Week 3: J-Horror: Asian Supernatural Narratives

Week 3: J-Horror: Asian Supernatural Narratives

As October approaches, the theme this week was J-Horror. And if you don’t know anything about J-Horror boy are you missing out. I was SO excited to know my class went over something that is so underrated for how TERRIFYING it is. I still sleep with nightlights after watching The Grudge coming down the stairs or Shutter making me paranoid when I get neck pains. Japanese Scary Stories always had elements that just make it petrifying and it goes above and beyond Western Horror that has felt repetitive and uninteresting these past few years. 

I had to dig through my closet for the mass collection of J-Horror movies and novels rotting away, so let’s begin:

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami, A interesting novel that seems to explore the elements of being alone and being a complete anti-social person and the readers not even knowing the main characters name. I wouldn’t say this is as much of a horror than a mystery and detective novel. I guess being alone, giving up on humanity and being self-centered could be considered unnerving to others. I find the creepiest part about this novel is the feeling of emptiness. Rather than keeping me up at night, it provided more of an eerie feeling that is lingering. I would say that isolation is not a common theme in western horror, but seems to be more common in Japanese horror. The culture is different, and while isolation might not appeal to the mass of the loud and social west, it is scary to our quiet and reserved counterparts.

Another exceptionally well Japanese novel would be Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn. I watched the original movie back when I was younger containing only 4 out of the 14 stories that are written in this novel. With the imagery still stuck in my mind of the The Woman of the Snow.  An unforgettable scene, I was happy that this was also on the list. Lots of different supernatural beings from this book! Including Oni, Tengu and even Kitsune! This is a good novel for true Japanese folklore and some mythology mixed in. I would even compare this to any vampire or frankenstein creature we have in the west during this time. It has more similarities too, just like western novels they also have stories like “A Passional Karma” that follows the gothic formula. This isn’t necessarily a type of book that might be scary, since it explores more traditional Japanese customs. But definitely the main inspiration for a lot of modern J-Horror.

Moving on from the novels, I think the most important aspect of J-Horror or even Asian Horror is it’s films! These are a treasured part of my childhood, rather than everyone’s fear of zombies or the boogieman, mine was being afraid of woman with long black hair and white dresses.

To this day, I’m still rewatching The Eye, or even the Tomie series. These are seriously scary films, and one of a kind. I also noticed Asian Horror does a lot more body horror than everyone else, which adds more to the creepiness. Like the Slit Mouth Woman or how hair can be used to attack. The most recent in J-Horror, is the Sadako (the grudge) vs Kayako (the ring). A comeback to J-Horror. This recently came out in 2016, and basically two of the most famous supernatural beings “fight”. Sort of like a few years back when we had  Freddy vs Jason Voorhees here in the west.  

Taking in all the aspects of both western and eastern films and novels, elements stay the same like a female protagonist, or a big house with a ghost in it. Or certain “building up” elements, also even some movies are a bunch of short stories themselves! You don’t see this much with American movies. Contrasting this, is the antagonists are almost always female and seeking revenge rather than the usual antagonist male in the west. Usually, you feel bad for these antagonists, because of someone else they are revengeful and are killing relentlessly. They also have some form of moral behind them, If you kill someone they will come back to kill you, or if you do this certain thing you will be cursed. Don’t walk the streets at night, don’t fall asleep on the bus. Don’t let your kids be alone. Usually, they start with the protagonist hearing about it, and knowingly testing said curse. If you’re a fan of Hack and Slash films, this just isn’t for you. Rather than predator or a murderer,  or even a creature. You get a invincible ghost, that “attaches” itself to you. Asian Horror hasn’t lost it’s touch yet, and it still continues to frighten me to this day!