Open Forum Friday: J-Horror vs. American Horror
It’s that time of year again! Halloween is just around the corner and everyone’s got horror on the brain. This October we’ve got a few new releases to look forward to in theatres, including a prequel to a remake: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, and a sequel remake to a remake: The Grudge 2. As far as box office goes, these are the two frontrunners in terms of horror, which is a little uninspiring to say the least. I’m personally not looking forward to either film very much, but it did get me thinking about the J-Horror versus North American Horror debate. Of course there’s many other important contributors to the horror genre (we’ll ignore Italy for now), but as of late the Japanese Horror remakes have been rubbin’ us raw.
Personally, i’m not a big fan. I’m a little sick of the technology based terror and scary little school girls. However, one thing that I do enjoy in some of the J-Horror films I have seen (which i admit are few) is the willingness to scare in the most normal situations. When you’ve got a creature popping out at you during your mid-day bus ride, you now know that it could happen ANYWHERE. But alas, my heart belongs to good ol’ American horror. George A. Romero, John Carpenter, Roger Corman, Larry Cohen, Sam Raimi, Joe Dante, Steve Miner, Sean S. Cunningham…the list goes on and on. Great directors with great individual voices. Maybe it’s nostalgia, but the music and imagery of the classics just bring me to a place that no other genre of filmmaking can take me. There’s only four movies that have ever scared me to the bone (as a child), and they all happen to be north american: The Excorsist, John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness, Black Christmas and Mask. (alright, that wasn’t a horror movie but it still scared the shit out of me.) I just can’t relate to the unusual myth-based horror that Japan has to offer. So what do you guys think? Do you prefer the culture shock of J-Horror or a good ol’ axe in the back? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.
Comments (16)
I’m not sure I have a preference. Only one movie has ever really scared me to the point where I won’t camp anymore and that was “The Blair Witch Project”. Laugh all you want, it’s the only thing that has ever really scared me. I didn’t grow up with the American classics you’ve mentioned but I have seen movies from both camps and I don’t think I can compare them. In my mind, they’re two different types of movies – neither of which really scare (I don’t consider the occasional jump as ’scary’). So for me, it depends on the mood. I like stuff from both sides but I will admit that I’d prefer to see more European horror out there to the Asian varierty, just for flavour.
Posted by Marina on September 29th, 2006Yeah, i’d have to agree that The Blair Witch Project was pretty scary. I felt actual anxiety in the theatre when I saw it. It’s too bad so many people wrote it off because of all of the hype.
Posted by Jay C. on September 29th, 2006To this day I refure to go camping. I know it was all a fake and no, I don’t believe in witches but that movie did something to my psyche damit!
Posted by Marina on September 29th, 2006i dont really care for most (at least modern) american horror movies. there are many classics, but in general the Asian horror movies have been creepier to me… I’ll take extended creepiness/spooky/arty imagery over slash and gore. I didnt think way too much of Ringu, but the Eye and Ju-On – I enjoy them very much. the fact that they barely make sense and seem to just be a series of bizarre scenes make it creepier to me even, though thats technically a fault
:/
but thats me, I dont generally care for horror in general. i dont find them very rewatchable and rarely if ever purchase one.
Posted by Goon on September 29th, 2006I hate the horror genre. It’s too formulaic. I agree that the little schoolgirl thing has been done so much it borders on ridicule, and so has the so-called ‘tension’-buildup where somebody walks through somewhere dark only to realize all the noises were just a cat.
The only movie that ever scared me was Signs. I never realized what it felt like to be scared by a movie till I saw Signs. It’s probably still the best cinema-experience of my life.
Posted by Henrik on September 30th, 2006the one thing I’m really sick of that needs to end in both American thrillers and horror movies as well as the Japanese ones… is the creepy child. you know what i’m talking about.
Posted by Goon on September 30th, 2006The creepy child is the worst because child actors are terrible. The only successfully creepy children for me were in the shining and the omen (original).
As far as horror films being formulaic, it’s a genre. Genre films generally tend to follow a format, or else they wouldn’t be a genre film. But like all films, some are good and original, some are bad. But for me, even the unoriginal ones are sometimes simply paying tribute to the genre.
Posted by Jay C. on September 30th, 2006Yeah that’s one of the things I dislike about horror. You’re encouraged to follow the cliché’s because then you’re just paying tribute to the original horror movies.
I don’t like it at all. I think it’s ridiculous. When you talk about genre-movies per se, I would equate horror movies with the Arnold Schwarzenegger movies of the mid to late 80s. If you look at Terminator, Conan, Predator, Running Man and Commando, they are distinctly different. They are unglorified exploitational action pieces and star vehicles, but each of them has something to offer in my opinion. Way more than the cliche-laden genre movies of horror.
Posted by Henrik on October 1st, 2006It sounds like you haven’t watched very many horror films.
Posted by Jay C. on October 1st, 2006Not many good ones.
I don’t know. I’ve seen enough to dislike them immensely. I’ve seen some of the classics – Halloween, The Shining. I’ve seen plenty of the hits – Scream trilogy, Last Summer, and some of the grind ones like Wishmaster. I have disliked all of them, even The Shining which really disappointed me cause I’m a Kubrick fanboy.
The only two horror movies I would ever recommend to somebody as movies worth watching are The Thing and From Dusk Till Dawn.
Posted by Henrik on October 1st, 2006I know you were using The Texas Chain Saw Massacre the prequel and The Grudge 2 to make a point, but don’t forget that Saw 3 is in the running for horror box office champ this month as well.
Oh, and I fucking hate horror movies, too.
Posted by Steven on October 1st, 2006You’re right. I guess i’m just getting used to their being a new Saw movie every Halloween now that it’s just become a part of the holiday or something.
I still haven’t seen part 2, but i think Cary Elwes turned me off of Saw for good.
Posted by Jay C. on October 1st, 2006i will go with the american horror, i dont think watching j-horror is fun when you have to read it. it loses the effect.
Posted by Chopper on October 2nd, 2006Why must all horror movies be classified with the gore movies? I think that the best scary movies are the ones that scare using the power of your own imagination. I guess you would classify these as psychological thrillers. An excellent example of these types of movies would be Session 9 with David Caruso. Scared the mess out of me!
Posted by Beth on October 19th, 2006After a while blood and gore just numb you, it gets a bit stupid. Yeah, yeah here comes the killer again going to chop up this girl/guy. But when you really dont know WHAT is out there, how its coming for you or even IF its coming…its all in your mind…or is it? Thats truly scary.
Even when we know for sure in a film that someone dies, I think its much more horrorfing to leave it to our own imagination as to what happened. There was an older film that I cant remember the name of where a girl was being stalked by a panther while she walked home through her village at night. Lots of scenes of build up of her being stalked then she reached her door just as the panther struck. the scene switched to being shot from inside her home. You heard the panther strike the door and the claws raking the wood. You saw the horror on the faces of the girls parents who didnt dare open the door. You heard the girl scream and the panther growl. Then silence. Focus on the door…a thin red line of blood starting to seep under the door. End scene. We didnt need to see the rendering of the girl…we KNOW what happened…and it was more vivid in our own minds then it could ever be on film. Thats frightening.
Just my opinion. thanks for letting me vent.
I just happened on your post while searching for the name of the movie you just described (about the black panther stalking a girl walking home). Did you ever find out the name of that movie?
Posted by Lori on February 15th, 2008Sounds like Track of The Cat.
Posted by Simon Walker on September 11th, 2008Leave a Reply