Author: Thomas Norman
Banchō Sarayashiki, translated to ‘The Dish Mansion at Banchō’, has a strong legacy in Japan as a kaidan (Japanese ghost story) since 1741, it has been adapted in various ways (e.g. manga, novella, television series) and depicted in the ever-enduring ukiyo-e. A bunraku play titled ‘Banchō Sarayashiki’ was performed at the Toyotakeza theatre in the
Although the first thing that comes to mind would be to honour the classic camp slashers or creature-feature flicks, I decided to welcome summer with Barry Levinson’s The Bay (2012) on Shudder. This found footage mockumentary portrays what we first may confuse with a viral outbreak, but is in fact a parasitic outbreak. If something
Akira (1988) is a classic film, no doubt, as a cyberpunk adventure set in a decaying Tokyo, no different from the dystopian lifestyle of Neon Genesis Evangelion in which the traumatic circumstances have parallels. Corruption, terrorism, and crime are rife – safety is a negligible concern in the downtrodden society of casual indifference. The film
Death Stranding is an oddity as an experience, frequently misrepresented – a melancholic meditation through shattered civilization, humanity desperately endeavouring to reassemble itself in despair; somber music lulls over the desolate landscapes where people try to ascend some resemblance of life into the now hollow nature pervading a ruined world. People have retreated into underground
Famously, Game of Thrones switched actors between seasons due to reasons behind the scenes, and the replacement was clearly so from a radically different appearance, but the viewers suspended their belief of the change as inconsequential if not superficial – continuity was retained as was immersion; the plot, lore and design were all intact conceptually
Hasshaku-sama, translated to ‘Miss Eight-Feet-Tall’, is a Japanese urban legend – who is possibly classified as a modern Yokai interpretation of ‘ Taka-onna’– originating on the Japanese message board 2Chan in 2002. The figure has strong parallels to ‘Slender Man ‘ in the West (invented itself in 2009 via Something Awful) – a sign her
Evil Dead is a cult franchise in every sense of the idea – a variety of divergent media in the realm of comics, games, and merchandise; all humbly originating from a simple premise of a few films: a man sadistically tormented by demonic forces until he’s barking mad. The Evil Dead fans are fanatical for
The police are a protective force, but their ineptitude is customary in any horror premise – they’re either unavailable or incapable – an earthly power dethroned. This not only unveils the severity of the circumstances– there being no protection of the law and order with which we’re familiar as security– it also reinforces the helpless
Godzilla’s incarnation in America is racist, and Gojira has been awfully abused as a profound symbol of Japan’s national heritage; a powerful metaphor culturally distorted from the original purpose for cheap theatre tickets as a cardinal sin of capitalistic vice. Imperial Japan’s aggressor in World War 2 – justified or not – has committed another
What constitutes a slasher, and how is a particular slasher franchise defined in an identity? Whilst Netflix’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a continuation of the very original, as Halloween (2018) was to that respective franchise (modern trend or ‘homage’?), it is undoubtedly having an identity crisis in that it has none of the spirit behind