Japanese - scratch that - Asian horror has really come into its own of late. And by 'of late' I mean it is much more available to us in the US, not that is is only just happening. Ringu and Ju on (the Ring and the Grudge) are only the most visible examples. Wild, horrifying cautionary (and admittedly sometimes preachy) tales like the Pang Brother's Recycle and the terrifying Aka Pon (Phone) are just ridiculous eye candy, spectacular acting and editing and basics that are so culturally different from our model of horror that I just want to jump and shout. I cannot finish this without mentioning The Ghost, one of the best films to come out of Korea...ever! Really if you have not seen this, rent it, buy it, borrow it. Trust me. Back to the cultural divide: Here is one example of this difference in our ethnic thinking; in American/Western films and stories, there is almost always a location that is bad. A haunted house or hotel, a spooky train filled with murderous crazies, or a school, cemetery, asylum, pick one...that is scarily populated and the point is to GET AWAY...
A pattern I see in many Asian films is so much more frightening: once a character has been exposed to the evil, he or she is toast. There is no real escape; just lots of false hope and eventual, inevitable doom. And it can spread by intimate or casual contact. The individual may actually be the bringer of doom (a la Exorcist but in a much more frightening way), kind of like a Typhoid Mary scenario. Zombies come to mind but even that does not quite capture it. Its almost like a disease (here comes the nurse in me), an insidious killer that sneaks up on an innocent and causes grief and death.
That is horrifying, probably more so to my Western brain because of the paradigm I am used to. We are brought up on hope, the American Dream, work hard and accomplish your goals, kick the bad-guys asses and skip along home. Right? Wrong. That is changing, morphing into a more common global model of hopeless horror right before our eyes. This recession (and I don't give a sh*$! who calls it what) is affecting all of us. We Westerners that thought despair was the property of Third World Countries and those ruled by despots. Now we are gaining real empathy. We are experiencing loss and hunger and homelessness - not on a comparable scale with many countries - but in a way that used to be quite distant. Those American expectations are becoming less and less accepted possibilities and more and more the fodder of our nightmares: out of reach and yet, very close to home. Many foreign writers and filmmakers have already tapped expertly into this.
These masterpieces have been flitting by on my Netflix and FreeZone sites and they amaze me with the level of creativity and free reign. Free reign of the mind is a rare commodity in American Film. Indies have been a lifeline of sorts, offering up great stories that might never have been told-filmed-read-viewed and reviewed (in every sense of that word). In a world where so much is changing, stories have become even more precious and life-line is hardly a metaphor anymore.
So as not to leave my readers gasping in despair, the hope for me IS that very creativity. It exists, it is real, it is accessible. And if our neighbors all over the world can tap into it, so can we. My challenge for us all is to let your own creativity happen. Don't shove it away or make it wait for a more convenient time. Invite it in and pour it a drink. And ask it to stay awhile.
Love ~ Rey
