It seems to me that there's a huge difference between Japanese horror and American horror. For one, I find Japanese movies to have far more creative approaches to violence. Still, I'm not sure quite what makes them so distinct. What do you think? (and by horror I'm speaking very, very loosely and including guro, and would even be interested in your ideas on the American versions of extreme S&M or snuff films and how they differ)
Movies tend to be much more horrific sometimes, like those traps from "Saw" for example.
Guro is sexually appealing, not horror. Although, some immature pricks might save some pictures to try to scare their lil' friends on MSN. Others will just save it as art.
For horror and psychological terror, movies totally beats down guro.
There's a lot of things that Japan considers taboo and extreme that America doesn't. At the very least we have different levels of extreme.
Also, I find a lot of horror/thriller American movies sexually appealing. Certain characters/scenes etc. So I don't think its limited to guro. I think for either to be sexually appealing to anyone is only limited to us on gurochan XP
I don't think movies are more horrific than say some artwork or literature we've seen,
it's just the fact that movies are visual recreations of things, and can also appear to look very real. Realism invokes more reaction, I think.
Also, American horror films appear to have more of a budget than Japanese ones, but also I think it's just a bit of a thing for j-horror to have that b movie quality. If you think about some of the shit they have - Ever see machine girl? The concepts are really messed up but they just don't look too crazy because the makeup/effects are so fake it ends up looking cheesy. Like in machine girl there's a scene where a mother finds her sons head floating in a soup broth, she throws up after being stabbed in the skull, and throws up her tongue and intestines etc. It looked so horribly fake, and it impossible, but if it looked real, I'm sure it would of gotten a sick reaction.
I do think Japanese movies are more creative (i.e above) but I think that's because the Japanese minds that are behind them are people who come from a country where most people are raised the same, and conservative/traditional etc. I would also think that j-horror seems to go for the cult/fan following/artistic expression rather than the money, whereas a lot of American movies seem to be sell outs. Which is also why I like a lot of indie and b movies in America too, or movies specific to the directors/writers.
That's my take on it anyways :P
p.s violet can we trade contact info since you're going to otakon? My aim is yakuza punk and my email is suushi@gmail.com
<3
One of the biggest differences I've noticed is that Americans focus on 'special effects' to scare you, and Japanese focus on experimental photography.
IMO Asian horror tends to have more intricate plots than American. Certainly there are exceptions, but as a general rule it seems to be the case.
>>2
I do like your point about American movies having more of a focus on psychological terror. But I think guro, although it is sexual, definitely also has elements of horror in it.
>>3
Machine girl is the one where she gets a tempura-arm, right? The budget point is definitely valid, but I feel kind of like things are intentionally stylized sometimes. You know, no matter how realistic you make a tempura-arm look the idea is still basically very goofy. Guro and J-horror seem a lot lighter in tone to me than American horror flicks (which ties back to the other commenters point about them being better at psychological horror).
There's a huge element of humor - and it's dark humor, I guess, but somehow it's not as gritty as Western forms of dark humor?
And the lightness of tone definitely applies to guro as well. I laugh while reading Uziga Waita and Shintaro Kago, for example, and not just because I have a warped sense of humor.
(and I just AIMed you Ero, but my email is featherheadfop@gmail.com)
>>4
Do you know one thing I can't support from hollywood?
It's actually those action movies, THEY'RE ALL THE SAME THING!
:O
I don't like horror movies.
Well it depends what you call horror, i guess.
I like japanese gore movies like ichi the killer or naked blood.
If you're going to call machine girl horror you could probably say the same for those movies.
Also what would you call Visitor Q? It's definately not scary but it sure is fucked up.
Incest, rape, drugs, necrophilia, pedophilia, lactating, leather pants.
I dunno, english version of 'The Ring' sucks. Japanese version is SO much better.
Anime and manga are inherently abstract forms of art. American-style horror movies tend to be far less abstract, aiming for a more realistic depiction of things, even if those things happen to be unrealistic in and of themselves. For example, although werewolves might not actually exist, an American horror movie involving werewolves would probably be more prone to showing it devouring a still-living victim in horrifically realistic detail, whereas an anime or manga depicting the same thing will always depict the same thing in a much more abstract way. Even if the anime/manga tries to depict it in a more realistic manner, the fact that the medium is inherently far more abstract than regular film makes it impossible to render the scene in the way an American horror movie would. They're fundamentally different media, and there are people (myself included) who much prefer the abstract style of anime and manga over the American movie style when it comes to gore and horror.
>>8
Your argument is SO convincing.
>>9
I like your argument, but I think the "abstract" approach to horror and gore which you credit to anime and manga applies to Japanese movies as well, even though they also regular film.
Ero has a point. What makes them distinct is probably due to different cultures, levels of censorship, and average view on the subject.
American or European-made horror movies are pretty much like 100% guaranteed bursts of laughter to me because they look either redundant (old stereotypes or predictable scenes) or unrealistic.
Im not sure about american movies, though.
Hollywood makes more than billions an year. I guess that's enough to say what is better and/or worst.
Although, japanese movies tend to be a little funny. The few good ones are always about martial arts. if you don't count with anime, the rest is crap. Specially the horror movies, new and old ones.
Americans make the best action films, Japan makes the best Horror , Korea makes the best love tear jerkers, China makes great Kungfu films and India makes films that has 100 people appearing from nowhere to do a song item.
>>13
Fucking racist idiot. No country is any better than any other. Different producers might be better, but most recently have been less than less than shit. Redundancy entirely intentional.
relax.. its true in my perspective especially when we got bollywood movies on tv every sunday afternoon after the kids cartoons are over.. and some of them are really good
