Oriental Horror Movies

[Foxbat]

Please post your musings on June's choice here

 

[Paradox 99]

Anyone remember "A Chinese Ghost Story"?
I absolutely loved that film. I'd probably watch it now and wonder what the hell I saw in it though.

 

[ZoeRat]

I've never heard of that movie, but it sounds interesting! The scariest oriental horror movie I've ever seen was called "Shadow of the Ghost," or something like that. One of my friends was a foreign exchange student, and he showed it to us, but had to explain what was happening because it was all in a different language, lol.

Basically, it was about these kids in college, and this guy and his friends all raped his girlfriend and killed her, and she comes back from the dead as a ghost to kill them all. The first time she shows up in their lives again is when she starts showing up in photo with them. It scared the crap out of me.

 

[j d worthington]

Anyone remember "A Chinese Ghost Story"?
I absolutely loved that film. I'd probably watch it now and wonder what the hell I saw in it though.

I remember hearing about A Chinese Ghost Story, but I never got to see it; however, now that you mention it, I remember hearing nothing but praise for it and, if I can find a copy..... Thanks for jogging my memory. (There are so many Oriental supernatural/horror films worth considering.....)

 

[tiny99]

Anyone remember "A Chinese Ghost Story"?
I absolutely loved that film. I'd probably watch it now and wonder what the hell I saw in it though.

Remember seeing it, was it the one were they could stop the ghosts in their tracks by slapping them on the forehead? Or am I getting mixed up with "Mr Vampire"? Either way I recall loving the whole series of chinese horror stories when they were shown years ago....

 

[Foxbat]

I’m not too clued up on Oriental Horror – I don’t think I’ve seen any apart from Japanese horror movies so I’ll just have to talk about them instead. I suppose coming from the West, my biggest question is ‘what’s the difference between Oriental and Occidental horror?’

The easiest answer that springs to mind is ‘Hollywood’. But what does that mean? Well, comparing the original Japanese Ring to the Hollywood remake looks like a good starting point. Personally, I found a much greater emphasis on character and their intertwining relationships in the Japanese version, whilst the American version seemed to lean more toward cinematic drama. The overall effect of this difference in emphasis was that I cared much more what happened to the characters in the Japanese version. The actual horror itself (I think) becomes more horrific the more you care about the character’s fate and the actual effects used to create the scene of horror become less important. The American version (I felt) had some fine cinematic moments (horse prancing on car.. etc) but lacked that edge of empathy of the viewer for the character.

On the other hand, you could argue that these points are nothing to do with East and West and more to do with directorial style….and you may just be right. It’s just so difficult to tell. Ultimately, the jury is still out over why I prefer one over the other.

I think another reason why I enjoy Japanese Horror (and Japanese movies in general) is because it is such a different culture to my own – it has it’s own ghost stories and folk tales on which many of its movies are based. This taste of a different view upon the world is as good a reason as any to watch one of these films. Of course, there will be as many Eastern Turkeys as there are in the West when it comes to bad movies but you never know until you try.

Here’s a couple worth looking at Illusion Of Blood (based on a classic Japanese ghost story)
Portrait Of Hell -a film that looks at our uncanny ability to create our own little hells on Earth. Doesn’t sound that different from us in the West, does it?

Maybe the words of Robbie Burns are true ……We’re aw’ Jock Thomson’s Bairns

 

[j d worthington]

This may be a restatement of some of the above in different terms; to me, it comes down to subtlety. The Japanese, especially, have taken the classic English ghost story and blended it with their culture (to some extent), and learned how to do the subtle, understated approach (which is really the best if you truly wish to give a feeling of the otherworldly); something which we in the West have largely forgotten how to do (or at least moved sharply away from) for some time; though there are classic examples such as Robert Wise's The Haunting (1962?) and the film version of The Uninvited, etc. or several of the films done under the auspices of Val Lewton in the 1940s. Character development is part of that, but largely it's attention to details, the finer brush-strokes, as it were, rather than great sweeping splashes of color. Each has its place, but where there's attention to detail within a structure it tends to hold up better over time. The other tends to be like candy floss -- it's really nice but dissolves quickly into nothing. Some of the Spanish films are showing this tendency, as well (including some Mexican cinema, such as The Devil's Backbone). I'm thinking especially of Alejandro Amenabar (sp?), etc. Just as, in the 80s, the Eastern writers had learned to do the English novel of manners much better than any contemporary Western writers that were being published, they've now surpassed us on the classic English ghost story type of tale, but blended it with certain cultural tropes of their own, and brought the subtexts into the present.

 

[Foxbat]

Yeah. I'd agree that perhaps it is a level of subtlety that is the difference between the two. Perhaps we should think of Japanese horror as a kind of cinematic Haiku

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

One of the reasons I like Asian films and horror specifically is that there is no culture of "the happy ending" which seems to be a western staple.

It's quite ok for the protagonist to die and it happens more often than not

As regards The Ring vs Ringu (Japanese version) I liked the original more than the remake for several reasons;
The 'clues' in the American version were easy to track down (need to find a lighthouse? oh that's easy!) whereas in the Japanese version it wasn't and you were really conscious that time was running out for these people and it was frantic, breakneck pace towards the end of the movie.
The dad. I didn't like it that the father of Sadako was still alive and able to act as a threat. The whole idea of the movie was that the threat was from a source you couldn't defend against or run away from. I felt his presence distracted from that and was 'filler'. It was definitely put in for a western audience so we could see the 'bad guy' get his just desserts.

Anyway, getting back on the broader subject. There's a lot of synergy in asian cinema where they take a western idea and mix it around with their own mythology regarding spirits/ghosts/kami to create something fresh seeming even though you can trace the origin;
The Eye was basically a 're-imagining' of The Eyes of Laura Mars
Audition was Misery+ etc

What helps keep it fresh is that these aren't just remakes but taking the kernel of an idea and then building something original around that. It helps that a lot of the asian stars are not household names in the west so it doesn't suffer from "oh look, Naomi Watts is in danger, but she'll escape because she's a star" syndrome. As we don't really know who's famous enough to escape the chop

 

[conradbrean]

Hi,

I remember watching Whispering Corridors on VCD. It takes place in a South Korean all female high school were a series of murders take place. It all goes back to the identity of one of the students, who is an Oni (I won't reveal what that means so as not to spoil it). It's been said that South Korean censors tried to stop the movie from being released, due to some sexual innuendos.

 

[lou.mor432]

I watched an Asian movie recently called Premonition. No, NOT the Sandra Bullock one. Compared to the oriental version the US remake is a lot of Bullocks!!!! I was completely freaked out. I think the best Japanese horrors though have to be the RING trilogy. Those darned Yanks know how to destroy great films!!!! (Sorry! To any Americans reading this, but I stand by my statement)

 

[j d worthington]

Those darned Yanks know how to destroy great films!!!! (Sorry! To any Americans reading this, but I stand by my statement)

Pffft! You expect an argument on this one?

 

[HardScienceFan]

Saw *dammit,what was the Title*,the Curse???
Curse my memory
No,hang on,The GRUDGE
Let the Japanese do the horror movies from now on,I say.
Everything a genuine horror movie should be:atmosphere,good acting,no heavy reliance on special effects.The I -keep -looking -over- my -shoulder-
kind of horror