Japanese Horror and It's Impact on American Filmography.

Japanese horror, or sometimes referred to as J-horror, is Japanese contributions to horror fiction in popular culture and is widely noted for their unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre in light of western treatments. Japanese horror tends to focus on psychological horror and tension building (anticipation), particularly involving ghosts and poltergeists, while many contain themes of folk religion such as: possession, exorcism, shamanism, precognition, and y?kai (demons).

The success of the 1998 film Ring brought the image of the y?rei to Western popular culture for the first time, although the image has existed in Japan for centuries. Y?rei are Japanese ghosts, ones who have been bound to the physical world through strong emotions which do not allow them to pass on. Depending on the emotion that binds them, they manifest as a particular type of ghost. Most common to Japanese horror is the onry?, a y?rei bound by a desire for vengeance.

Like many creatures of folklore, like vampires or werewolves, y?rei have a traditional appearance and follow a certain set of rules.

They are generally female, although male y?rei do exist. They wear white clothing, which is the color of funeral garb in Japan. They have long, often unkempt black hair, which comes from Kabuki theater where each character has a particular type of wig that identifies them to the audience.

Typically, those not of Japanese culture are familiar with spooky movies such as The Grudge, The Ring, Shutter, Dark Water, and the list goes on. Another thing many people don't know is that these are all American remakes of culture-shocking J-horror movies. You might not be familiar with titles such as Ju-On, Honogurai Mizu No Soku Kara, Kairo, or Chakushin Ari.

Who could blame American society? In the 70s and 80s, we rolled out absolute classics such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, and Friday the 13th (our beloved slasher flicks), so generally, directors feel the need to step it up. One scarier movie after the other, kill after kill, spray after spray. But we're growing bored; we're tired of the masked maniac with the machete chasing the half-naked girl through the woods (-yawn-). We want something new; we want something different and scary. And that's what we got. In 2002, America released The Ring, a scary-as-hell movie about a cursed video tape, bringing death after seven days to anyone who watched it; this spawned a sequel, and The Ring 3 is due out in 2011. Based on Ring from Japan, the original went unnoticed by America. The Ring opened up new opportunities for more remakes, like The Grudge. Generally speaking, it was a great movie. It did well in theaters and it had a very willing audience, but so much had been changed and removed from the initial plotline, and people began to notice the Japanese classic. People declared that the Americanized version of Ju-On "destroyed the classic substance to the original". It is also rumoured that an American remake of the Japanese manga and movie phenomenon Tomie might possibly in the works.

Let me give an example: The Grudge. Generally speaking, it's a good movie. It did well in theatres and it had a willing audience. It did have some good and similar moments, but what it did to Americanize the movie destroyed the classic substance to the original Ju-On. Ju-On, even though it was a little slow at times, was amazing. It didn't tell just one story about one person fighting one force; it showed multiple stories about how the hate and anger carried on through each person's death, then tortured the people affected. It explained everything, and the only reason you wouldn't understand it is if you didn't pay attention.

At this point in our society, it's obvious that Japanese horror movies are always better than their American kin. As a Gorezone Magazine journalist put it "clearly, we live in a new society where shitty Hollywood film directors wouldn't know a good Asian horror flick if it crawled out from their asses and charged up their credit cards. I'm looking at you, Sam Raimi." But that isn't quite what I'm saying. In a way, it is a bit ridiculous how America sees these movies as Cash-Cows, but they've only begun to scratch the surface of Asian horror. We have yet to touch any other countries. Creatively speaking, remaking Japanese movies for the English culture is an intelligent idea; we wanted something different. These movies are entertaining, so why stop? In all actuality, we won't, and that's not a bad thing.

But my recommendation to you? Get a Netflix account and check out the untouched J-horror movies, like Odishon (often called Audition), Jisatsu saakuru (aka Suicide Club or Suicide Circle), Naked Blood, or even the original Ju-On. Experience the Asian terror yourself, and keep checking out the remakes.