J-Horror

Asian horror is a much more familiar subject for me. I read the excerpts from Kwaidan. Whereas American horror tends to focus on monsters and serial killers, J-horror (and Asian horror in general) is largely composed of ghost stories. Much of it also lacks the highly sexualized themes that are present in American horror. For example, while rape is a fairly common cause for the presence of a vengeful ghost, the rape itself is (thankfully!) not generally intended to be titillating to the audience.

In fact, quite a lot of modern Asian horror films deal with women protagonists and nearly all the ghosts are female. And while the ghosts are dangerous and frightening, the true villains are the ones who caused the ghost’s grievances in the first place, and they are always punished in the end. These stories usually unfold at a much slower pace than American horror, and are almost mystery stories, where the goal is to find out the cause of the ghost’s wrath in order to appease or escape it.

Ghost stories such as the ones found in Kwaidan follow a different theme, however. These stories relate to old Japan, and reflect the culture that Japan was forced to give up. The memories of this time are manifested as ghosts, and conflict with the current times.

Kairo follows yet another theme; the futility of life. The afterlife has filled up with the dead and they have spilled into the realm of the living. What is the reason to continue living? What is the difference between the living and the dead? What is the point? It is not an uplifting movie. It’s not scary in a thriller sense; it’s scary in its hopelessness. There is no one to fight and defeat. There is no escape. There is only increasing loneliness, apathy, and total separation from all other humans. It’s very much a comment on today’s society and the way we interact (or don’t interact) with each other, and the drudgery and meaninglessness of our lives. What is the point of surviving to survive?