories always had elements that just make it terrifying and it goes above and beyond Western Horror that has felt repetitive and uninteresting these past few years. My friend got me into their massive collection of J-Horror and we got a little carried away, so let’s begin:
A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami, A interesting novel that seems to explore the elements of being alone and being a complete anti-social person and the readers not even knowing the main characters name. I wouldn’t say this is as much of a horror than a mystery and detective novel. I guess being alone, giving up on humanity and being self-centered could be considered unnerving to others. I find the creepiest part about this novel is the feeling of emptiness. Rather than keeping me up at night, it provided more of an eerie feeling that lingers with you. I would say that isolation is not a common theme in western horror, but seems to be more common in Japanese horror. The culture is a lot different, and while isolation might not appeal to the mass of the loud and social west, it is scary to our quiet and reserved counterpart.
Another exceptionally well Japanese novel would be Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn. I had not watched the original movie until a friend had me watch it with them back when they took this class themselves.It had contained only 4 out of the 14 stories that are written in this novel. With the imagery still stuck in my mind of the The Woman of the Snow. An unforgettable scene, I was happy that this was also on the list. Lots of different supernatural beings from this book! Including Oni, Tengu and even Kitsune! This is a great novel for true Japanese folklore and some mythology mixed in. I would even compare this to any vampire or Frankenstein creature we have had in the west, as it pull's directly from writing and uses that to create a surreal and unique experience. It has more similarities too, just like western novels they also have stories like “A Passional Karma” that follows the Gothic formula. This isn’t necessarily a type of book that might be scary, since it explores more traditional Japanese customs. But definitely the main inspiration for a lot of modern J-Horror.
Moving on from the novels, I think the most important aspect of J-Horror or even Asian Horror is it’s films! These have become a treasured part of my life, although I find an innate interest towards western horror tropes like Zombies and werewolf's Boogieman and etc, I've become genuinely mortified of woman with long black hair and white dresses. To this day, I’m still re-watching The Eye, or even the Tomie series. These are seriously scary films, and one of a kind. I also noticed Asian Horror does a lot more body horror than everyone else, which adds more to the creepiness. An example I found absolutely incredible is the visual manga's and short stories by Junji Ito. A visual novel which uses the most extreme of body horror and emotional torment, often following an adolescent boy or girl in their normal life until something bizarre and unreal shows up and eventually kills them and everything around them.
The most recent in J-Horror, is the Sadako (the grudge) vs Kayako (the ring). A comeback to J-Horror. This recently came out in 2016, and basically two of the most famous supernatural beings “fight”. Sort of like a few years back when we had Freddy vs Jason Voorhees here in the west. Taking in all the aspects of both western and eastern films and novels, elements stay the same like a female protagonist, or a big house with a ghost in it. Or certain “building up” elements, also even some movies are a bunch of short stories themselves! You don’t see this much with American movies. Contrasting this, is the antagonists are almost always female and seeking revenge rather than the usual antagonist male in the west. Usually, you feel bad for these antagonists, because of someone else they are revengeful and are killing relentlessly. They also have some form of moral behind them, If you kill someone they will come back to kill you, or if you do this certain thing you will be cursed. Don’t walk the streets at night, don’t fall asleep on the bus. Don’t let your kids be alone. Usually, they start with the protagonist hearing about it, and knowingly testing the curse. If you’re a fan of Hack and Slash films, this just isn’t for you. Rather than predator or a murderer, or even a creature. You get a invincible ghost, that “attaches” itself to you. Asian Horror hasn’t lost it’s touch yet, and it still continues to frighten me to this day!
A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami, A interesting novel that seems to explore the elements of being alone and being a complete anti-social person and the readers not even knowing the main characters name. I wouldn’t say this is as much of a horror than a mystery and detective novel. I guess being alone, giving up on humanity and being self-centered could be considered unnerving to others. I find the creepiest part about this novel is the feeling of emptiness. Rather than keeping me up at night, it provided more of an eerie feeling that lingers with you. I would say that isolation is not a common theme in western horror, but seems to be more common in Japanese horror. The culture is a lot different, and while isolation might not appeal to the mass of the loud and social west, it is scary to our quiet and reserved counterpart.
Moving on from the novels, I think the most important aspect of J-Horror or even Asian Horror is it’s films! These have become a treasured part of my life, although I find an innate interest towards western horror tropes like Zombies and werewolf's Boogieman and etc, I've become genuinely mortified of woman with long black hair and white dresses. To this day, I’m still re-watching The Eye, or even the Tomie series. These are seriously scary films, and one of a kind. I also noticed Asian Horror does a lot more body horror than everyone else, which adds more to the creepiness. An example I found absolutely incredible is the visual manga's and short stories by Junji Ito. A visual novel which uses the most extreme of body horror and emotional torment, often following an adolescent boy or girl in their normal life until something bizarre and unreal shows up and eventually kills them and everything around them.
The most recent in J-Horror, is the Sadako (the grudge) vs Kayako (the ring). A comeback to J-Horror. This recently came out in 2016, and basically two of the most famous supernatural beings “fight”. Sort of like a few years back when we had Freddy vs Jason Voorhees here in the west. Taking in all the aspects of both western and eastern films and novels, elements stay the same like a female protagonist, or a big house with a ghost in it. Or certain “building up” elements, also even some movies are a bunch of short stories themselves! You don’t see this much with American movies. Contrasting this, is the antagonists are almost always female and seeking revenge rather than the usual antagonist male in the west. Usually, you feel bad for these antagonists, because of someone else they are revengeful and are killing relentlessly. They also have some form of moral behind them, If you kill someone they will come back to kill you, or if you do this certain thing you will be cursed. Don’t walk the streets at night, don’t fall asleep on the bus. Don’t let your kids be alone. Usually, they start with the protagonist hearing about it, and knowingly testing the curse. If you’re a fan of Hack and Slash films, this just isn’t for you. Rather than predator or a murderer, or even a creature. You get a invincible ghost, that “attaches” itself to you. Asian Horror hasn’t lost it’s touch yet, and it still continues to frighten me to this day!
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