No one more personified 21st century J-horror than Takashi Shimizu, who wrote and directed the Ju-on movies. Even when not making Ju-on features, he almost never directed outside the horror genre which Ju-on had helped revive and re-define. Marebito is one of the rare exceptions.* In many ways it looks like a Shinya Tsukamoto movie, … Continue reading Marebito (2004)
vampire
Moon Child (2003)
The moon child of the title is Kei, who is no child but is instead a vampire in the Dracula sense – he drinks blood, is eternal, and can only be destroyed by sunlight. First seen in Tokyo at the start of the millennium, he reappears throughout a sci-fi future life that concludes in the … Continue reading Moon Child (2003)
House / Hausu (1977)
The first time I saw Hausu, I thought it was the weirdest movie I had ever seen. I immediately made my wife watch it with me. She agreed, with both of us deciding it was a movie whose look was based on TV ads. The movie has attained such cult status that I had not … Continue reading House / Hausu (1977)
Woman Vampire / Vampire Woman / Onna kyuketsuki (1959)
Most of the Japanese ghost and horror movies I have come across thus far have featured very Japanese conceptions of ghosts and monsters. Vampire Woman, however, is a Euro/American horror feature in almost all its details, combining almost all the standard strains of the horror movie. It is a compendium of Universal horror, so to … Continue reading Woman Vampire / Vampire Woman / Onna kyuketsuki (1959)
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