Comparing J-horror movie with Hollywood it

Hello! I will try to compare J-horror movie with Hollywood remade it.

 I have talked about Japanese horror and J-horror movie for five weeks, and I have done about some characteristics of J-horror last week. So, I will try to do. Compared movies are “Ring” and “The Ring”. The reason I chose them are two. One is that “Ring” is the early movie in J-horror boom. The other is that it is the top in my poll. So, I easily compare and talk plainly because we are well-known movies. I directly watched them. I especially paid attention to their stories and expression based on characteristics of J-horror.

First, I will introduce the compared movies simply.

“Ring” (1998)

This movie made in Japan. This runs 95 minutes. The director is Hideo Nakata. This is not the original film. This is based on a novel, “Ring” written by Koji Suzuki.

Story

Main character, Reiko Asakura is a director of a TV station. She knew a strange death of her niece. She looked over the truth of death. Then, she found out an urban legend that a strange video tape kill a person watched it after one week. She got and watched it. She looked for a way she avoided her death with Ryuji Takayama who is her cooperator and her former husband. On the way, her son watched its video, too. They try to find the cause early. At last, they found out the cause why watched person because of a video tape. It is that a curse of Sadako Yamamura. They searched out her dead body from the inside of a well under a hotel. Just then they thought her curse lost, but Ryuji Takayama is killed by Sadako. Reiko Asakura noticed why she helped, the reason is that she showed its copy video other person. Because she protected Reiko Asakura’s son, she made her parents watch its copy viedo.

 “The Ring” (2002)

 

This movie made in Hollywood. This runs 116 minutes. The director is Gore Verbinski. This cost is low, but this got a great box-office record. This movie’s popularity leaded a boom that remake J-horror movie in Hollywood.

 

Next, I will try to compare. “Ring” and “The Ring” have some points of similarity and different. I pay attention to each point: story, character and expression.

1. Story

Stories aren’t big difference. Hollywood “Ring” is based on story of Japanese “Ring”. But

Hollywood it adds an arrangement. There are not explanations of the Sadako’s past in Japanese it but there are explanations in Hollywood. Hollywood “Ring” adds a little comedy.

 

2. Character
Their appeared characters aren’t difference much. But profiles of characters are a bit of difference. For example, the past of Sadako is not clear in “Ring”, but it is clear in Hollywood. Even more, Ryuji has supernatural power but he doesn’t it in Hollywood.

 

3. Expression

I found some differences.
・Sadako
Japan: Her face can’t be seen. Her left eye can only be seen. She slowly moves.
Hollywood: Her face is clear. She can do teleportation.

・Water

Japan: Well water is used in Opening and other scene.
Hollywood: It isn’t used.

・an image of the video tape

Japan: This image is eerie. There are mirror, woman, man, Miharayama Mountain and water.
Hollywood: This image is grotesque. There are muddy water, a chair, a burning tree, fingers, eyeballs, moon, and a woman.

video tape of Japan "Ring"

 

video tape of Hollywood "  Ring"

 

I compared their movies and I know a difference of Japanese and American expression.
“Ring” doesn’t only remake in Hollywood but also South Korea. I would like to compare three movies including a movie remade in South Korea. Even more, there are other remade J-horror movies in Hollywood: “Juon”, “Tyakushin ari”, “Honogurai mizu no soko kara” and “Zyoyu rei”. I would like to watch them, too. When I compared Japanese movie with other country’s it, I may find many difference of expression. So, I think this way is good if you begin being interested in J-horror movie.
 
Next week, I would like to talk about how to take horror movie. See you!

Remakes of J- horror

Hello! Today I will talk about remade works of Japanese horror movie.

 

First of all, I would like to introduce about remakes easily. Japanese horror movie is remade all over the world. So, I will show famous remade movies in Japan or the world.

In Japan, The well-known stories by Kabuki and Rakugo are likely to be remade.  Especially, “Yostuya Kaidan” has the most popular works. It has been remade over twelve times in prewar period and just ten times in the postwar period. Other famous ghost stories have been remade many times, too.

“Bansyu Sara Yashiki”

“Nabeshima Neko”
“Botan Toro”
“Kasane-ga-huchi”

In Hollywood, a lot of movies of various countries have been remade. J-horror movies had been done, too. Most works are remade by director of foreign people, but some works such as “The Ring” and “The Grudge” are done by same director with original movie.

“The Ring” (2002, Director: Gore Verbinski)

“The Ring 2” (2005, Director: Hideo Nakata)
“The Grudge” (2004, Director: Takashi Shimizu)
“The Grudge 2” (2006, Director: Takashi Shimizu)
“Dark Water” (2005, Director: Walter Salles)
“One Missed Call” (2008, Director: Eric Valette)
“The Joyurei” (2009, Director: Fruit Chan)

 

Horror movies have more chances to be remade than other genre’s movies.

In Japan, many famous ghost movies have been remade about ten times: “Yotsuya Kaidan”, “Sara yashiki”, “Kasane-ga-buchi” and “Nabeshima Neko”. In Hollywood, many horror movies of the world over including Japan have been done, too. Why do horror movies have many chances to be remade? It seems that three reasons.

 

1. Small cost

A horror movie can be made at small cost. For example, some famous SF movies of Hollywood cost about a hundred million dollars over: such as “Super-Man”, “Spider-Man”, “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “King Kong”. But some horror movie cost about several hundred thousand dollars. “Paranormal Activity” (2009) costs about a fifteen thousand dollars, but it gets so big income about two hundred million!


 

2. Stable number of audience
 

 

A remade work has its original works. If it is so popular, it will have many fans. There may be some hard-core fan of it. If one horror movie I love is remade, I will watch it definitely. After all, more poplar horror movie can get more stable audience and movie’s producers can expect rough income. So, producers can make it without losing their nerve.

 

In the case of Hollywood remade works, there would be other reason. This is that it is easy to understand foreign movies for American.

When a movie shows in foreign language other than English, that movie is given subtitles in English.  But most audience don’t like subtitles much in America. So, foreign movies can’t become a big hit. Moreover, it will be hard for them to understand that foreign movie if peculiar customs or morals are put without explanation in that movie. Then, American thinks that try to make foreign movies to the movie like Hollywood by themselves. Because horror movies can be made at fewer small cost than other genre’s movie, remaking is easy to try.

 

Do you come to know about Japanese horror movie? I would like to compare Japanese and Hollywood horror movies next week. See you!

The quality of J-horror

Hello! Today, I would like to talk about the quality of J-horror.

J-horror has been referred to cursorily in the first post. In the world of original Japanese horror movie, it has a tradition of making horror movie by ghost story. It is a revenge story in general. Most them have a clearly story or happy end. But it is the latest genre of Japanese horror movie appeared from the latter half of the 1980s, and it takes a unique position in the other Japanese horror movie. In America, some J-horror movies were remade, and they had become famous and popular. I think “J-horror” has an appeal to make people want to watch. I would like to understand about the quality of J-horror and look for the appeal today.

 

What do you think of imagine if I say “the most strong point of J-horror”? Perhaps you will imagine a woman who has long hair, unclear face and wears a white one-piece dress.

Some J-horror movies had been remade since the 2000s, and they are popular with in the world. It is said that the reason is that they have a style of their own. Most of J-horror movies have some strong points.

 

1. Silent

J-horror movies don’t many scenes which characters scream. The scene which makes us feel fear is taken long silence. Because of this silence, they can surprise us by to put sudden sound effects: such as the sound of closing doors, falling water drops and footsteps.

 

 

2. Water

There are many of scene used water: such as a water well

(Ring) and bathroom (Juon).

 

 

 

3. Using familiar goods

Characters of horror story often use some things of daily necessity: such as a cellphone (Tyakushin Ari), a video (Ring), a mirror (Ring), a toilet (juon), a car (Juon). This gives us something in fear that the frightening thing like that movie may happen ourselves.

 

 

4. Woman

The most popular character of “Ring” is Sadako who is a ghost. She has long hair which it hides her face and wears a white dress which makes us imagine clothing for her last journey. This appearance is established from the Edo period. In especially, Oiwa-san who is a famous character of “Yotsuya Kaidan” is similar appearance to her, too.

 

5. Imagination

There are not tragic scenes much in J-horror movies. If there are some scenes that a train runs over and killing oneself own by throwing oneself, they don’t be expressed directly much. Because of this, this makes us evoke frightening images.

6. Small place

Most stories of J-horror movie happen in a small town or a general house. Their works don’t develop into big place like all over Japan or world.

7. Fear of person

All people might be able to change a worst person by a chance. A character looks an ordinary person such as you could find anywhere: he or she doesn’t believe in a religion, have special hobby or lifestyle. He or she is ordinal person as a neighbor.

But J-horror movies express that anyone could have a possibility that the person becomes strong and terrible ghost by having heavy grudge just before the person died.

 

I think those points are influence from Japanese cultural climate. In Japan, animism and polytheism has been believed since the Jomon period. That customs might make present J-horror’s style.

 

Next post, I will introduce remakes of Japanese horror movie. See you!

 

Famous directors

Hello! Today, I talk about leading directors of Japanese horror movie.

What directors of Japanese horror movie do you think of? You can think of some horror movies such as “Ring”, “Juon”. Those movies leaded to J-horror boom. But who makes the movie? I think that it is better to know it to enjoy watching horror movies more. So, I would like to introduce about people made those movies. What is more, I would like to do some older directors, too.

 

 

Nobuo Nakagawa (1905 ­- 1984)

 

He has been called a very skillful director of horror movie. But he made other various movies and many TV dramas, too. His famous works are “Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan” (1959) and “Jigoku” (1960). He made many TV dramas and wrote some novels. He had kept trying how to make an audience enjoy watching movies, so his works has many interesting ideas. In 2005, he was introduced in a special edition of Venice International Film Festival, and his international appreciation is getting higher.

 

 

 

Ishiro Honda (1911 - 1993)

 

He is a famous director as making popular monster films with Eiji Tsuburaya. His famous works are “Godzilla” (1954), “Mosura” (1961), “Kaizyu Daisenso” (1965). He made “Matango” (1963), too. I will put in You Tube URL of Matango.   http://youtu.be/FCo7cAN2TEA

He was a leader of monster movie boom as special effects movie director, and his name became famous in the world.

 

Kiyoshi Kurosawa (1955- )

 

 　He is a movie director and a movie theorist. His famous works are “Sweet home” (1989), “Kairo: pulse” (2000), “Sakebi” (2007). He gets many foreign movie prizes. He is very good at describing feeling of characters, and it brings us fear. He was called “Godfather of J-horror” from a trailer of “Pulse” which remade in Hollywood because he was chief editor of “Juon” (2003) with Hiroshi Takahashi. Because of this success, he took office as professor of Graduate School of Film and New Media TOKYO GEIJUTSU DAIGAKU (Tokyo University of the Arts).

 

 

 

Hideo Nakata (1961- )

He is a famous movie director who made “Ring (1998)”. His other works are “zyoyu rei” and “Honogurai mizu no soko kara” (2002). “Ring” and “Honogurai mizu no soko kara” are remade as “The Ring” and “Dark Water” in America. In Hollywood, he took “The Ring2” (2005) which is next story of “The Ring”. He took TV series “Honto ni atta kowai hanasi”, too. It talks horror stories by omnibus style. He made many horror movies and works, but he says that “I wouldn’t like to take horror works really.”  

 

Takashi Shimizu (1972- )

He is one of the greatest J-horror movie directors. The most famous work is “Juon” in his works. This origin is not movie; it was a film released direct-to-video. This got so popular as it is difficult for this video to be rented. Because of the reason, “Juon” was made in 2003 to show at theaters. In the end, “THE GRUDGE which is remade by himself was showed as Hollywood movie in 2003. Thus work had come the top in USA box office. His other famous works are “Tomie re-birth” (2001), “Senritsu Meikyu 3D –THE SHOCK LABRINTH” (2009), and “Rabbit Horror 3D” (2011).

 

There are more horror movie directors I can’t introduce. Most horror movie directors don’t only made it such as other genres like comedy. You may enjoy movies from knowing directors. I will talk about the quality of J-horror in next post. See you!

The History in 1900s-2000

 

Hello! A happy new year! What vacation did you have? I ate sushi and crabs on New Year’s Eve, and I paid a visit to a shrine with my family on New Year’s Day. I had a good time.

 

Today, I will talk about the history of Japanese horror movie. I had talked that J-horror appeared in the last twenty years, and it is one in the fields of Japanese horror movie. Then, when did the first Japanese horror movie appear?

 

In Japan, many tales of horror are passed down by books; “Nihon Ryouiki” written in the late 8th and early 9th century and “Konjaku Monogatarisyu” written in 12th century. In 18th and 19th century, they did by Kabuki, Rakugo, and ukiyo-es. So, many people became known those tales in Edo. Then, in the end of 19th century, the movies were introduced in Japan from United States of America and France. A present style of movie which people watch screen projected a film was made for Lumiere brothers who are from France and invented cinematograph in 1859. Early films are made to play publicly from 1899 in Japan; they are to take dancing of geisya.

 

                                                   "Bansyu-sarayashiki" Hokusai katsushika

Early movie’s style is very short and silent. In the 1900s and the 1920s, in Japan, almost gothic movies were based on famous ghost tales: like “Yotsuya-Kaidan”, “Botan-Tourou”, “Bansyu-sarayashiki”, and other tales. Those stories are really known by Kabuki and Rakugo. They remade many times. Especially, “Yotsuya-kaidan” was remade 10 times from 1910 to 1926 (“Nihon-Eiga-Sakuhin-Taikan”, 1960-61).

At the same time, trick movies which Matsunosuke Ogami acted were popular among children. He was popularly known as “medama-no-mattyan”, and had about a thousand films. His movies used early trick photography: when smoke rises, Matsunosuke having gotten on a big road appears.

"Jiraiya"(1914)

 

In the middle of the1920s and early the 1940’s, talking film began to appear, and silent movies finished making formation completely. Then, movie’s styles had talkie and silent both. At the time, main theme of ghost movie is to film ghost tails like “Yotsuya-Kaidan”, also. But, specially, many movies had main theme which is the monstrous apparitions by animals were made: like cats, raccoon dogs, and foxes. It is said that those animals mislead a person. “Tanuki-Goden” (1939, Shinkyo-Kinema) became a big hit film. This was first movie which is amply introduced singing and dancing. This remade 10 times over by 2004.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　"Tavuki-Gozen" (1939)

 

After losing WW2 on August in 1945, in Japan companies really made many films; so that attendance for the year is 11 hundred over millions in 1958. At the time, coloring and wide-screen were introduced. Movies of Classic ghost tales made, too. Shin-Toho-Eiga Company made mystery movies which had premodern horror story; like a mysterious person, a monster, a ghost. Toho Company made many special effects movies. Eiji Tsuburaya is one in most famous directors who uses special effects. He took “Godzilla”, and .it became popular movie. What is more, Toho Company made mystery movie like “transformed man series”. Those movies’ subject got the ideas from SF novels in the United State.

 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　"Toukaido-yotsuya-kaidan"(1959）

In 1953, television broadcasting began in Japan. So, audience numbers for cinema house decreased rapidly; in 1970, they are 250 million. In the 1960s and the 1970s, popular films took as serials because Film Company had audiences to come cinema house. In the second half the 1960s, “Gegege-no-Kitaro” and “Akumakun” began to broadcast. Those caused a ghost and goblin boom. Taiei Company made “The Big Spook War” (1968) and “The 100 ghost stories” (1968) as monster movie. Movies of classic horror tales with those monster movies, but those didn’t get much popularity.

In the USA, “The Exorcist” (1973) was took; and it became a big hit all over the world include Japan; and it gave influence to Japanese directors. So, many occult movies were tried making in Japan at those times.
                                                    "Firsr gas person" (1960)

After 1980s, most classic horror tales’ movies didn’t be made. At those times, video rental spread and films to watch by video were made. In the USA, “Friday the 13th” (1980) and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984) were made; those called “splatter movies”. On the other hand, Japanese horror movies called “J-horror”; it has weird silent and mysterious something has people to feel fear. “The ring” (1998), “”Dark Water” (2001), “The Juon” (2004) and “One Missed Call” (2004) are especially famous J-horror’s movies. Those movies were used CG technology; and have strongly reality.  Those remade in Hollywood, and had a big hit in USA, also

                                                       "The Ring" (2002)

 

I knew that Japanese horror movie does not only J-horror that various styles.

Next week, I will talk about famous directors of Japanese horror movies. See you!