J-Horror Isn’t Total Madness…Just A Bit Repetitive?

It’s not that Japanese horror, or J-Horror is bad. Hollywood likes it because it’s easy. We like it because it seems different. Sometimes the scares don’t translate well for us who have been spoon fed the likes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Halloween for years.

For some, ghosts, whether they be Asian ones or the ones from say, Sixth Sense, are just boring. I love a good ghost story,but like many, I was disappointed after seeing The Grudge, because I hated the gimmicky blue cat boy. Afterwards, I was thankful the creators of other films included him, and other blue apparitions so that I knew to instinctively stay away.

The main beef with J-Horror now seems to be that it all looks the same. The leading trademark of J-Horror is the focus on the psychological scare, as opposed to gore. Most of the films are remakes, and center around ghostly hauntings and poltergeists. However, what’s interesting is that it offers the type of scare that comes out when you least expect it, and later you realize it was there all along, lurking.

I liked The Ring because it was different. It somehow managed to merge teenage deaths, a cursed videotape, mad horses, and a creepy couple who adopt a young girl into one interesting title. Sadly, this is one of my few favorite J-horror films. I’ll never forget that this was the second time in my life I was truly afraid of the static on my television. (The first time is from Poltergeist, of course).

I tend to think there’s something good in J-Horror. Unfortunately it can’t be named, but you know it when you see it. What I find remarkable is that these films are giving us cause to take a second look at horror. Horror does not have to be all blood, or stabbings.

There are scarier things than gore, and though some might say it’s seeing bad Asian horror remakes, others may say that what’s worse is expecting the same old scare. Should horror directors just concentrate on telling a story and scaring us without a gimmick per se?

Images Via Amazon.com