Anyone else looking forward to this? Vol. 6 of the J-Horror Theater series and written & directed by Hiroshi Takahashi (wrote the screenplay for Ringu 1 & 2). Since he's one of the instigators of the J-horror boom, focusing on 'what's really scary' along with Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Takashi Shimizu (he never mentioned Hideo Nakata in the interview I saw) it should hopefully be a good 'un. I think it looks interesting, especially the brain stimulation thing! Hopefully it will reinvigorate the J-horror genre.
I think it's due out in Japan sometime in July, and has been picked up by Lionsgate for international distribution.
Not that I want to go into geek rant mode and attack your opinion gastero, but Takazahi Shimizu one the instigators of the J-horror boom? Pah! The likes of Kurosawa, Nakata, Tsukamoto and Miike, etc (and many more) had already crafted creepy, thought provoking horror films before the hugely over-rated and highly derivative Ju-on films came out in 2000.
I was actually quoting Hiroshi Takahashi from his interview on the Marebito DVD. I think he mentioned someone else I hadn't heard of, but he didn't mention Hideo Nakata which I thought a little odd.
well, the first Ju-On had Chiaki. The rest that I've seen (theatrical 1 & 2) were sleeping pills for me. With short stories (no time to connect with characters), ghosts (don't believe in), sound effects (am not scared by), and creepy kids (ain't got fetish for) there really wasn't anything to keep me awake. Not even Nori P now that she has grown old.
I do like Shimizu's acting roles and cameos, though. Always playing a crazy Chinese guy who wants to kill Japanese people...
I'm not the best person to ask that question as I tend to be non-plussed by horror trailers, but for what it's worth that trailer made it look very derivative of Nakata & Kurosawa, which was probably the point to sell the film.
I forgot to view that link, but I did have the pleasure of seeing the trailer in cinema. Didn't look totally terrible, but didn't convince me to pay the ticket price either. Not that I'm a huge fan of the 90's/2000's j-horror anyway.
And now that my post is very short on content, I might add that Ringu is the only recent j-horror to really work for me. Kurosawa's Kairo... I thought the horror parts were embarrasingly bad, but I liked some other aspects of the film. There was something else that was similar but without ghosts and horror, and much better... what was it???... (tries the search function with "kairo but without ghosts"), ah, yeah, Ishii's masterpiece August in the Water (sorry, this was completely off topic).
Have you seen Noroi: The Curse? That's really good. I'm dying to see Occult (Okaruto) by the same director and in the same style but it seems to be impossible to find with English subs unfortunately
Lucky you living in Japan, I'm dying to see Kyofu! Although to be fair I wouldn't be able to watch it anyway as I only know a little Japanese.
Haven't seen Noroi. Slightly interested in Uzumaki. And wouldn't mind seeing a few more Nakata and Kurosawa films, although with low expectations, just to increase my genre knowledge.
I've watched Uzumaki a couple of times just lately and I've got to say I'm not too impressed. It's not bad, it just seems like it could have been a lot better and doesn't really draw me in. If you can't be doing with generic J-horror then Noroi is one to try, it's a really effective mockumentary, miles better than the Blair Witch Project.
