Re: It all sucks
 

Wow...You've seen EVERY Japanese horror movie ever made???!!!....That's absolutely AMAZING...

I'm surprised you didn't like 3 Extremes...That was really good...The Eye was great, too...


Why on earth would you watch SO many Japanese movies, if you didn't like them?...I think I would have stopped after about the first 100 or so...


Oh well...I guess you were just trying to keep an open mind...Sorry it didn't work out for you...

Re: Re: It all sucks
 

lol, no i have not seen them all. i just didnt like the ones i saw

Re: Re: Re: It all sucks
 

Oh...Well...That makes a lot more sense than saying they ALL suck...

This is kinda like me deciding that all Italian horror flicks suck after watching Cemetary Man.

i cant comment on you personally -

but a lot of your posts sure are.

o well i guess i have a very different view of things.lots of my friends disagree to. but i do have people who agree.

milo was one of my favorites.. Ilike the last sign,halloween, NoES ,F13,jeepers creepers, the fog(the original), red riding hood(which i am like the only person who likes it i think), hell raiser , they , and alot of others.

see this person isn't too bad because they explain the reasons why

Let me start by saying I really enjoy J-horror, so the fact I'm biased in this case should be pretty obvious. I don't, however, see how American remakes of J-horror flicks can kill J-horror because people who are "true" fans of the genre are going to stick with it, meaning the foreign originals.

I think American audiences have a hard time with J-horror (and foreign horror in general) because we lack the cultural background to fully understand what is going on.

I loved The Ring when I saw it, but when I watched Ringu, I was smitten. I liked the Japanese version much better because it made sense. All of the paranormal, psychic stuff that was absent from the American version helped make Ringu cohesive. In fact, after watching Ringu I better understood The Ring, and I thought I had The Ring figured out. I do, however, understand why all of that stuff was absent from The Ring. American audiences and culture don't buy into paranormal phenomena like Asian cultures do, so the studio execs felt it needed to be toned down.

That being said, I do agree with Duncanature that American cinema has overdone the whole "J-horror ripoff" thing, just as it's overdone the remake/"reimagining" thing. It becomes laughable when the list of movies at the cineplex reads like a movie list from the 70's: Wicker Man, When a Stranger Calls, The Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Omen, The Fog, etc. It's even more laughable when you realize that the 70's originals are millions of times better (with the possible exception of THHE).

Of course even quality directors like Scorsese aren't above doing it. The Departed (his latest cinematic "masterpiece") is just the Americanized version of Infernal Affairs, which is one hell of a movie.

Sorry to have climbed on my soapbox, but this is something that really gets me hot under the collar.

I see what you mean, and I agree that American horror should stand on its own two feet.

(First of all no offense to anyone here thats american etc, I dont mean any..)

Americans think that they can take an asian horror, and make it much better by adding some special effects and CGI...we all know americans like things to be bigger and more fantastical.

Asian horror generally doesnt have amazing effects, but they dont need effects because they work on scaring the viewer psychologically, rather than with other the top effects. It often works a lot on what you dont see, and that is in actual fact a lot scarier most of the time.

These days asian horror is getting a lot wealthier, but I still never expect them to have the amount of effects hollywood studios use, because they dont NEED or WANT them in their movies to scare people, and to produce high quality horror.

Instead they use original (although often based on folk-law and ghost legends) and wonderfully creative stories to sell there movies instead. Coupled with characters you can actually sympathise with, backed up with actors who arent just in it for the money.

American movie companies are trying to cash in on these films by re-making them, simply because they cant create any original movies of their own.

They also realise that many of the movie go-ers would never of seen the original before, because lets face it they are usually ignorant to other cultures, or at least dont have the patience to experience anything other than what they are used to. In this case, with horror movies, another teen slasher flick, with lots of sex and gore.

I for one wish they would try and diversify without having to re-make movies which I am very fond of.

You mean Kairo, Pulse is the name of the bad american re-make. It hardly had any CGI really. Like in the american one they had to show the guy like being pulled into the wall as though it was evil, but they totally missed the point.

In the J version they just disapear to a black space, because its all about being alone, as though even some living are just ghosts fading into the background. It was a big metaphor thing, supposed to make us think...but americans had to make out as though there was some evil force trying to kill the living...

:D Good man!

All very good points. I also agree with the whole special effects thing. Totally not scary. the greatest american scary movies didnt have that many holly wood effects(outside of NoES). But you can't say that J-Horror is original if most of them are about ghosts. Now im not a true fan as you say. I have probubly not seen half of the films you have. But the ones i saw didnt apeal to me(they sucked, no offence they just wernt all i hoped they would be).

Pffft! If by slow you mean brain-numbing, pronderous tedium then I don't think it works at all.

Also, the CGI is very obvious and poor.

For once, I'm looking forward to a zippier, flashy American remake.

i can feel the love :D

Thats fair enough, but in that case you're just waiting for an american horror movie not a japanese horror movie. They've made it into a film where the dead are seemingly evil and all after the living, jumping out of washing machines and such.

The guy who fades into the black is taken against his will by something evil, when this wasnt the point of the original. In the original the people realise they are lonely, and no better than the dead, scared of their fate but willing to except that even in death they will be alone. Then they fade away to nothing. A big metaphor for all those people sitting alone at their pc's who arent better than the dead...alone with not much reason to live.

The american remake has made it as though everyones going to get taken away by an evil force and by monsterous ghosts running about etc. Thats fine if thats the sort of thing you want to see, but its actually quite far from what the original was trying to do. I agree it would be zippier etc, with a lot more obvious frights and jumps, but thats just classic hollywood horror.

I like american horrors for what they are, I also like japanese horrors for what they are. The mixing of the two never seems to work, and only lessens the two types of horror...In my opinion they shouldnt mix just to line movie companies pockets with money.

has every one forgotten all of the huge american horror movies? exorcist? halloween? ringing any bells?

Exorcist in my opinion is over-rated, but still a good movie and a must watch before you die. Halloween is great because Michael Myers is such a legendary horror icon (hell I dressed up as him on halloween with my deluxe mask :D).

The point is american horror movies are usually slashers, and monsters. Asian horrors, especially J-Horror is usually based around ghost stories and freaky stuff like that (not a strict rule of thumb or anything for both nations horror productions, but generally speaking).

but its the slasher films that americans have come to know and love, all of the legendary american horrors excluding the excorcist and hell raiser are slasher films.

the point to my rambling is that american horror can indeed stand on its own two feet. it just needs to stick with the original slasher type films.

No they're not,There are tons of legendary american movies that are'nt slashers or the excorcist or hellraiser.

Yeah it can. Thats why it annoys me when they just make re-makes of existing asian horror, and even just bad remakes of original american horrors just because the new american youth (and england too (I went out in my deluxe Michael Myers mask, and girls in their teens and 20's were asking who I was...............Ridiculous but true)) are too ignorant and lazy to see the originals (or even know of them), so they re-make it with good looking men and women who play 17 year olds.

They should stick to what they know, but try and be original at the same time, not just rip-off other movies, or churn out re-makes...

Yeah, I mean I watched the original Halloween the other day, and I have to admit it was very slow by todays standards and therefore almost boring. But I still remember how good it was the first time I watched it, and it will always be a classic.

I couldnt have said it better myself

When one considers Italian giallo films, I'm not sure how original the American slashers were. Personally, I'll take Bava and Argento films over most of the American slashers.

there is really only a few core movies america made that became legend. there are many good films but only a few great.

i think the italian slashers owe a lot to the american ones.
the italians (technically) did it first but never had the critical acclaim and exposure that the americans had ('halloween' blew 'bay of blood' out of the water for the impact it had worldwide)


There several italian ripoffs of Halloween, and The Exorcist, and Escape from New York.

It wasnt until years after seeing the inferior rip offs of american films that i began to realize that a lot of other films origionated in Italy ... notuntil i began to delve into the genre a lot deeper.

the casual viewer has no idea the italian films exist.
I'm willing to bet the more people in italy know Halloween than they do Bay of Blood. Everyone wants the american product.

i'm not saying this is the ideal situation - but it's reality

In addition to doing it first, I'd argue that the Italians (and Canadians - Black Christmas) did it better. I don't judge the value of a film solely on the basis of box office returns. Halloween was certainly more popular but wouldn't have been possible without Black Christmas, Twitch of the Death Nerve, and some others.

I agree completely that the American films have done a great service by getting people interested in the genre, leading them to experience foreign films. It certainly worked that way for me.

Remakes do tend to piss me off, however, I suppose I could try to view all the American remakes of Asian horror as flattery rather than just exploitation.

so really what you are saying is that american films are good only as warm up films so you can be lead on to bigger and better foreign films. If so i would have to disagree entirely. Black Christmas was one of my all time favorites, so you cant call me bias, but Halloween was better in every way shape and form in my perspective.

A guy called Alfred Hitchcock did it first in a little movie called Psycho...and he was English ;)

The movie is defined as technically the first slasher movie and influenced the modern slasher films such as Halloween.

Maybe Psycho can be considered the first slasher film. I'm not sure I would agree with that. Regardless, I have read that Psycho was influenced by Les Diabolique (1954) and Dead of Night (1945).

I was watching one of those all time top horror and thriller film thingies on the TV. Many well known horror directors listed it, and went on to say how it spawned the slasher genre and influenced their films. Wes Craven and John Carpenter were two of those guys.

But yeah I expect even Psycho had influences, and those influences had influences too :)

im sure most early films were influenced by true stories that were just tweaked a little bit.

slasher movies are a no brainer really - as far as the core influences/inspirations come from.

what scares people ... the thought of someone killing you.

what scares you in a film : the technique used to present this to you.

technique is the only real measurable when it comes to who influence who.

so i would say yes - hitchcock perfected the technique of suspense in a horror film,

the others that followed each put their own little tweak on it ..

Bay of Blood = brutality
Halloween = the killer who couldnt be killed
Black Christmas = the killer inside your house..

etc etc ..

the ones that stand out and became popular are the ones who had their own unique angle.

(more atmospheric music, better performances, more inventive kills)

Yeah. God bless that the genre was created thats all I can say :)

in my perspective slashers are the best type of horror out there.