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Japanese horror

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Japanese horrorishorror fictionderived from popular culture inJapan,generally noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre differing from the traditional Western representation of horror.[1]Japanese horror tends to focus onpsychological horror,tension building (suspense), and thesupernatural,particularly involving ghosts (yūrei) andpoltergeists.[2]Other Japanese horror fiction contains themes offolk religionsuch as possession,exorcism,shamanism,precognition,andyōkai.[2]Media in which the genre of Japanese horror fiction can be found include artwork, theater, literature, film, anime and video games.

Origins

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See also:Japanese folklore

The origins of Japanese horror can be traced back to the horror fiction andghost storiesof theEdo periodand theMeiji period,which were known askaidan(sometimestransliteratedkwaidan;literally meaning "strange story" ).[3]Elements of these popular folktales have routinely been used in various forms of Japanese horror, especially the traditional stories of ghosts andyōkai.[3]The termyōkaiwas first used to refer to any supernatural phenomenon and was brought to common use by the Meiji period scholarInoue Enryo.[4]Kaidanstories became popular in Japan during this period after the invention of printing technologies, allowing the spread of the written stories.[5]Earlykaidanstories includeOtogi BokobyAsai Ryoi,Inga Monogatariby Suzuki Shojo, andOtogi MonogataribyOgita Ansei.[5]

Later, the termyōkaievolved to refer to vengeful states thatkami( "gods"or spirits in theShintoreligion) would morph into when disrespected or neglected by people living around their shrines.[6]Over time, Shinto Gods were not the only ones able to morph intoyōkai,but this ability to transform came to be applied to all beings who have an untamed energy surrounding them, referred to asMononoke.[7]

The Laughing Demon(1830) byHokusai

KabukiandNoh,forms of traditional Japanese theater, often depict horror tales of revenge and ghastly appearances.[5]One difference between these two forms of theater is Noh is formal and targeted for upperclassmen while Kabuki is interactive and seen as "the theater of the people."[5]The subject matter often portrayed in original Noh theater includevengeful spirits,demon plays, stories of death, and others.[5]Many of the storylines of these traditional plays have inspired modern horror depictions, and these stories have been used as source material for Japanese horror films.[5]In fact, Kabuki was a major subject of early Japanese films, and Kabuki gradually was woven into the framework of the modern horror films seen today.[5]

Elements of Japanese horror in folk art are represented in the works of 18th century artist,Katsushika Hokusai.He was a painter during the Edo period famous for hisblock prints of Mt Fuji.In the realm of horror fiction, Hokusai produced a series based on a traditional game of telling ghost stories calledA Hundred Horror Storiesin which he depicted the apparitions and monsters that were so common in these stories. Only five of the prints are known to have survived, but they represent some of the better-known ghost stories from the folklore of this time period.[8]They include the ghost ofOkiku,a servant girl who is killed and thrown in a well and whose ghost appears limbless rising from a well to torment her killer. The traditional imagery around this particular folktale is thought to have influenced the novelRing.Other images from this collection are of theGhost of Oiwaand the Phantom ofKohada Koheiji.The Oiwa story centers around betrayal and revenge, wherein the devoted wife is killed by her disreputable husband and her ghost appears and torments and tricks him. Her image is of a woman disfigured by the poison her husband used to kill her. The Kohada image is drawn from the story of a murdered actor, whose wife conspires to kill him. Her lover drowns Kohada on a fishing trip and Hokusai represents his decayed and skeletal spirit captured in a fishing net.

Japanese horror cinema

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History and evolution

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Poster of the horror filmGhost-Cat of Gojusan-Tsugi(1956)

After thebombing of HiroshimaandNagasakiin 1945, Japanese horror cinema would mainly consist of vengeful ghosts, radiation mutants, andkaiju(giant irradiated monsters) starting withGodzilla(1954).[9]Thepost-war erais also when the horror genre rose to prominence in Japan.[9]One of the first major Japanese horror films wasOnibaba(1964), directed byKaneto Shindo.[10]The film is categorized as a historical horror drama where a woman and her mother-in-law attempt to survive during a civil war.[10]Like many early Japanese horror films, elements are drawn largely from traditionalKabukiandNohtheater.[9]Onibabaalso shows heavy influence fromWorld War II.[9]Shindo himself revealed the make-up used in the unmasking scene was inspired by photos he had seen of mutilated victims of the atomic bombings.[9]In 1965, the filmKwaidanwas released. Directed byMasaki Kobayashi,Kwaidanis ananthology filmcomprising four stories, each based upon traditional ghost stories.[10]Similar toOnibaba,Kwaidanweaves elements ofNohtheater into the story.[9]The anthology uses elements of psychological horror rather than jump scare tactics common in Western horror films.[10]Additionally,Kwaidanshowcases one commonality seen in various Japanese horror films, that being the recurring imagery of the woman with long, unkempt hair falling over her face.[11]Examples of other films created afterKwaidanweaving this motif into the story areRing(1998),Ju-On: The Grudge(2002), andExte(2007).[11]This imagery was directly taken from a traditionalJapanese folkloretale similar to theMedusa.[11]Another notable film worth mentioning isHouse,which is a surreal horror movie about a group of schoolgirls who visit their aunt in the country.

The 1980s

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In the 1980s, there was a distinct shift away from gory, slasher-style films of violent spectacle, towards the psychologically thrilling and intensely atmospheric type, led by the director Norio Tsuruta. Tsuruta's 1991 and 1992 film seriesScary True Storiesbegan a categorical shift in these films, which are sometimes abbreviated to "J-horror".[12]

In contemporary Japanese horror films, a dominant feature ishaunted housesand the break-up ofnuclear families.[9]Additionally, monstrous mothers become a major theme, not just in films but in Japanese horror novels as well.[9][13]Kiyoshi Kurosawa's filmSweet Home(1989) provides the basis for the contemporary haunted house film and also served as an inspiration to theResident Evilgames. Japanese culture has seen increased focus on family life, where loyalty to superiors has been de-emphasized. From this, any act of dissolving a family was seen as horrifying, making it a topic of particular interest in Japanese horror media.[9]

Influence

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Hidetoshi Imura as Seijun fromTales from the Dead

Ring(1998) was influential in Western cinema and gained cult status in the West. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Hollywood horror had largely been dominated by theslashersub-genre, which relied on on-screen violence, shock tactics, and gore.Ring,whose release in Japan roughly coincided withThe Blair Witch Projectin the United States, helped to revitalise the genre by taking a more restrained approach to horror, leaving much of the terror to the audience's imagination.[14]The film initiated global interest in Japanese cinema in general and Japanese horror cinema in particular, a renaissance which led to the coining of the termJ-Horrorin the West. This "New Asian Horror"[15]resulted in further successful releases, such asJu-on: The GrudgeandDark Water.[16]In addition to Japanese productions, this boom also managed to bring attention to similar films made in other East Asian nations at the same time, such as South Korea (A Tale of Two Sisters) and Hong Kong (The Eye).

Since the early 2000s, several of the more popular Japanese horror films have been remade.Ring(1998) was one of the first to be remade in English asThe Ring,and laterThe Ring Two(although this sequel bears almost no similarity to the original Japanese sequel). Other notable examples includeThe Grudge(2004),Dark Water(2005), andOne Missed Call(2008).

With the exception ofThe Ring,most English-language remakes of Japanese horror films have received negative reviews (althoughThe Grudgereceived mixed reviews).[17][18][19]One Missed Callhas received the worst reception of all, having earned the Moldy Tomato Award atRotten Tomatoesfor garnering a 0% critical approval rating.The Ring 3Dwasgreen-litbyParamountin 2010,[20]and later the film was renamedRingsand released in early 2017.

Many of the original directors who created these Asian horror films have gone on to direct the English-language remakes.[citation needed]For example,Hideo Nakata,director ofRing,directed the remakeThe Ring Two;andTakashi Shimizu,director of the originalJu-on,directed the remakeThe Grudgeas well as its sequel,The Grudge 2.

Several other Asian countries have also remade Japanese horror films. For example,South Koreacreated their own version of the Japanese horror classicRing,titledThe Ring Virus.

In 2007,Los Angeles–based writer-directorJason Cuadradoreleased the filmTales from the Dead,a horror film in four parts that Cuadrado filmed in the United States with a cast of Japanese actors speaking their native language.

Other sub-genres

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Kaijumonster films

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Main article:Kaiju

The first influential Japanese horror films werekaijumonster films, most notably theGodzillaseries, which debuted the originalGodzillain 1954. In 1973,The Monster Timesmagazine conducted a poll to determine the most popularmovie monster.Godzillawas voted the most popular movie monster, beating theUniversal Studiosmenagerie ofCount Dracula,King Kong,Wolf Man,The Mummy,Creature From the Black Lagoon,andFrankenstein's monster.[21]

Godzilla, King of the Monsters!(1956), a re-edited Americanized version of the originalGodzillafor the North American market, notably inspiredSteven Spielbergwhen he was a youth. He describedGodzillaas "the most masterful of all the dinosaur movies" because "it made you believe it was really happening."[22]Godzillahas also been cited as an inspiration by filmmakersMartin ScorseseandTim Burton.[23]

Zombie fiction

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See also:Zombie

There are numerous Japanese works ofzombiefiction. One of the earliest Japanesezombie filmswith considerable gore and violence wasBattle Girl: The Living Dead in Tokyo Bay(1991) directed by Kazuo Komizu.[24]However,Battle Girlfailed to generate a significant national response at the Japanese box office.[25]It was not until the release of two 1996 Japanese zombie games,Capcom'sResident EvilandSega'sThe House of the Dead,whose success sparked an international craze for zombie media, that many filmmakers began to capitalize on zombie films.[26][24][25]In addition to featuringGeorge A. Romero's classic slow zombies,The House of the Deadalso introduced a new type of zombie: the fast-running zombie.[27]

According toKim Newmanin the bookNightmare Movies(2011), the "zombie revival began in the Far East" during the late 1990s, largely inspired by two Japanese zombie games released in 1996:Resident Evil,which started theResident Evilvideo game series,andSega's arcade shooterHouse of the Dead.The success of these two 1996 zombie games inspired a wave of Asian zombie films, such as thezombie comedyBio Zombie(1998) and action filmVersus(2000).[24]The zombie films released afterResident Evilwere influenced by zombie video games, which inspired them to dwell more on the action compared to older Romero films.[28]

The zombie revival which began in the Far East eventually went global following the worldwide success of the Japanese zombie gamesResident EvilandThe House of the Dead.[24]They sparked a revival of the zombie genre in popular culture, leading to a renewed global interest in zombie films during the early 2000s.[29]In addition to being adapted into theResident EvilandHouse of the Deadfilms from 2002 onwards, the original video games themselves also inspired zombie films such as28 Days Later(2002)[30]andShaun of the Dead(2004),[31]leading to the revival of zombie films during the 2000s.[29][30][32]In 2013, George Romero said it was the video gamesResident EvilandHouse of the Dead"more than anything else" that popularised his zombie concept in early 21st century popular culture.[33][34]The fast-running zombies introduced inThe House of the Deadgames also began appearing in zombie films during the 2000s, including theResident EvilandHouse of the Deadfilms,28 Days Later,and the 2004Dawn of the Deadremake.[27]

The low-budget Japanese zombie comedyOne Cut of the Dead(2017) became a sleeper hit in Japan, receiving general acclaim worldwide[35]and making Japanese box office history by earning over a thousand times its budget.[36]

Other media

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Anime and manga

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See also:Category:Horror anime and manga

Horror manga are a modern evolution of serialized stories produced as texts in wood block print form during the Edo period. These graphic novels usually deal in historical tropes of horror that are based on Buddhismrokudo(six realms) and the frightening notion of fluidity, that one can move between these realms unintentionally, like moving between heaven, earth and hell, and non-duality, that the realms are intermingled. Some popular Japanese horror films are based on thesemanga,includingTomie,Uzumaki,andYogen.Examples of horror anime includeDeath Note,Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost StoriesandBoogiepop Phantom.

Video games

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Further information:Survival horror

Examples of Japanese horror based video games includeResident Evil,Ghost House,Castlevania,Silent HillandFatal Frame.

See also

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References

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  1. ^Balmain, Colette (2008).Introduction to Japanese Horror Film.George Square, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.ISBN9780748624751.
  2. ^ab"A Brief History of Japanese Horror".rikumo journal.30 October 2017.Retrieved2019-11-09.
  3. ^abJohnson, Adam J. (2015).The Evolution ofYōkaiin Relationship to the Japanese Horror Genre(MA thesis). University of Massachusetts Amherst. pp. 1–116.
  4. ^Papp, Zilia (October 29, 2010).Traditional Monster Imagery in Manga, Anime, and Cinema.Brill. p. 38.ISBN9789004212602.RetrievedOctober 16,2019.
  5. ^abcdefgPetty, John E.Stage and Scream: The Influence of Traditional Japanese Theater, Culture, and Aesthetics on Japan's Cinema of the Fantastic(MS thesis). University of North Texas.RetrievedJanuary 11,2019.
  6. ^Papp, Zilia (October 29, 2010).Traditional Monster Imagery in Manga, Anime, and Cinema.Brill. p. 39.ISBN9789004212602.RetrievedOctober 16,2019.
  7. ^Papp, Zilia (October 29, 2010).Traditional Monster Imagery in Manga, Anime, and Cinema.Brill. p. 40.ISBN9789004212602.RetrievedOctober 16,2019.
  8. ^"Katsushika Hokusai: Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints of Ghosts".Thoughts on Papyrus.2019-10-11.Retrieved2022-07-28.
  9. ^abcdefghiBalmain, Colette (2008).Introduction to Japanese Horror Film.George Square, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.ISBN9780748624751.
  10. ^abcd"A Brief History of Japanese Horror".rikumo journal.30 October 2017.Retrieved2019-11-09.
  11. ^abcByrne, James (July 2014). "Wigs and Rings: Cross-Cultural Exchange in the South Korean and Japanese Horror Film".Journal of Japanese & Korean Cinema.6(2): 184–201.doi:10.1080/17564905.2014.961708.S2CID154836006.
  12. ^McRoy, Jay (2008).Nightmare Japan: Contemporary Japanese Horror Cinema.Rodopi.ISBN978-90-420-2331-4.
  13. ^Dumas, Raechel (2018). "Monstrous Motherhood and Evolutionary Horror in Contemporary Japanese Science Fiction".Science Fiction Studies.45:24–47.doi:10.5621/sciefictstud.45.1.0024.
  14. ^Martin, Daniel (2009), 'Japan’s Blair Witch: Restraint, Maturity, and Generic Canons in the British Critical Reception of Ring',Cinema Journal 48,Number 3, Spring: 35-51.
  15. ^Balmain, Colette (2008),Introduction to Japanese Horror film(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press).
  16. ^McRoy, Jay (2007),Nightmare Japan: Contemporary Japanese Cinema(Rodopi).
  17. ^"The Ring".Rotten Tomatoes.Retrieved2014-07-29.
  18. ^The GrudgeatMetacritic
  19. ^One Missed CallatMetacritic
  20. ^"Paramount to Make The Ring 3D"./Film. April 26, 2010.RetrievedSeptember 24,2013.
  21. ^Kogan, Rick (September 15, 1985)."'It Was A Long Time Coming, But Godzilla,This Is Your Life".Chicago Tribune.Retrieved22 May2020.
  22. ^Ryfle, Steve (1998).Japan's Favorite Mon-star: The Unauthorized Biography of "The Big G".ECW Press.pp. 15–7.ISBN9781550223484.
  23. ^Kalat, David (2017).A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series(2d ed.).McFarland & Company.p. 318.ISBN978-1-4766-3265-0.
  24. ^abcdNewman, Kim (2011).Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen Since the 1960s.A&C Black.p. 559.ISBN9781408805039.
  25. ^abMurphy, Kayleigh; Ryan, Mark (2016)."Undead yakuza: the Japanese zombie movie, cultural resonance, and generic conventions.".In Brodman, Barbara; Doan, James E. (eds.).The Supernatural Revamped: From Timeworn Legends to 21st Century Chic.Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.ISBN978-1-61147-864-8.
  26. ^Kay, Glenn (2008).Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide.Chicago Review Press.p. 184.ISBN9781569766835.
  27. ^abLevin, Josh (2007-12-19)."How did movie zombies get so fast?".Slate.Retrieved2013-11-05.
  28. ^Newman, Kim (2011).Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen Since the 1960s.A&C Black.p. 560.ISBN9781408805039.
  29. ^abBarber, Nicholas (21 October 2014)."Why are zombies still so popular?".BBC.Retrieved31 May2019.
  30. ^abHasan, Zaki (April 10, 2015)."INTERVIEW: Director Alex Garland on Ex Machina".Huffington Post.RetrievedJune 21,2018.
  31. ^"12 Killer Facts About Shaun of the Dead".Mental Floss.23 January 2016.Retrieved31 May2019.
  32. ^"How '28 Days Later' Changed the Horror Genre".The Hollywood Reporter.29 June 2018.Retrieved31 May2019.
  33. ^Weedon, Paul (17 July 2017)."George A. Romero (interview)".Paul Weedon.Archived fromthe originalon 20 December 2019.Retrieved2 June2019.
  34. ^Diver, Mike (17 July 2017)."Gaming's Greatest, Romero-Worthy Zombies".Vice.Retrieved2 June2019.
  35. ^"One Cut of the Dead (Kamera o tomeru na!) (2017)".Rotten Tomatoes.Retrieved2 March2019.
  36. ^Nguyen, Hanh (31 December 2018)."'One Cut of the Dead': A Bootleg of the Japanese Zombie Comedy Mysteriously Appeared on Amazon ".IndieWire.Retrieved2 March2019.

Further reading

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