If you’re lucky, they play by rules that you can exploit, if only to avoid becoming their target to begin with.

There may well be no fighting, no escape. You may never understand the motives of a supernatural enemy. Ultimately, the motives of human beings, however twisted, are comprehensible, and although you might well be outmatched, you can theoretically fight them off and even do away with them altogether. I also am much more frightened by supernatural elements than serial killers or home invaders, despite the latter being far more possible in reality. Much more so than, say, jump scares, which can be effective in the moment but don’t have any real lasting impact. And while what exactly constitutes “scary” depends wildly from one person to the next, I personally highly value mood, tension, and effective use of sound to set my spine crawling. Those dangerous spirits–and a whole lot of cat scares–are front and center here in Ju-on.īarac: For me, horror is one of a few genres of film where you only need to deliver one thing to be successful – in this case, you need to be scary. Which is to say, Japanese movie ghosts can kill and are dangerous not only to the mind but the body as well. With an animist folklore as a basis, Japanese ghosts are more akin to what we categorize in western folklore as demons and evil spirits.

That’s not how they work in Japan, though. They show up to simply scare, warn, or act as portents and omens. Chris Hornbostel and Barac Wiley, October 7, 2014Ĭhris: Ghosts in western culture have always been a frightening but physically benign presence.

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