Asian Horror films.

[505thAirborne]

For all the Manga, Anime, Scifi and fantasy that I enjoy, this past Halloween while passing out candy for the kids, nothing at all on TV, I watched a movie on the IFC channel called VOICE, I've been pretty much hooked since on this genre of film. so far I have watched all of the Whispering Corridors series, Arang, Tale of two sisters and many others. As much as these are live action, they feel very Anime/manga in their in own way sometimes.

Since we discuss on this forum everything from Fantasy, Battlestar, Star trek, Star wars and best and worst movies, all non Macross. Just wondered if any one else watches these types of films, if so which ones, all time favorite to the bottom of the barrel.

Edited January 8, 2011 by 505thAirborne

[Chowser]

Does Versus count? I think that's the only asian horror (campy horror) film I have seen.

[atomicscissors]

You want to cringe? Watch "The Audition".

[sketchley]

Some of the scariest "asian horror" I watched was while in Korea - just enough to get the gist of the scenes, but not enough to truly understand. Let me tell you, leaving the dialogue up to the imagination is the ultimate in scary!

Anyhow, recommend:

Korean version of the "Ring" ("The Ring Versus")

"The Doll Master"

"Tell Me Something"

[myk]

You want to cringe? Watch "The Audition".

Cringe in a John Carpenter-frightened kind of a way, or a cringe as in I can't believe I'm watching Dead or Alive the movie kind of cringe?

Edited January 8, 2011 by myk

[mikeszekely]

I like 'em, mainly because I think they tell a better ghost story than a lot of American flicks where everyone lives happily ever after. And despite the zombie craze being more popular, I still think a vengeful ghost is scarier.

Some of my favorites would be Ring, Juon (the V-Cinema original), The Eye, Memento Mori, Noroi: The Curse, Whispering Corridors, and One Missed Call (Chakushin Ari). I thought a Tale of Two Sisters is well-done (and tragic), but a tad on the boring side. Dark Water was good, but the ending is a little WTF (and not as good as Koji Suzuki's original short story). I didn't care for Tomie, but Tomie seems to be a love it or hate it kind of movie for a lot of people. And maybe I'm missing the point, but I hated Kairo (Pulse), even though it's often held up as some kind of shining example of J-horror.

[505thAirborne]

I agree with mikeszekely, I truly think its why I've been enjoying these movies. Much more a ghost story or just plain creepy, a little violence and language yet overall a story of Friendship gone wrong, family, betrayal or the unknown. Over the years here stateside so-called horror movies are just 2 tons of blood and guts and gross out effects and stories that are pretty damn lame.

I enjoy a movie that offers either a scary vibe or psychological effect at the end, not nausea like a Rob Zombie movie.

LONER is an interesting film, but I'd like to watch it again to catch the details I missed, ARANG is well done, Red Shoes is a creepy too.

Many more titles to watch!

[atomicscissors]

Cringe in a John Carpenter-frightened kind of a way, or a cringe as in I can't believe I'm watching Dead or Alive the movie kind of cringe?

Worse than a John Carpenter kind-of-way.

As in, "Wait. What's she going to do with that needle? No. No way. No...AAAAAAGGGHHHH!!! Oh my, God! I can't believe she just did that!!!"

[Gubaba]

Worse than a John Carpenter kind-of-way.

As in, "Wait. What's she going to do with that needle? No. No way. No...AAAAAAGGGHHHH!!! Oh my, God! I can't believe she just did that!!!"

"Kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri...itai deshou?"

I also think mikeszekely's list is a good one...and Sketchley makes a good point about half-understood dialogue.

I remember watching the original V-Cinema version of Juon (which was my first Juon experience), no subs, with my girlfriend on a bright, sunny Saturday afternoon. It freaked us out so much that we had to pause the movie halfway through and go hang out in the front yard for about twenty minutes before we could watch the rest.

Later, I watched the movie with subs and it wasn't as scary...although that may have also been due to simply seeing it a second time.

The only real problem for me with the J-horror is that all the really good movies (like Juon, or the Ring, or Chakushin Ari) get driven into the ground with poor sequels...but that's true of American horror movies, too, I guess.

[mikeszekely]

The only real problem for me with the J-horror is that all the really good movies (like Juon, or the Ring, or Chakushin Ari) get driven into the ground with poor sequels...but that's true of American horror movies, too, I guess.

This. I never saw the third Chakushin Ari movie, but the second one was a muddled mess. I think I might be a minority in that I actually liked Ring 2, but Rasen and Ring 0 were pretty bad. As for Juon, the second V-Cinema one was a waste (especially since the first half is last half of the first one). The first theatrical version had a few memorable scenes, but it turned out to be more of the same if you'd seen the V-Cinema versions. The second one was a little more creative, but the franchise was pretty well worn out by then. And The Eye 2 might have been so terrible that the only thing I remember about it was that Shu Qi was in it.

You know what's worse than bad sequels, though? American remakes. While The Ring was actually pretty good, Dark Water, The Ring 2, The Grudge (and sequels), Pulse, and One Missed Call range from laughably bad to appallingly terrible.

[Zentrandude]

I seen Grotesque that freaked me out when I saw it til the end then I said the big ole "WTF".

[anime52k8]

You know what's worse than bad sequels, though? American remakes. While The Ring was actually pretty good, Dark Water, The Ring 2, The Grudge (and sequels), Pulse, and One Missed Call range from laughably bad to appallingly terrible.

while none of these are particularly good (no, Ring was good either) I don't actually like any of the Japanese originals either. Maybe it's a cultural thing or maybe it's just personal taste but I don't find ghost movies scary (I don't find things like The Exorcist or Paranormal Activity to be at all scary, but at least they hold my interest more than something like the ring or the grudge).

Really the only segment of the Asian horror genre that actually appeals to me are the splatter films like The Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police.

Edited January 9, 2011 by anime52k8

[eugimon]

I always find I like the idea behind the japanese horror films to be far scarier and creepier than the actual implementation.

And yeah, a big deal of it is cultural. The types of stories that get told in ghost horror movies are the sort that asians tell each other all the time. When I lived in Korea, my cousins, students, friends, all took great pleasure in telling me all sorts of ghost stories that were variations on the sort of story that the grduge and others are, all years before those movies came out. So half the fun is seeing it translated on to the big screen.

Edited January 9, 2011 by eugimon

[badboy00z]

IMO Asian horror movies are a lot scarier than American ones.

[505thAirborne]

Just watched one called Cello today, glad I didn't watch it at night!