The Japanese horror picture show

Gurneys and moldy skeletons may be enough to scare the kids these days, but the glossy big-budget horror films Hollywood seems so fond of churning out don’t really do it for me. Hello, Haunted Mansion. This from the girl who used to wear scarves during bedtime between the ages of six to eight for fear that the vampires would come and bite my neck. Yes, even silly cheeseball teen vampire movies kind of scared me. Remember My Best Friend is a Vampire circa 1988 starring Robert Sean Leonard? When that sexy vampire chick bit him, I screamed at him to run as fast as his old-school sneakers could carry him. I had assumed that all adults were too mature to be frightened by silly scary films. This after my mother told me she saw The Exorcist in college and said it scared her shitless. I read Salem’s Lot by Stephen King in college, after my tita had given me a buttload of horror novels, and suddenly I had difficulty entering dark rooms and sleeping beside windows. (King claimed that vampires had to be invited before entering, so windows were their primary entry. You’d know this if you saw Buffy the Vampire Slayer the movie, which featured a slew of future celebs, including Kristy Swanson, Luke Perry, Hilary Swank, and a then-Friendless David Arquette.) Even The Others, a film steeped in crisp British accents and creepy atmosphere, left me hiding under the bedcovers. Especially when the weird granny was doing the séance at the end. (Spoiler alert for those of you who haven’t seen it yet! Shame on you, by the way. FYI: In the Sixth Sense, Bruce Willis’ character was dead.) When she opened the closet, I was too busy hiding that my friend had to rewind the movie so we could all watch it calmly like adults. But the worst was when I saw The Grudge, the American remake with Sarah Michelle Gellar, directed by Takashi Shimizu who also did the original, in the cinema with my gay friend Naz. You could cue our girlish shrieks every time the eerie clippity-clop groaning sound that signaled the appearance of a ghost-monster was played. Of course, that doesn’t beat the time I saw The Eye, a Chinese horror flick featuring a plot similar to Sixth Sense: A formerly blind girl, post eye-transplant, can suddenly see dead people. In one particularly scary scene, she boards a rickety old elevator in her apartment. An old man standing by the side, facing the wall, gives her pause. Unable to tell whether he’s dead or alive, she decides, what the hell, and rides it anyway. As the camera slowly pans down the old man’s frame, it reaches his feet, where the dude is, here comes the scary part, floating! Clearly, he’s dead. He slowly turns to the girl and then I pass out. When I got home late that night, at the time I was living on the 14th floor of a condo in Katipunan, I asked my friend Raya to come up with me so I wouldn’t have to ride the elevator alone. Her answer came loud and clear: "No way!" After begging the guard to leave his post and accompany me on the elevator, which led to another pathetic rejection, I was forced to take the stairs, all 14 flights, up to my apartment.

As I staggered up the final steps, my breathing shallow from the unnecessary exercise, I couldn’t help but berate myself for watching horror movies and being such a chickenshit about it. But apparently I’m not the only one who fears fictional characters.

"Personally, I prefer not to watch horror films," said Manila assistant director of the Japan Foundation Hiroaki Uesugi. "I get nightmares from watching them." Unusual, since the Japan Foundation is sponsoring "Eiga Sai 2005: J Horror Films," a Japanese film festival featuring old and recent horror flicks. No, Ring is not part of the show. You can borrow that at any old video store anyway.

Throughout the month of September, the festival will be screening films by Kurosawa Kiyoshi and Takashi Shimizu for free at Shangri-La, UP Film Center and CCP. "It is the perfect time to feature Japanese horror films here in the Philippines," said assistant director Uesugi. "As you know, since the introduction of the movie Ring, a lot of Filipinos have watched the movie. In turn, this movie paved the way for the popularity of Japanese horror films as scary and terrifying. I believe a lot of students even use the name of the character Sadako as a joke just to scare their classmates and friends. In addition, some Japanese horror flicks have also made it to Hollywood. The Ring series was adapted (featuring a terrified Naomi Watts), same as The Grudge and one of the latest Japanese horror films that have been adapted is Dark Water (with Jennifer Connelly and John C. Reilly). I believe because of the sudden popularity of Japanese horror films both here and abroad, the term ‘J horror’ was coined."

The films often take a gritty, realistic approach to horror. One film features a married samurai who falls in love with another woman. At the suggestion of his grandfather, he decides to poison his wife, who, instead, ends up horribly disfigured. Defiantly dark, without any of the kitschy effects so common to summer horror flicks, J horror movies work on many levels: as a psychological thriller and a study in human complexity.

"J horror films do take a different approach to scaring people," added Uesugi. "It is not the same in Hollywood films wherein a monster or a certain being just attacks or eats people. Hollywood always tries to explain why these horrifying events occur. This diminishes the scariness of the movie. If you saw the Japanese and American Ring, I think you’d still consider the Japanese version a lot scarier. Most J horror films do not bother with explanations. It is just what it is. And given the vagueness of it, it makes it scarier since it can’t be explained."

Eiga Sai 2005: A Festival Of Japanese Horror Films

The Japanese film festival will run from Sept. 1 to 25 at Shangri-La Plaza Mall, CCP Dream Theater and the UP Film Institute, and will feature a selection of both classic and contemporary Japanese horror films. Admission is free.

 House

Director: Obayashi Nobuhiko

In Hausu, Oshare and six other young girls spend their summer vacation in the house of Oshare’s aunt in the country. In the beginning, the girls revel in the freedom and the fresh country breeze. Before long, however, the girls figure in a series of "accidents" that lead them to believe they are being attacked by the mysterious house.

Shangri-La Plaza Mall: Sept. 3 (5 p.m.)

UP Film Institute: Sept. 14 and 17 (5 p.m.),16 (2 p.m.)

CCP Dream Theater: Sept. 21 and 25 (4 p.m.), 22 (7 p.m.)

Tomie: Rebirth

Director: Shimizu Takashi

Hideo, an art student, is heartbroken when Tomie, the object of his love, destroys the portrait he painted of her. He stabs her to death, and asks the help of his two friends to bury her. To their surprise, Tomie shows up at a party, looking alive and determined to exact revenge.

Shangri-La Plaza Mall: Sept. 3 (8 p.m.)

Pulse

Director: Kurosawa Kiyoshi

Days after Michi visits her long-lost friend, she finds out that the latter has hung himself. They search for clues in his apartment and find a black patch on the wall, and a computer diskette that contains what looks like a mysterious virus. The diskette ends up in the computer of a young man. He opens it and the program runs a webcam that plays scenes from the lives of strangers. Then a message appears on the screen: "Do you want to see a ghost?"

Shangri-La Plaza Mall: Aug. 31 (7 p.m.), Sept. 2 (8 p.m.), 4 (2 p.m.)

UP Film Institute: Sept. 13 (5 p.m.), 14 (7:30 p.m.), 16 (5 p.m.)

CCP Dream Theater: Sept. 21(7 p.m.), 23 (4 p.m.), 25 (7 p.m.)

Haunted School

Director: Hirayama Hideyuki

In Gakko no Kaidan, tales have been going around about the haunted school. According to some, children have been lured into its doors, never to return again. Now comes news of another set of missing children, among whom are twins gifted with supernatural powers. When their teacher attempts to rescue her trapped students, she, too, is locked in.

Shangri-La Plaza Mall: Sept. 1 and 3 (2 p.m.)

UP Film Institute: Sept.14 and 17 (2 p.m.), 15 (5 p.m.)

CCP Dream Theater: Sept. 20 and 24 (7 p.m.), 22 (4 p.m.)

Yotsuya Ghost Story

Director: Misumi Kenji

Tamiya Lemon is a lord-less samurai who was loved by a rich and young woman named Oume. But Lemon had a wife (Oiwa) so Lemon poisoned her in order to be united with Oume.  The poison, instead of killing Oiwa, horribly deformed her face forcing Lemon to kill her with his hands.  At the bridal night when Lemon and Oume take to their bed, Oiwa’s ghost appeared to exact revenge.  Based on a true story.

Shangri-La Plaza Mall: Sept. 1 and 4 (5 p.m.), 2 (2 p.m.)

Kwaidan

Director: Kobayashi Masaki

A four-part film that features a samurai who leaves his wife for another woman only to drive his first wife to suicide; two woodcutters stranded in a mountain hut who meet up with a very nasty fairy with a penchant for freezing people; an expert biwa player, who goes off at night to play before some graves; and Kannai, who is haunted by the reflection of a leering man on a teacup.

Shangri-La Plaza Mall: Sept. 1, 4 and 5 (8 p.m.)

The Ugetsu Story

Director: Mizoguchi Kenji

Potter Genjuro and his brother-in-law Tobei set off from Lake Biwa to sell their wares during the height of the civil war. They make a fortune in a castle town, and with their profits, they buy weapons and become samurais. Genjuro marries a beautiful maiden from the Kuchiki clan, while Tobei becomes a samurai general. After some unfortunate twists, the two decide to go back to their old city and join their families, unsure of whether or not they still have lives to look forward to.

Shangri-La Plaza Mall: Sept. 2 (5 p.m.), 5 (2 p.m.)

UP Film Institute: Sept. 13 (7:30 p.m.), 15 (2 p.m.)

CCP Dream Theater: Sept. 20 (4 p.m.), 23, (7 p.m.), 24 (4 p.m.)

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E-mail me at ohbea@rocketmail.com.

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For more information, contact the Japan Foundation at 811-6155.