31 Days of Asian Horror: Pulse (2001) vs Pulse (2006)

It’s the last paring of the month, and today we are focusing on the 2001 Japanese techno-horror and its 2006 US remake of the same name. The original is directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a well-known director in the genre and known for a slew of horror films such as Cure (1997) and Creepy (2016). The remake was scripted by Wes Craven and directed by Jim Sonzero. The two movies sort of stay in the same storyline, but a bit of is changed, the major difference is that the original movie follows two storylines that eventually merge together. The original follows Michi (Kumiko Aso), a florist who finds her coworker dead, and Ryosuke (Haruhiko Kato), a student who finds his computer showing weird images and the two eventually unveil a slew of suicides that result from a ghost taking over the internet. The remake focuses mostly on Mattie (Kristen Bell) who finds her boyfriend dead and starts to investigate what happened.

Pulse has a relatively weird plot and premise, and it’ll inherently be a hard sell to translate to Western audiences, especially when you tie in the advancement of technology in Japan compared to the US at the time of both movies, but the remake does an okay job at recreating the atmosphere of the original all things considered and does try to lean into the techno-horror, whether they accomplish it or not. The original is a slow-burn mystery, heavy on the investigation, but has some creepy elements that help aid the mystery, more poetic and gothic than outright creepiness. The remake tries to focus more on concrete things, such as a more definitive definition of the ghosts and heightened thrills. A lot of the movie heavily plays into the use of internet technology specifically in the early 2000’s. Using suicide as the form of death isn’t just because it’s needed, it ties into what the internet was mostly used for when it first came out. There’s an overall feeling of “joining in the loneliness” which was present at that time in message boards and chatrooms. A lot of people were using the internet to connect with other people because they were feeling lonely in their daily lives and trying to create some sort of community with the people they were talking to online because they weren’t feeling that connection in real life. The original movie conveys this sentiment much more and focuses the plot to be driven by loneliness and the desperate need for some sort of community. Even the videos of those who passed convey that loneliness, the ghosts were alone in life and trying not to be alone in death as well by taking everyone with them.

I do think that the remake falls flat for most of the movie, however. Mostly because the slow build does not translate to what the remake is trying to do. It falls into the trap of trying to heighten and over exaggerate things more, focusing more on the horror that is presented, and not allowing the horror to be created from the tension and atmosphere. While the original focuses more on the mystique of what the ghost is, the US remake defines it a bit more and just loses the creativity of the original. I think a lot of that downfall is because the target audience was a lot younger, trying to pull in the audience from the teen horror craze, and ultimately dumbs down a lot of the story because of it, leaving behind a lot of the plot that is driven by loneliness which I found was the most unique and interesting part of the story and made the general plot make so much more sene. If you are trying to decide between the two, the original is worth finding and presents an overall creepier story that has great builds and a deeper storyline.

Pulse is currently available for rental on most services and on DVD, with the original available on Tubi.

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31 Days of Asian Horror: Gonjiam Haunted Asylum (2018)

Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital was one of the most haunted places in South Korea, so it’s no wonder that a movie would be made based on the hospital. Starring a cast including Wi Ha Joon who has currently gotten notoriety playing the role of Jun Ho in Squid Game, the 2018 found footage film is directed by Jung Bum Shik. The film became a commercial success after its release, becoming the third most watched horror film in South Korea after A Tale of Two Sisters and Phone, and was released in the US a month after it's local release. (source) The movie follows a group of paranormal researchers filming for a livestream series, Horror Times, as they tour the hospital and end up discovering that there was some reality to all the local lore surrounding it.

The biggest thing that the movie does well is the setup of the tone and ramps up to some pretty scary and unsettling parts at the end of the film, forcing a journey of not necessarily wondering if something is going to happen, but when. We get a good variety of characters, and it adds to the enjoyment of the film. I find that a lot of found footage films can have some problems with keeping me invested in the group, normally because they try to put the most insufferable humans together, leaving me not caring about anyone and didn’t find that problem with this. Ha Joon’s character is an added bonus, as he stays behind in the camp watching everything unfold through the cameras with additional cameras that are set up around the tent to allow the viewer to see his reactions. There’s not much to read from his character from the very beginning, and it sets up a slight mystery on his role in the greater story. I also enjoyed the way they set up the camera work, the crew inside the hospital were strapped into cameras a la MTV’s Fear, and it was fun seeing the reactions from the various cameras that have various qualities, adding to not only the atmosphere but the erraticness of not being able to see everything that is going on.

While the ending kind of feels rushed, I wasn’t bothered by it. The general excitement of the build up to it was interesting and made for a fun watch. The movie does a fairly good job at setting up a pretty standard and predictable plotline from the very beginning, allowing the movie to be viewed much more for the fun of it rather than constantly focusing on every little thing and solving the puzzle. And sometimes, you just need a fun movie that you don’t have to think about.

Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum is currently streaming on Shudder and Tubi.

31 Days of Asian Horror: Betaal (2020)

Today’s drama is the short Netflix series, Betaal. Produced by American film studio Blumhouse with India’s Red Cillies Entertainment, the 2020 series was written and directed by Patrick Graham. A military unit is dispatched to settle a dispute between a remote village and a construction company regarding a closed tunnel. Despite warnings from locals, the tunnel is opened unleashing evil spirits.

What makes Betaal unique is how it uses spiritualism and folklore with the intrusion of modern day society. For years the locals have been able to live peacefully with their rituals helping contain the curse in the mountain and it isn’t until a commercial contractors greed unleashes the evil. This also plays into the spirits themselves as they are much closer in appearance and to that of modern zombies. The difference between the two sides makes for a really interesting first episode, and I was really excited to see how it was going to play out throughout the series. However, this doesn’t carry over for most of the series. All the locals are gone by the time the tunnel opens, and we don’t come back to them.

Even with the intrigue of the new take Betaal falls flat. The plot is kind of messy, it’s largely boring with storylines that go on and feel like needless filler and the reveal of the truth behind the zombies just doesn’t live up to what it could have been. I also felt that there was some weirdness in direction, as there are times when the group would be serious and the acting fine, with other times almost purposeful campiness and weird line delivery. The series is relatively short, which helps a bit, but on the whole feels like it would have been better as a movie, especially it focused more on the butting of heads of modern vs tradition and less exposition. That being said, I do think it’s worth giving a shot. With the episodes being about 45 minutes apiece, it’s a fine way to spend an afternoon and an interesting new look at the zombie genre.

Betaal is streaming on Netflix.

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31 Days of Asian Horror: Hex (1980)

The Shaw Brothers’ take on the French film Les Diaboliques, Hex starts off as a fairly unsuspecting melodrama. A wealthy wife, Chan Sau Ying, has fallen ill and her abusive alcoholic husband Chun Yu is constantly making it worse, driving all their servants out until a new girl comes in, a daughter of a former servant who helped the wife’s family (Yi Wah). The husband brutally assaults Yi Wah which sets off a disastrous chain of events. The movie does a fairly good job at setting up the mystery and generally keeps it up through the reveals, but I felt that it hit a slump in the middle. That being said it was a decent watch and would recommend it to those who like supernatural plots that are more drama driven and depend less on gores and jump scares.

Hex is available for rent and on DVD.

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31 Days of Asian Horror: 20+ Asian Horror on Tubi

I’m back today with another list, this one exclusively focusing on the streaming platform Tubi. Tubi’s offerings are free with ads making it the best low cost option to find some good horror offerings, some can only be found there. Tubi has literal thousands of movies to choose from, and adds hundreds more every month. It can be intimidating to go through the list of movies to find Asian horror, hopefully this list will give you a good start to fill out your Halloween watchlists.

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Hansel & Gretel (2017 - South Korea)

Directed by Yim Pil Sung (Doomsday Book), Hansel and Gretel follows Eun Soo (Chun Jung Myung) after he crashes his car and is rescued by a child in the forest and taken back to her house where he meets the rest of her family. A great retelling of a classic story that keeps you guessing about what is really going on.

Battle Royale (2000 - Japan)

Battle Royale is an ultimate classic movie and if you haven’t already watched it now is your chance. A group of high school students are taken to a remote island where a mysterious person makes them kill each other in a gruesome battle. It is the single best death-survival horror classic, and inspired works such as Squid Games.

The Mimic (2017 - South Korea)

Based on the myth of the Jangsan Tiger who can mimic voices to lure unsuspecting people, the movie follows a family who is grieving after the loss of a child and finds a mysterious girl in the woods of their new house.

13: Game of Death (2006 - Thailand)

I have a full review on the movie, but I wanted to focus it again on this list because I really feel that people should be watching this one. A man, down on his luck, receives a mysterious phone call that enters him into a game where the antics raise as the money pool grows. The movie incorporates humor, suspense and the ultimate horror well.

The Wailing (2016 - South Korea)

After investigating a series of mysterious deaths associated with a strange illness, a police officer (played by Kwak Do Won) goes to investigate what is plaguing the village while trying to save his daughter. The Wailing is a must see Korean horror film.

Tag (2015 - Japan)

A classic Japanese horror, mostly for its famous bus scene, this action horror film follow Mitsuko (Reina Triendl) as she struggles with the death of her classmates, leaving her the sole survivor and to figure out what is going on.

Gonjiam: The Haunted Asylum (2018 - South Korea)

Were you part of the many that watched Squid Games and need to watch more of the cop Jun Ho, played by Wi Ha Jun? Look no further than this found footage film. A documentary crew goes to a famously haunted and abandoned asylum to live stream what they find.

Audition (1999 - Japan)

A quintessential Takashi Miike film that follows a widower who sets up a fake audition to find his new wife that leads to a disastrous outcome when he becomes interested in one.

Rigor Mortis (2013 - Hong Kong)

A tribute to the Mr Vampire franchise, Rigor Mortis follows down on his luck actor Chin Siu Ho who moves into an apartment building following a divorce and finds that the building is inhabited by much more than humans.

Dark Water (2002 - Japan)

A divorced mother moves into a rundown apartment and notices stange things happening, including the appearance of a mysterious water leak. Dark Water is a classic jhorror with slow builds and supernatural tones. One of my personal favorites.

The Uninvited (2003 - South Korea)

TW: While suicide is a reoccurring plot device in almost all Asian horror, this movie focuses on it heavily. Jeong Won (Park Shin Yang) is haunted by two young girls who he saw on the subway and later found to have been murdered and enlists the help of Jeong Yeon (Jun Ji Hyun), the only other person who can see them.

Ring Series (1998/1999/2000 - Japan)

While the series has several more adaptions and sequels, the main four movies are currently on Tubi and a great time to do a marathon. The story follows a cursed tape, and the effects it has on those who encounter and watch it.

Ringu, Ringu 2, Ringu 0 (Birthday), Ringu Spiral

Divine Fury (2019 - South Korea)

Yong Hoo (Park Seo Joon) is a martial arts champion who develops divine powers befriends a priest to fight against evil forces in Korea. MMA + exorcisms.

Bloodthirsty Trilogy (1970/1971/1974 - Japan)

The Bloodthirsty Trilogy is a trio of films directed by Michio Yamamoto and produced by Japanese film company, Toho Studios. None of the film series shares the same plot however, they do follow more classic and British gothic horror tones than the normal jhorror. If you are looking for an older offering, this is a great series that I’ll be focusing more on later this month.

Lake of Dracula, Evil of Dracula, The Vampire Doll

Bedeviled (2010 - South Korea)

More thriller than horror, the film follows Hye Won (Ji Sung Won) who visits her grandfather's house and is reunited with her childhood friend, Bok Nam (Seo Young Hee), and eventually finds out secrets of the island.

The Maid (2020 -Thailand)

Ending the list on a fairly recent movie, The Maid was just released for streaming here a couple of months ago and follows what happens to a maid after she enters the new house of a wealthy family with secrets.

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31 Days of Asian Horror: The Pool (2018)

It’s Creature Feature Friday and today’s pick had been sitting in my Shudder list for a bit too long. Written and directed by Ping Lumpraploeng, The Pool follows Day (Ken Theeradeth Wongpuapan), who was working on a film set using a pool. He stays after to clean up the set and becomes stranded in the empty pool with a crocodile and his injured girlfriend, Kay (Grace Ratnomnot Ratchiratham).

I really wanted to love this movie, I really did. It just was executed so poorly that it made it an exhausting watch. This movie is when every bad thing that you could ever think of comes perfectly together to target one singular person. And for a creature feature, that would normally work. The problem lies in that the film takes itself too seriously and tries too hard to be a solid thriller and wanting the audience to not think about how absurd everything that is going on is that it completely misses the mark. It wanted to capitalize on the realness of the event that the absurdity of this perfect storm was completely unrealistic. All that being said, I did like how the crocodile was portrayed. The goal of the movie was to ultimately focus on the pool being the big bad, and not the creature. It takes a while for you to realize that, and it is a good twist that the movie did well working that element well. The crocodile was as just a victim as Day and Kay were, and thus the actions of the crocodile were much less over the top and real.

Spoiler:

Another major misstep in the movie was the death of his dog. It was unnecessarily gruesome and placed at the end solely for a reaction to an audience. At this point it does fit with every absurd thing that could go wrong did, but it was an obvious ploy for reaction that was not warranted and did absolutely nothing for the plot, nor help with the horror. It was a ridiculous writing decision.

The Pool is streaming on Shudder and AsianCrush.

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Wine and an X-Phile #01006: Shadows

“Do you know how difficult it is to fake your own death? Only one man has pulled it off. Elvis.”

Air Date: October 22, 1993
Directed by: Michael Katleman
Written by: Glen Morgan & James Wong

Filed Under: Monster of the Week

Synopsis:

After several deaths seem to be tied to the same person, Mulder and Scully head to Philadelphia to investigate.

Review:

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there’s really much wrong with this episode, sans it being a bit boring or predictable, but there’s something about it I don’t really like and couldn’t connect with the episode truly as much as I thought. I think maybe one of the reasons the episode doesn’t jive with me is that there are a lot of unnecessary unanswered questions, especially for an episode that isn’t supposed to be tied with any overarching plot. Why did we have to see the trio from the mysterious agency? They seemed to only be there because of the way that the duo was killed because it was so unusual and not necessarily because they were terrorists and potentially tied to the greater plot with the frim and their arms deals. It kind of felt weird and misplaced, and I guess one could say they were just there to throw you off of the ending, but there really was no need.

I do think it’s interesting we never truly get a sense of Howard Graves as a person. He’s pretty morally grey, even in ghost form, and only really looked out for Lauren - and in that, it seemed only because she was the age his late daughter would have been. He was pretty adamant about killing off anyone who got near her, whether good or bad or how it affect her innocence, and it made him pretty unpredictable which helped with the creepy factor. I think the added tie in that the firm had been doing things that were grounded in reality instead of helping some random experiment or abnormal substance was a good touch. I personally connect and am creeped out more by real-life horrors and terrible people who are that way without the help of paranormal things, and tieing the two together made that enjoyable.

The episode has some creepier moments, specifically the first scene of the episode when we see the two muggers getting killed in the beginning. It had a good slasher film quality to it and I think set up the episode nicely. The inconsistent anger of Graves, even when he was trying to tell Lauren how he died, made him unpredictable and kept up the mystique of who he was and kept the ending an ok surprise.

Extras:

The episode was inspired by the 1982 horror film, The Entity. Some of the filming of the effects that happened during the scene where the attackers come to get Lauren at her home took too long, and pushed the crew out of their noise curfew time:

All of a sudden this [naked] guy appeared on his porch across the street. He was screaming obscenities at the crew, telling us to go home, that we had no right to be there [....] We ignored him and continued filming. I was determined to get the day and get us out of there as quickly as possible. He blustered on for another minute or so, then gave up. We wrapped around 12:30 a.m. It was one of the most ridiculous on-location moments I can recall during my five years on The X-Files." (X Marks the Spot (On Location with The X-Files), pp. 36-37) (original source)

Favorite Prop(s):

I don’t know. The To-day / to-morrows plaque is just so memorable.

MSR:

There were just so many times they just had to be close to each other.

Rating:

3/5. I know that I said I hated it, but on a whole the episode is fine. I think it’s a good one to rewatch only after having not seen it for a while. I usually end up watching these episodes a couple of times, and when writing the post but Hulu was down when I started to write and found that even when it was accessible again I had no real want to watch it.

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31 Days of Asian Horror: Ten Vampire Dramas/Movies

I needed a bit of a mental health day today and so I figured instead of a full review I’d list some fun vampire dramas and movies options since it’s a Thirsty Thursday. I focused this list more on dramas and movies that are currently available, and don’t actually reflect my personal favorites nor are they even all considered horror. Most of the offerings on this list I haven’t seen personally, but this list does have a good variety in horror levels and hopefully you can find something that will work for you.

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Tokyo Vampire Hotel (2017)

One of my favorite offerings on Amazon Prime, if you haven’t watched this Sion Sono directed drama about vampires trying to create their own utopia - and their own food supply - under the guise of a matchmaking party you are missing out. It’s a campy, blood-filled ride and I love it.

Where to find it: Amazon Prime

The Sweet Blood (2021)

This small web series aired early this year, the kdrama follows Yeon Soo, a vampire who wants to live a normal human life and tries to blend in by going to high school. When her classmate, Song Meo Roo attracts that unwanted attention from other vampires and werewolves because of his sweet blood Yeon Seo decides to protect him.

Where to find it: Viki

Vampire Princess Miyu OVA (1988)

The Vampire Princess Miyu series has been one of my all-time favorite animes for literally almost two decades, and while up until now I’ve had to do rewatches on my old DVDs, the OVA is now appearing on streaming sites. It is only currently the dubbed version, but this anime is worth a watch and follows a vampire, Miyu, and her protector Larva as she captures evil demons. The artwork is beautiful, and it has great character growth as well as an episodic monster of the week type vibe.

Where to find it: Tubi, RetroCrush, AsianCrush

Beautiful Vampire (2018)

A less horror more fantasy option is the 2018 movie, Beautiful Vampire about a vampire (Jung Yeon Joo) who runs a small makeup shop when the new building owner (Park Joon Myun) wants to kick her out. It’s a romcom with all the normal kdrama tropes that you can check off your list.

Where to find it: Viki, AsianCrush

I Cannot Hug You (2017)

Another light offering is the romantic/comedy cdrama, I Cannot Hug You starring Xing Zhao Lin and Rayil Zhang. A modern-day vampire story about an apathetic vampire who falls in love with her next door neighbor. I haven’t watched this personally, but it was pretty popular when it was airing and has two seasons.

Where to find it: Viki

You Are My Vampire (2014)

Struggling and down on her luck, Gyu Jung decides to write a novel about a vampire and encounters a strange man who rents a room at her dad's lodge.

Where to find it: AsianCrush

Orange Marmalade (2015)

Set in a world where humans and vampires coexist, vampires are discriminated against so most hide their true identity. Ma Ri (Kim Seol Hyun)hides her identity from her friends and neighbors, but things change when she falls in love with new student Jae Min (Yeo Jin Goo).

Where to find it: Viki, Kocowa

The Scholar Who Walks the Night (2015)

A Joseon scholar with a secret past recruits a cross-dressing bookseller to help him in his fight to protect the throne from a vampire. The kdrama stars Lee Joon Gi and Lee Yo Bi, with the screenwriter from Coffee Prince, Jang Hyun Joo, as well as a slew of other well-known actors. If you are looking for a more classic sageuk that incorporates vampires, this will be a great pick.

Where to find it: Viki, Kocowa

Blood (2015)

The kdrama Blood follows a renowned doctor who is best known for his cancer research, who is also a vampire. Blood is more of a medical based drama, with conflicts dealing in power struggles and humanity.

Where to find it: Viki, Kocowa

Vampire Knight (2008)

This 2008 anime is about Yuki Cross and vampire hunter Zero Kiryu, who attend a school as guardians to protect the humans from the vampires.

Where to find it: Netflix

Honorable Mentions

All of these are currently not streaming anywhere or easily accessible, but have in the past so they might pop up somewhere in the future.

• Vampire Prosecutor (2011) - kdrama

• Vampire Detective (2016) - kdrama

• RH Plus (2008) - jdrama

• Vampire Heaven (2013) - jdrama

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31 Days of Asian Horror: Ju-on: The Grudge (2002) vs The Grudge (2004)

It’s a Grudge kind of week, and after talking about the Netflix series back on Monday, it seemed only fitting to talk about the movie and its US remake for today’s pairing. It’s also the 19th birthday of Ju-On: The Grudge, as it premiered on October 18th at the Screamfest Film Festival, and the US remake’s 17th birthday is on the 22nd making it even more fitting that I celebrate with two posts about the franchise this week. It’s almost like a pre-planned this or something :)

Though the movies share some similarities, there were some differences and found that for some of the things I liked, the other movie didn’t quite live up to and vice versa. Since the series is fairly well known I figured for this review I would break it up into sections and comment on those specific points more than just an overall review. Note, there is a 2020 remake of the movie, but I haven’t watched it nor am I going to tie it or any of the other sequels and remakes into this post. The Grudge series is pretty extensive (it doesn’t even start with Ju-On: The Grudge), but I am only focusing on Ju-On: The Grudge vs the first US remake, The Grudge.

The two movies do share quite a bit in characteristics, but I do find that there are some noticeable differences in the two that really effected my general enjoyment. One being the setup of the curse. The US remake made the decision to set the film in Japan, but the curse happens almost exclusively on English-speakers which inherently forces the plot to not be able to take the turns that the original did. With the original we got to see the grudge as essentially the main character of the movie. It was what tied the stories and characters together. While the US remake sort of does this, it falls flat in the expansiveness of the curse. Because it’s limited to just picking English speakers, or that we’re really only hearing from them, the curse seems like it hasn’t been around for as long as it has and the permeation of the curse isn’t as effective. We also miss out on a lot of the way the original ties in the characters, purely on the fact that if you see a white person, you know it’s part of it and reveals end up falling flat.

The original is set up almost like anthology of sorts, and spans a bit more time. While I don’t think it does the best job working them in as cohesively as they should, it does have a better grasp at connecting people and showing what the curse is and how it operates. One of the main storylines that is cut out of the US remake that I really enjoy is the daughter of the detective, Izumi (Misa Uehara), who was the only one left alive after her father tried to set fire to the house while she and her friends were there. Her friends and her father died, leaving her to grieve and feel remorseful as the only living person, and the scenes we see of her add a new level to the curse that we don’t really get to see as well from the remake. There’s also a bit more emphasis on how it effects the survivors and how when the entity isn’t directly killing, it’s still doing harm. Taking this plot out of the movie effectively made Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) the main character of the movies when in the original Rika (Megumi Okina) is almost there for the purpose to bookend the movie and be the character that ties it all together, allowing the other characters a bit more emphasis and solidifying the grudge and house being the true main characters.

I do find that besides the breakdown of Izumi, most of the original isn’t quite as scary. The US remake works in the entity a bit more creepier, and the effects of the black blob work better as well as making some of the scares a little more quieter and mysterious. As I stated above, I had some issues with the cohesion of the acts in the original, and felt that the remake worked some of them in a bit better, establishing what was in the past more definitively than the original. I also felt the opening scene in the remake set the tone for the movie a bit more and generally liked how it worked into the story, as well as Gellar’s acting being a lot more convincing than Okinas. Whether it was a problem with sound effects being added in post production so she couldn’t sync up or her skill, a lot of the first time you see her on screen she never convinces you that things are scary. She doesn’t react to some noises and does others, and it took a bit more time for the tone of the movie to really settle in.

I feel like if you’ve been with me on this daily journey, you’ll already know what I’m going to comment on next, as I’ve said it in the prior two pairings I’ve done - the insistence of there being a happy ending plagues this one just like all the other remakes. I get it, it’s open purposefully to hopefully get more money with sequels but it’s exhausting and tiring. We’ve already seen multiple people die, I don’t expect this to end happily. And it shouldn’t. It’s a cop out that in turn sabotages all that you’ve set up with the grudge. The ending of the original just makes more sense, and I liked the way they accomplished it through a time jump where the character was caught off guard and had been removed from the events for a while was much more effective solidifying the permeation of the grudge and that you are never truly out of its grasp.

Ju-On: The Grudge can be found on a number of places to rent and streaming on Amazon Prime, and The Grudge is currently streaming on Pluto TV (it just was taken off of Prime last month).

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31 Days of Asian Horror: The Medium (2021)

The Medium was probably my most anticipated movie of the year, and luckily Shudder picked it up after it made its festival rounds. The movie was a joint Thai/Korean production, premiering at the Bucheon International Film Festival and released in Korean theaters on July 14th. Directed by Thai director Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter), and produced by Korean director Na Hong Jin who is known for the 2016 possession film, The Wailing, it was primed to be a great film.

The Medium follows a documentary crew as they travel to Isan in northeastern Thailand to document the life of a local shaman, Nim (Sawanee Utoomma). While there the crew notices how strange her niece, Ming (Narilya Gulmongkolpech), has been acting and starts to focus their attention on her increasing outbursts and aggression, thinking that they might be witnessing her possession by the spirit of Bayan, an ancestral God that has been possessing women in the family for generations, and who currently inhabits Nim.

We see most of the movie through the lens of the documentary crew, as a pretty polished film. The focus of the film, even when we start to see Ming develop symptoms, is that of the family and their practice and it allowed for an interesting look into the culture of the religion which I think enhanced the viewing. A lot of movies like this get lost culturally when you don’t have any basis on the religion or the practices, and the movie allowed for there to be ‘learning’ points without stopping the momentum. While the movie takes a bit to get to some of the scarier parts, I felt that there was a lot of subtle horror that was slowly worked in well through Nim’s character and seeing her at a loss for what to do and her potential loss of faith. It’s a quiet and uncomfortable scare that is sad as you watched her struggle to figure out why this was happening, and the destruction of her family that has already seen so much.

Narilya’s portrayal of Ming is fantastic throughout the film. Her descent into madness caused by her possession was creepy and naturally intensified as the movie progressed. The moments she’s discussing her despair and the uncertainty about what is going on and the haunting images in her dreams was terrifying and only further was helped as she was able to accurately show the subtle differences when the evil spirit was possessing her and when it was Ming struggling to keep it out.

I really enjoyed the movie and had a combination of moments I look for in my horror. Along with my love of slow quiet burns, the cinematography was gorgeous and the landscape only helped further my immersement in what was going on.

The Medium is currently streaming on Shudder.

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31 Days of Asian Horror: Ju-On Origins (2020)

If you’ve seen the original Ju-On, or even the US remake, you’ll know the basic story of Ju-On and the idea that when an incident happens in a place that is so tragic or horrible, it’ll stay with it forever haunting anyone who encounters it. While the original does focus a good bit of the story on the house itself, the Netflix original series Ju-On: Origins places it in a new light.

The series heavily focuses on the house, and the way it is presented is from a paranormal researcher’s quest to find out about all that happened there, interviewing other people’s accounts, and in turn, uncovers the horrific stories that happened. The drama series is much more darker than its original, really honing in on the idea of the grudge and what type of evil creates it. The series gives the distinction a little more weight, in that the grudge happens when the worst of the worst tragedy and events unfold and that it’s abnormal making the house so much more special.

I enjoyed the series the first time I watched it when it premiered back in July of last year, and still enjoyed it after a second watch. I always found that the original movie’s downfall was that it tried to separate the movie into each individual story and didn’t work to make it cohesive enough like it was trying to be more of an anthology, which I feel the series worked well within. Some of the stories are ongoing throughout the episodes, but because it’s broken into individual episodes, it allows for the jumps to previous incidents in time to flow better within the plot.

Placing the series in more of a documentary style or a faux-true story viewpoint was interesting and I think worked in that sense to keep up the scares when normal jump scares were not used as much, as it focused the horrors onto terrible humans doing terrible things and almost drawn to the house’s evil to carry out their acts. It still has the same flare that the movies do, though, and nods to the original with the use of the closet being a central place and a child's horrific death the catalyst for the grudge. The episodes are fairly short (under and half an hour) so it’s a quick easy binge.

If you are a fan of the series of movies, I do think you’d get something out of the series as it does kind of tie up loose ends regarding the grudge and its specificity of it being at that house thus showcasing how terrible the house is, but it does take the levels of the stories to a whole new extreme that is far enough removed from the original that I could see there being a divide in its reception. They are much more graphic and violent, the focus being on the worst of humanity which can be sometimes hard to stomach. I didn’t find that the series had many scares of a normal horror film, but more of a general sense of uneasiness the entire time that escalates as the series progresses and the stories get much more tragic.

Ju-On: Origins can be found streaming on Netflix.

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31 Days of Asian Horror: House (1977)

There’s no real good way to explain what House is. In the very simplest summary, it’s the story of a girl whose father has remarried. Saddened by that news she and a group of her friends go to visit her aunt - her late mother’s sister - when things go awry. But House is much more than that. It takes you on a weird acid-trip ride that really can not be expressed in words, it just needs to be experienced. Director Obayashi Nobuhiko was asked to do the movie as a response to the popularity of Jaws, which had also been a huge hit in Japanese cinemas. The film studio Toho wanted to find a relatively unknown creator and see if they could capitalize on the newfound talent creating not only a hit but a potential star out of the director. While Obayashi was developing the style of the movie, he talked to his daughter and was inspired by her ideas and own horror stories as a child and decided to incorporate them into the film.

House has a weird off-the-wall flair that is a combination of Obayashi being inspired by Alice in Wonderland, with his love of art-house and playing around with effects. The movie is filmed as if from the point of view of a child - fantastical and nonsensical, devoid of reality. The movie spends most of its time living in a dream-like state that looks straight out of a children’s book. Combine that with his daughter’s stories, such as futon monsters or creepy clocks at night, it’s wacky and unpredictable. Most of the time it doesn’t make sense, but that’s what makes it unique. It truly is a reflection of what scared you when you were younger paired with an underlying theme of dispair, sadness, and grief - all that has turned into anger from the constantly lingering side effect of unexpected loss and war which was something very close to the director. Obayashi was born in Hiroshima Prefecture and was seven when the atomic bomb was dropped.

“All of my close childhood friends died because of the bomb, so I wanted to write a fantasy with the atomic bomb as a theme.” - “Constructing a House” DVD commentary.

House, in a way, is about the parallels of the children who live in a very carefree way, and the aunt who saw firsthand the horrors of the war.

House can be found on the Criterion Channel, but also on DVD.

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31 Days of Asian Horror: Perfect Blue (1997)

Directed by Satoshi Kon and based on the manga Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis, Perfect Blue follows Mima Kirigoe, a member of an idol group who leaves to pursue a career in acting and in doing so changes her image. After leaving the group she becomes threatened and left fearing she is being stalked by an unknown fan who is potentially murdering people around her. As the film progresses Mima spirals out of control with the weight of her new image and the threat.

Perfect Blue is technically much more thriller than it is horror, but the rollercoaster the story takes you on has some pretty horrific moments which lead you on a mind-bending journey. The film is able to create incredible tension and paces it perfectly, keeping you guessing on what is actually happening and what might be fantasy. We stay in the perspective of a younger female who has been constantly in the spotlight since she was younger and manipulated by her fans needing to know her every move. Her acting career, which requires her to be more sexual to appeal to a different set of fans and break from her clean image, creates another layer to the film’s tension as we feel firsthand the pressures of a young female in the entertainment industry.

I hadn’t rewatched Perfect Blue in a long time, with my first viewing of it back in high school in the early 2000s and it’s still one of my favorite animated movies. The film still surprisingly stands in today’s society, especially with the prevalence of the idol industry starting to become more mainstream with Korea’s influence in Western media. Japan’s idol system has been around for a while, and the movie serves as a great commentary on the pressures and societal issues that young girls face being in that system. The movie takes you on a wild ride and it’s gripping the entire time. I highly recommend picking it up.

Perfect Blue is available for rental on most sites and on DVD/Blu-Ray.

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31 Days of Asian Horror: Psycho Shark (2009)

I’ve been fairly lucky with the movies that I picked to review for this month that I hadn’t seen yet, but then Psycho Shark came. Nicknamed Jaws in Japan, I had so much hope for this movie. I didn’t think it would be the best, but I really wanted to find a fun and campy creature feature and I don’t think I can describe to you how far off this movie hit. It’s almost a waste of a day to devote a review to it, but if I can make sure someone doesn’t fall for it like I did, then my work is done. I can excuse a lot of things with creature features. I can be ok when the creatures defy physics or the acting is bad. The CGI can be terrible and the movie can have no plot. But somehow, Psycho Shark saw that as a challenge and test my patience. It had so much potential in the beginning, I thought that they would play with the found footage or that there was going to be some play on Psycho because of the name. And just like every other thing about this movie, it let me down. You don’t even see the shark until the last ten minutes of the movie.

Yes. You spend the entire movie waiting for the shark, and sans a dream sequence where we see a shark 3/4 of the way through the movie, you only see it once. I can’t even summarize what goes on during the rest of the movie because nothing goes on. A girl scared and shocked replays a video over and over, girls dance and shower in bikinis…there’s a beach?

Psycho Shark is on Tubi but even for free it’s not worth it. Thankfully lovely people on YouTube did God’s work and clipped the shark scene at the ending so you can watch it and not have to sit through the entire thing. I admit it’s a pretty enjoyable scene, but you literally have to wait for the entire film to get there and it’s just not the payoff you want or need.

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Wine and an X-Phile #01005: The Jersey Devil

“Unlike you Mulder, I’d like to have a life.”

Air Date: October 8, 1993
Directed by: Joe Napolitano
Written by: Chris Carter

Filed Under: Monster of the Week

Synopsis:

Mulder and Scully go to New Jersey to investigate the news of a body that was dismembered details that resemble a case from the 40’s that Mulder thinks could be the work of the Jersey Devil.

Review:

This episode is honestly not one of my favorites of the season. It’s kind of messy and I don’t think the ending worked as well as it could. I can understand why Carter wrote it the way he did, it just wasn’t as interesting and I don't think his want for the Jersey Devil to be perceived as the “missing link” instead of the focus on the creature, which doesn’t really translate in any sort of entertainment sense. I also think that using a cryptoid that is a fairly known one probably wasn’t the best choice for this because he inherently came in with the audience (who knows of the creature’s lore) already thinking it was going to go one way when it went the other. I also felt the need to make Mulder so infatuated with the creature came out as forced and seemed to only be placed into the story as a way to parallel Scully’s story line when it didn’t need to.

I do think that the focus on Scully outside of the office and Mulder was the most interesting and entertaining aspect. Not just because we got to see Scully’s fancy date outfit, but we get more of a sense of how working on the X-Files has been limiting her and taking away her free time - which is something we already see and know that affects Mulder to his detriment. In that respect it is vital, especially at the point we are in the season and with a need to still focus more on who Scully is outside of being with Mulder. Out of the two Scully is the one who would have a life, and not showing that wouldn’t work with her character. Yes, she is falling more into becoming wrapped up in the cases with Mulder, but she is still new to the unit and work. It’s a nice perspective to see her in.

I do think an interesting plot point in the episode is Scully bringing Mulder to the anthropologist. It’s a small thing, and I’m fairly certain the intention of the scene is to hone in on Carter’s want to focus the monster on its evolutional impact and so bringing Mulder there is to have that dialogue, but it’s one of those things that just solidify the reasons why I like Scully. She doesn’t believe in the Jersey Devil, yet she is open and respectful enough to bring Mulder to someone who does, a scientist. Scully may spend every episode questioning everything she sees, but she does still want to give all the cases the same respect.

Extras:

While the episode eluded to real-life reports of the Jersey Devil, Carter based the episode after an essay by E.O. Wilson.

Favorite Prop(s):

Of course I was going to pick this awesome drawing. Although sometimes props is the one who finds and takes care of getting animals and their handlers, so I could have also picked her godson’s dog that was eating the cake at the party. But this drawing is so great. Spitting image.

MSR:

Why do they always have to lean in so close to each other. It’s just so consistent. I also like Scully’s “He’s a jerk. He’s not a jerk.” line when she was talking to her friend at her godson’s party. But really, the defining moment of the episode is that Scully chose Mulder over Rob.

Rating:

2.5/5. Not my favorite and I felt that in Carter’s want to see the Jersey Devil in a new light, we missed out on some fun creature antics we could have had.

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