Firstly, check out J's great blog on the up-coming PSP. Personally, I can't wait for this to hit the shelves! I feel a little bad for Nintendo, though they have a pretty loyal fan base that will probably keep them a float when Sony breaks through this market with their powerhouse trump card, the PSP. I'm hardly anti-Nintendo (I am anti-Xbox), I love the Gamecube and even the Gameboy Advance, but from what I've seen of Nintendo's new DS system, I'm not that impressed. I probably won't buy one...
As many people know, I'm on a never ending quest for Japanese movies. Not cartoons. Those are easy to find, but cinema movies. J and I have a past time of renting the few we can find here in town and making an evening of watching them. I stumbled upon a data base of many Japanese films, and I'm working at tracking down a few of them. I may have to wait until the spring, when I go visit my sister and pay my yearly visit to Chinatown in Seattle to buy them though.
People are always shaking their head at my obession with Japan and Japanese culture. Many assume I just enjoy the cartoons and comic books, but they're wrong. It might have started out that way, but after watching several films by Akira Kurosawa, I was hooked on cinema movies made in Japan. Not only that, I have a strong appriciation for the language and a culture that is so very different from mine. I'm a firm believer in learning about our "foreign" neighbors makes the world a better place to live. Too bad people would rather fight than try to understand one another.
Anyway...back to movies...
Many of the movies J and I watch are Japanese horror films. I can firmly say that the Japanese know how to do horror the right way, while their American counterparts flounder miserably, too stuck up in their blood and gore Hollywood cliches to understand what scary truely is. Harsh, eh? Well, it's true. Name an American horror film in the past three years that has left you with a nagging sense of dread for over a week or two? I can't think of any, and I'm a big fan of scary movies.
The Ring, you say? Sorry, that movie was orginally Japanese...I highly suggest watching the orginal over it's silly American counterpart (what the hell was up with the horses, anyway?). The Grudge? Nope, sorry again. Go watch Ju-On, the basis of Sarah Michelle Gellar's new film. I have yet to see the orginal, and I did like the American movie, though it wasn't nearly as scary as The Ring. One might note that the Japanese director directed the American film as well. He's of the same mind set as I am. America doesn't know how to do scary.
Oh there's been a few exceptions. One of the scariest movies I've see was Pet Semetary (the first one, not that hack job second one). Stephen King is a master of horror. Too bad American director's rarely get it when making his books into movies. Poltergiest and Exorcist were alright, but not really that frightening. Blair Witch creeped me out...
Texas Chainsaw Massacre...don't get me started...Freddy? Jason? Chucky? Hellraiser...Give me a break...
Why do people have to get chopped up, sawed in half, chased, boiled in oil, etc., for things to be scary? American directors need to learn that the human imagination can be a far more terrifying place WITHOUT seeing things with our own two eyes...
The "what if" factor is what scares people for days, weeks, maybe months. The fear of the unknown, the taboo frighten people. Pet Semetary scared the hell out of me because we don't know what happens after death, and as humans we have no right to know. Dead is dead for a reason. The Ring scared me for weeks. We don't know if curses exist or not. You're a believer or your not, but being a non-believer won't grant you immunity if you happen to be wrong. Same as the goes for the Grudge. What happens when people die such horribly violent deaths? Can they remain behind, trapped by their own pain? Do they wish their hurt on others and what happens if they do?
How do you fight things that don't have bodies? How do you handle the intangible? You can't pick up a gun and shoot these things. You can't hide from them. No church protects you, since you aren't dealing with devils or demons. You're completely helpless. That's what makes movies like these so terrifying.
I'm looking forward to the movie "White Noise". It show's promise. A movie about messing with the afterlife has immense possiblities, and that line in the trailer scared the bejeesus out of me. You can bet if someone recorded a ghost's voice in my home stating "Get out of my house", I'd be the first to grab my keys and leave for good. I hope they do this one right. With all the money tied up in Hollywood productions, you'd think American directors could put out better horror movies.
Then again, at the risk of sounding like an elitist, perhaps American directors will make better horror films when the American public stops needing things spelled out in crayon for them...Many of the films I listed above get poor reviews from American horror fanatics. They complain about "there was no plot", "things were over exaggerated", "they didn't explain such and such"... *sigh* Thanks to our American standards of television and media, many of us are so used to being pampered and babied while watching movies, having everything tied up in a nice, neat little bow with all inconsistancies cleared up, we can no longer utilize our God given imagination. Sometimes, folks, not everything has a definite meaning...sometimes, leaving things hanging requires our brains to work and devise our own twisted little thoughts...that's part of what makes movies like "The Ring" and co. scary...They require us to do some thinking on our own...
Perhaps, America isn't ready for that kind of feat...