Give Up The Grudge



I went with some friends to Ontario Mills this afternoon. We had an early dinner at Hooters (half-priced wings during Happy Hour!) and then headed to AMC to watch the latest Japanese horror import, Shutter. I usually like to check out the new J-horror releases because I love a good ghost story, even though the vast majority of these films are really bad. For every gem like The Ring and The Grudge, there are a dozen duds like Dark Water, One Missed Call and Pulse.

This latest import wasn't as abysmal as some of the others, but nevertheless it was far from being a masterpiece. One of my friends, Toshiko, speaks fluent Japanese and so she was able to interpret much of the Japanese dialogue that revealed facts about the film that were never otherwise brought to light, which is kind of cool, I suppose. It makes me feel as though I'm privy to information that other white boys are not. But at this point I'm rambling.

The point I want to make is that it seems like they're phoning in these horror movies. Later this year, they're supposed to be releasing an American remake of the Asian classic A Tale of Two Sisters, one of my favorite eastern horror films, and I shudder to think how they'll destroy that one. Hollywood has decided that Asian horror films are a major cash cow, no matter how poorly they are remade. A good horror movie, though, is so much more than women in corpse makeup jumping out of closets. It's about atmosphere, and most importantly it's about subtlety, because in order for a movie to scare us, we must be made to believe that it could actually happen to us. The last truly good horror movie I saw was The Orphanage, and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. I think that the reason for it's brilliance is that it is an authentic Spanish import, and the formula morons in Hollywood haven't had a chance to get their hands on it...

...yet.

Be afraid.