I’ve spoken at great length about my love for horror films on this blog but, considering my adoration for Japanese media, I partially surprised myself recently when I realised that I hadn’t spoken about Japanese Horror, also known as J-Horror, films. There are several reasons for this but I thought now is a good time to discuss what they are, a bit of their history and, ultimately, what I think about them.
As with the production of media in any country, J-Horror draws a lot of its influences from within their own culture and history. Yokai, given their prevalence in Japanese mythology as well as their variety, play quite an important role while the use of nuclear weaponry during World War II has also played a factor in the development of body horror and kaiju films. While J-Horror has a long history within Japanese cinema, the Western world only began to take note of this genre around the 1990s with the release of such films as Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Ring and Audition.
Now before I start discussing my own thoughts and experiences when it comes to J-Horror, I have a little confession to make. Despite how much I love the horror genre, ghost films are probably one of my least favourite subgenres. Don’t get me wrong, I do like quite a few of them but, compared to so many other subgenres, they have to work extra hard to get my attention. I’ve always found this fascinating because so many other people that I’ve encountered in life seem to find these films to be the most terrifying of experiences. I’ve theorised that my lack of belief in ghosts tempers my experience with these movies in contrast to others who might be a little more superstitious.
Having confessed that, I now wish to return to J-Horror by saying that I haven’t seen anywhere near as many as I should. The reason is that, like many other people, I typically associate J-Horror films with ghost films such as Ring or Ju-On. Of course, it isn’t the case that all J-Horror involves ghosts but the prevalence of it has caused me to look elsewhere such as the New French Extremity where I find the aversion to supernatural elements along with the greater focus on realism to be quite appealing.
However, this viewpoint is ultimately reductive and, by simply digging a little deeper, I’ve found a variety of J-Horror films that I’m quite intrigued by that fit into many subgenres of horror other than ghost stories. Of course, it’s going to take me some time to see these movies but the mere fact that they exist help to show a variety in J-Horror that I was previously ignorant of and I hope to be more knowledgeable about J-Horror as a whole in the future.
Let me know what you think about my thoughts on J-Horror films, whether you had/have the same idea that J-Horror was basically ghost stories, some of the best and worst J-Horror you have seen and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!