Month: September 2020
Down and out, and possibly facing a midlife crisis, Georges decides he wants to change things up. The first thing on the agenda comes from a unique purchase, a deerskin jacket. Obsessed with his new ‘killer style’, Georges begins to film the jacket and have conversations with it. Eventually, the two come to the conclusion
Gōjin Ishihara is a Showa-period Japanese artist who did ghastly illustrations of yokai in Illustrated Book of Japanese Monsters (1972) with a mastery of Indian ink for comic-esque vibrancy in absolutely mesmerizing scenes of chaos. Additionally, the artist offered his talent within many other educational books on monsters, and later produced weird fiction with strong
Most fans of Japanese urban legends will already be familiar with the Inunaki Tunnel. For those who are unfamiliar, this tunnel is said to lead to one of the most haunted places in Japan: a place where “The Japanese constitution is not in effect”. I imagine that any film studio with an ardor for horror
Here are four Japanese franchises of survival horror games demonstrating their extraordinary talent at crafting atmosphere, each one establishing a significant legacy for cult followings. Besides mastery in constructing and elaborate lore to push an engaging background, the development teams twisted traditional rituals and manipulation of occult practices as maladapted folklore. Additionally, they utilized every
I’d like to introduce you to an early example of psychological horror, titled Vargtimmen a.k.a., The Hour of the Wolf. A paragon of art house cinema from the masterful Ingmar Bergman, the film stars Liv Ullman (known for Persona) and the legendary Max von Sydow (Seventh Seal, Game of Thrones, The Exorcist). It tells the
Here’s a Japanese urban legend that’s the foundation of the upcoming horror film Howling Village from Ju-On‘s original creator, the existence of a spirit village that’s displaced in time and traditions. Inunaki Village is a legendary village in the Fukuoka Prefecture, first reported existing in 1999, that is supposedly isolated from modern Japan and frozen in
What do traditional Romero zombies and VHS era classic mascot slashers have in common? They’re slow, but they’re implacable. They will just keep on coming, and coming, until you make a mistake or just get unlucky, until they inevitably catch you… Now, you know where this gets cool and more than a little primal? Human
The Forest of Love is Japanese psychological horror and crime drama from the eminently brilliant director Sion Sono. The Japanese filmmaker is exceptional at depicting the drama of stranger facets to life, conveying dark poetry from said drama. This film follows a psychopath, who is based on a real life serial killer Futoshi Matsunaga, as he seduces, manipulates, terrorizes and coerces various impressionable people into his absolute control.