[Foxbat]

I’m not too clued up on Oriental Horror – I don’t think I’ve seen any apart from Japanese horror movies so I’ll just have to talk about them instead. I suppose coming from the West, my biggest question is ‘what’s the difference between Oriental and Occidental horror?’

The easiest answer that springs to mind is ‘Hollywood’. But what does that mean? Well, comparing the original Japanese Ring to the Hollywood remake looks like a good starting point. Personally, I found a much greater emphasis on character and their intertwining relationships in the Japanese version, whilst the American version seemed to lean more toward cinematic drama. The overall effect of this difference in emphasis was that I cared much more what happened to the characters in the Japanese version. The actual horror itself (I think) becomes more horrific the more you care about the character’s fate and the actual effects used to create the scene of horror become less important. The American version (I felt) had some fine cinematic moments (horse prancing on car.. etc) but lacked that edge of empathy of the viewer for the character.

On the other hand, you could argue that these points are nothing to do with East and West and more to do with directorial style….and you may just be right. It’s just so difficult to tell. Ultimately, the jury is still out over why I prefer one over the other.

I think another reason why I enjoy Japanese Horror (and Japanese movies in general) is because it is such a different culture to my own – it has it’s own ghost stories and folk tales on which many of its movies are based. This taste of a different view upon the world is as good a reason as any to watch one of these films. Of course, there will be as many Eastern Turkeys as there are in the West when it comes to bad movies but you never know until you try.

Here’s a couple worth looking at Illusion Of Blood (based on a classic Japanese ghost story)
Portrait Of Hell -a film that looks at our uncanny ability to create our own little hells on Earth. Doesn’t sound that different from us in the West, does it?

Maybe the words of Robbie Burns are true ……We’re aw’ Jock Thomson’s Bairns