#my all-time favorite horror movie is the Japanese original of The Grudge

[jasminesilk]

cider + pumpkin!

Omg thank you so much for the ask! Yay!

cider— do you dress up for halloween? if not, what do you do on halloween instead?

I only dress up for Halloween if I have a reason to, like a party to go to or something. I do enjoy it though! I used to do Halloween looks just for fun but as I've gotten older my SFX makeup stash has expired and not been replenished, plus I have other hobbies I'd rather sink my money into these days. This year on Halloween day I'll be going to Tokyo Disneyland with my cousin/bestie Misaki so if I do a look at all it'll be something simple. I'm usually a makeup-focused costume kinda person and we still wear our masks everywhere (even outside) here in Japan so it would be sorta pointless lol.

pumpkin— how do you feel about horror movies? do you like psychological thrillers more or jump-scare oriented movies?

I love SFX makeup so any excuse to consume media with lots of it is fun for me. I'm a huge horror movie lover but I'm picky with the types of horror I like. Idk probably has to do with having anxiety but I love to feel scared in a controlled environment. Psychological thrillers are okay but not my favorite, and jump-scares are really easy for me to predict so they have to be done well or they won't affect me. My favorite types of horror movies are ones that incorporate multiple types of scares, and the genre I enjoy most is ghost/haunting or possession/exorcist stuff. Bonus if there's a little mystery and plot twist in there too!

[s1aywalker]

꒰ა ♱ ໒꒱ just fake it through the day and the night is your god. ꨄ

↷ ✩ —— video store clerk sam monroe headcanons. (sfw)

warnings: brief mention of weed, profane language (sorry i can't help it).

𝜗𝜚˚⋆ sam monroe who is admittedly terrible at his job. he lives by the philosophy of the customer is always wrong. but what he lacks in customer service skills, he makes up for in love of movies... especially horror.

𝜗𝜚˚⋆ sam monroe who gets fired from the store what seems like every other week. whether it's because his drawer was suspiciously short, because he didn't show up, or because too many customers have called complaining about his poor attitude and how he smells like a skunk.

𝜗𝜚˚⋆ sam monroe who rolls out of bed in the late afternoon to show up for his closing shift ten minutes late with his boots unlaced, still wearing his smeared eyeliner from the night before.

𝜗𝜚˚⋆ sam monroe who soccer moms can't stand because he always has some splatter gore flick playing on the display television behind the counter. the snot nosed kids hug mommy's legs and hide their face in her back while they're checking out. meanwhile, she's shooting sam death glares and he seems oblivious. when really, he just doesn't give a fuck. she goes home with her bambi and spy kids tapes, and immediately makes a phone call to his manager... another tally on his shit list.

"all those bitchy moms are lucky," he mumbles to you while his fingers absentmindedly toy with the silver labret stabbed through his skin. but there's something playful, amused tugging crookedly on his lips as his gaze remains focused on the flickering television, while screams of terror crackled from speakers. "this isn't shit. if i wanted to traumatize their little brats, i'd put on maniac... i left my nametag at home, anyway." but, of course, it isn't difficult for the higher ups to piece together the puzzle.

𝜗𝜚˚⋆ sam monroe who thinks it's fucking hilarious to recommend the worst selections imaginable to customers that won't know what hit 'em. another reason for him to be fired, honestly. he sees a teen lingering a little too long in the horror section and when they ask for something that'll scare their friends this weekend... according to his manager, faces of death was not the correct answer.

𝜗𝜚˚⋆ sam monroe whose favorite customer is you.

𝜗𝜚˚⋆ sam monroe who always makes it a point to come out from behind his throne that is the checkout counter every time you come in. he wants to bug you, to breathe down your neck to see what you're going to rent because he's nosey and too impatient to find out what it'll be whenever you decide to bring your handful of selections to the front. and he wants to throw out his own recommendations, too, while he straightens out a nearby shelf.

𝜗𝜚˚⋆ sam monroe who can go on for hours about movies when he's talking to you. he's very strongly opinionated... to a fault, honestly. because he won't bite his tongue when you examine a tape he's seen and didn't like, or when you bring up enjoying some new horror flick that, in his mind, has nothing compared to a good gory classic. he'll argue with you on it, and remain firm on his stance, with a mouth that seems and sounds mean, but it's never really directed towards you.

"the grudge fucking sucked, don't you dare get that." he snorted, snatching the new release out of your hands with more aggression than necessary. it's shoved back into its slot as he begins scanning over the neatly organized shelf labeled horror, a black painted nail dragging along spines for something specific. "they americanized it for no goddamn reason... here." the search was over as he pulled out the haunting japanese cover of ju-on. "watch the original... and call me if you piss your pants."

𝜗𝜚˚⋆ sam monroe who only pretends to be annoyed when you come in ten til close with no reason other than to keep him company during the deserted hour. he says you should have just called him to hang after he clocked out, but really, he's glad you're there, because he's seen the movie he has on at least six times.

𝜗𝜚˚⋆ sam monroe who stands behind the counter while you're propped up on the surface during a lull, security cameras be damned. he was supposed to have mopped the bathroom and locked the doors by now... but mouths keep running and laughter becomes louder than the shitty movie that has now been forgotten and reduced to background noise with a chilling soundtrack.

𝜗𝜚˚⋆ sam monroe who is inching closer to your perched position and closing the gap with a bag of sour gummy worms in his hands that he says the store won't notice missing. the plastic corner is ripped open with his teeth to share and it's a bribe, a ploy to get you to stay longer.

𝜗𝜚˚⋆ sam monroe who finally convinces you to rent the evil dead trilogy. it's one of his favorites, and of course he's going to suggest you make a marathon out of it, with him tagging along for the blood soaked journey. he promises to bring your favorite candies and the popcorn with extra butter, and he promises to not talk through them... but he accidentally grabs the regular popcorn instead, and he can't help but go on and on about every single fun fact about the series that pops into his head while he gradually scoots closer.

[wrathfulmercy]

🎃 pumpkin, apparition, jack-o-lantern, thrill, pinecone, rainy 🎃

Autumn and Halloween themed asks from here @moonbcings

pumpkin— how do you feel about horror movies? do you like psychological thrillers more or jump-scare oriented movies?

Horror movies always used to be my favorite genre with fantasy following on second spot. So I always watched all kinds of them no matter if splatter, slasher, paranormal, exorcism or psychological thrillers. None of it ever scared me so most of them are pretty boring and more amusing to me (especially when they focus more on the effects the story often is shallow and makes me laugh) but I really enjoy the psychological ones the most. Like identity, shutter island, Hannibal… things like that. But my first favorite was blairwitch project cause that’s what I grew up with. And the ring was a favorite for a long time :)

apparition— do you believe in ghosts? why or why not?

Hmmm it depends. I don’t believe in ghosts in the way they are portrayed in some movies but I do believe in souls that don’t leave a certain place. I’m kinda superstitious in some things and since I’m into all kind of esoteric things like tarot or palm reading etc I do believe in some sort of higher power we don’t understand.

jack-o-lantern— do you get scared easily? why or why not?

No absolutely not. I mean yes I have a generalized anxiety disorder but that results from my CPTSD so my nervous system is just always on high alert cause of that. But movies etc never scare me. I’m too distant to fiction, real life scares me way more. But I don’t like if someone like jumps on me to scare me, then I immediately collapse. I had that with people just wanting to prank or tease me but when I lost consciousness they soon learnt it’s not a good idea 🤣

thrill—if you were in a horror movie, would you be the first to die, the comic relief, the skeptic, the smart one, the last one standing, or the killer?

It would be between killer and last one standing I guess 🤣 I mean I would never harm a single soul but regarding to my illnesses it’s a stigma that people like me turn into killers at some point 🤣 but since death or being killed or pain doesn’t scare me at all, I would probably kick their asses. They would run from me in the end.

pinecone— what's the scariest horror game you've ever played?

I know that Silent Hill 3 was a game I had to stop at some point but I was very young when it released. I played it years later and didn’t mind it in any way. But I think silent hill 2 is the best just because of all the mind fucking moments but it’s not necessarily super scary. But nothing did scare me so it’s hard to say from my perspective.

rainy— what's your favorite scary book or movie? why?

As a child I used to read a lot of Hohlbein and King there were some that probably could be considered scary even if they weren’t for me. My favorite movies though are ones I just loved or had an impact on me, not because they scared me. So my favorites: Martyrs (all time favorite but only the original), identity, silence of the lambs, shutter island, the ward (yeah that b*tch sadly is in it), modus Anomali, confessions (a Japanese one), the ring (original and American), The grudge (American), the orphan, blairwitch project (the original), Frontiers (French Horror movies are in my opinion the best), the tall man, the descent, High tension, maniac, saw (but only the first 3), compliance, cherry tree lane, sleep tight, 5150 elms way, hard candy, Eden lake, silent hill (only first one), room 1408, hide & seek and the classics scream, I know what you did last summer and Texas chainsaw massacre (the original). Sorry these were a lot but I have a reputation to lose as the one always recommending horror movies and testing them 🤣🤣🤣

[dirtmunch]

Ok for starters the absolute tops are ofc Ringu, hausu and ju on the grudge. Ringu and the grudge are the most comparable of the 3, hausu is kind of in its own league. Overall, I think if you want more scares and setups, the grudge is better for That. Every single paranormal scene is masterfully put together and they are really truly creepy. The place where the grudge fails and ringu Excells however is plot and story. There is a looser plot that strings things together, but no real ups and downs or pace. It's more about giving you several vignettes of horror all connected with one back story rather than a comprehensive story. Ringu on the other hand has an amazing investigative plot that focuses on a couple core characters and the paranormal aspects of the film are rich with aspects of Japanese culture. The first time I watched it was in my Japanese culture class and the prof. Was really great and explaining different aspects of it. It's not to say the scary scenes are lesser than ju ons, they're really all excellent and creepy, just less total scenes than the back to back ones of the grudge. That weird otherworldly deep sense of wrong. Between the two, ringu still takes home the cake.

Hausu

Hausu or House is the oldest of the movies I've seen, made in the late 70s versus the late 90s/early 2000s. There is a much stronger artistic direction with it, and the use of lighting is incredible. It eeks on the edge of parody with how they set up the lights in a fantastic way. It has a much sillier tone compared to every other Japanese horror movie I've seen while still maintaining a strong air of horror. Definitely reccomend

Noroi

Noroi is one where I was.... Dissappointed to say the least with how much I heard it being hyped. It's staged as a found footage film, following a paranormal Ingestigative journalist researching a particular curse so the footage is from his shots, as well as some TV segments. My main issue is that they kept throwing different aspects of whatever the curse manifested at the audience, with little reason given. I'm not saying they needed to explain every little thing but it feels as if they wanted to keep adding things to make it mysterious but it actually just gets confusing and hard to follow. And because of the found footage aspect of it, there isn't music or as much purposeful cinematography to enhance what scares there are.

Pulse

Pulse is also one I was somewhat dissatisfied with like noroi- tons of hype what raised my expectations too high. Well, of course besides THAT scene. It has less confusing than noroi, but still somewhat hard to follow. The first half is strong, but reallllyyy starts to fall apart at the end. It follows a couple perspectives but it's not super clean when it transitions from one to another. That being said it's definitely worth it for the one infamous scene near the beginning.

Dark Water

A solid, run of the mill film. Hits a lot of the same troupes as predecessors, which makes it mildly derivative but on its own doesn't harm the movie at all. Not much more to say honestly. Good film!

Goes without saying to watch the actual, original Japanese films instead of the horseshit American remakes

Please recc me more Japanese horror!!! It's my favorite genre. Doesn't have to be film Films either, any paranormal shows or anything like that too

[souvenirsofsurgery]

monty’s horror movie list

no one follows me for this but i’m back in my horror movie obsession era so here we go. some of them are good, some of them are bad (but I love them), and some of them are kind of unacceptable, like, morally tbh, I’m sorry

anyway, in no particular order:

mother!: I just watched this one today so it’s on my mind. get ready to be stressed out by deeply uncomfortable social situations for like, the first hour and a half and then genuinely disturbed for the last twenty minutes. i finished this and then sat in my room mouthing “what the fuck, what the fuck”. v good, 10/10

Orphan: What if you adopted a kid but they sucked?

Absentia: I was really impressed, cause this was like a low-budget, crowd funded movie but it’s so so good. This one is about a woman whose husband went missing years ago, a creepy tunnel, and family relationships. V quiet and sad

Possum: Not very much happens in this movie for a long time but the atmosphere is so good, and it’s genuinely creepy. The ending also made me so uncomfortable I almost couldn’t watch it, so there’s that

The Wolf House: Incredible unsettling stop-motion animation, and I’m a sucker for good animation. Makes more sense if you know a little Chilean history, but it’s interesting even without that context

Amityville: It’s About Time: Jumping right from that foreign arthouse film into cheesy schlock, what if a clock made people evil and fucked up?

Hell House LLC: More! Schlock! This is a fake documentary/found footage movie about people trying to make a haunted house in an old hotel... but what if it was haunted for real??

Host (the 2020 shudder original): Unfriended if it was good

Hereditary: Made me sad :( This was one of the first movies to genuinely scare me in a while, and my sister-in-law won’t even let anyone talk to her about it. The story about a family dealing with grief and complicated relationships is also just so interesting to me, this one’s in my top 10

Anything for Jackson: Reverse possession movie: they try to put a spirit IN someone! Hell yeah. So many good, weird ghosts in here, I love some good, weird ghosts

13 Ghosts: (the early 2000s remake) Speaking of good weird ghosts. What if your estranged uncle died and left you a house but there was a ghost jail in the basement? I just rewatched this movie with my little brother and remembered how much I love it. Very schlocky, Matthew Lillard’s acting is off the fucking walls and I love it, why does he act like that??

Kindred: One of the only “is it in her head, or is it real?” movies where I actually really wasn’t sure. It’s about a woman whose husband dies right before she’s about to give birth, so she ends up staying with his family and slowly starts to question their motives

Parents: What if you were just a little kid and you started to suspect your parents were eating people?

Basket Case: I’m not crying over a B movie, I’m not crying over a B movie. In this one, two conjoined twins are surgically separated against their wills, with one of them getting thrown in the trash. As adults, they start hunting down the doctors who did it to them

The Poughkeepsie Tapes: Very depressing fake documentary about a serial killer. Just fucked up and sad

The Taking of Deborah Logan: One of the few found footage movies that I think is actually good. A small documentary crew goes to film a woman and her aging mother who’s suffering from dementia, but they start to think that... huh, maybe this is something a little worse than dementia...

Ju-On: The Grudge (the original Japanese one): this movie just freaks me out, I don’t like how Kayako moves around, I don’t like the sounds she makes, and I don’t like her weird little son

The Ring (the American remake): I saw this movie when I was like 8 bc someone recorded it over the Willy Wonka VHS I’d gotten from the thrift store, and I’ve been fucked up ever since. In it, a woman sees a cursed tape that will make you die in seven days, and has to try and figure out how to save herself before then. GREAT atmosphere, very creepy

Sadako Vs Kayako: What if the girl from the Grudge and the girl from the Ring fought each other? Hell yeah. Plus, love that a ghost hunter comes to help with the situation and he’s got a random mean little girl with him. People are like “why is she here?” and he’s just like “she’s my associate” okay?? Where did she come from??? I’m obsessed with this movie

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A classic. Rancid, nasty atmosphere, just feels gross, 10/10 

Society: Rich people suck so so bad and are very fucked up

House of 1000 Corpses: I love this movie and I’m sorry, its just some disgusting, campy fun. Like, what if your car broke down the night before halloween and ended up in a house with some terrible (but very entertaining) people?

Oculus: The idea of being a little kid, stuck in the house while your parents are slowly losing it, or potentially being possessed by something evil, is really scary to me. This movie does it so well. It moves back and forth from the main characters going through that in their childhoods, to them as adults, back in the house where it happened, and it’s so so good

Hellraiser: You tell me it’s about the blurry line between pleasure and pain and I watch it. The designs for the cenobites are so good. I like this first one a lot, but I also really enjoy the second one bc the torture dimension looks like MC Escher designed it and it’s sick as hell

The Others: This is one of my favorite, like, classic haunted house kind of movie. A mother keeps her kids inside an old mansion, with all the curtains drawn, because they have an illness that means they can’t go in the sunlight. Very, very creepy

The Blair Witch Project: This one just feels so real, I’ve never seen another found footage movie that reached this level. The actors knocked it out of the park, how am I so freaked out just by a couple of people wandering around the woods? It’s the blueprint, honestly

A Nightmare on Elm Street: You guys know this one, he gets you in your dreams! Probably my favorite of the classic slashers, I love some good old practical effects. my brother actually just bought me the WHOLE box set for my birthday so I’m gonna start working though the ones I haven’t seen yet 

Jennifer’s Body: What if your best friend, who you have a very homoerotic relationship with, started eating dudes? Iconic. No, but seriously, this movie has a lot more going on than you might think 

House of Wax (the 2000s remake): Bad, but so good. It’s really got that uncanny valley thing going on, love that fucked up wax museum

Ichi the Killer: Pretty unacceptable, I can’t in good conscience tell you to watch this movie, but it’s definitely an experience. Very very very violent, like super violent, but in the wildest fucking ways. Basically, what if you were a masochistic Yakuza member with a weird joker mouth and you just wanted a sadistic vigilante to beat the absolute shit out of you? Anyway, I think there’s something wrong with Takashi Miike and probably also me

Black Christmas: This is one of the og og slashers. It’s about girls getting killed in a sorority house, but surprisingly it’s like, not really an exploitation film, and I really like the characters. Good, unsettling killer, too

The Baby: WEIRD. Weird and uncomfortable. I’m not trying to kink shame anyone when I say this, but it’s probably definitely a fetish thing. In it, a social worker takes on the case of a family with an adult son who they’re claiming has the mind of a baby. This one’s probably kind of unacceptable too, to be honest with you

[localhorrornerd]

31 Horror Movies for the Halloween Season

Well.. It’s a little bit over 31 bc of sequels and such but it’s a fun title for horror recs! For the record these are in no particular order in like what’s the best or anything! It’s just a list of horror movie recommendations that might get you in the Halloween mood. I tried not to have huge well-known movies on here, but I did throw in a few just because I love them and couldn’t resist. I did try to add small descriptions for each one, but given there’s like 31 movies on here, they are rather short. Either way, hopefully you’ll find one or a couple movies here that you’re interested in!

1. Trick ‘r Treat

A rather well-known one but is it really a list without Trick ‘r Treat? A fun horror anthology with four different stories that connect to each other in some way - including the fact they all take place on Halloween night! A fun one to actually watch on Halloween.

2. Hell House LLC

For the record there are two sequels (Hell House LLC 2: The Abaddon Hotel & Hell House LLC 3: Lake of Fire), however I have not seen either of them so can’t include them here, but if you want to watch them I’d say go check them out! Basically it’s a documentary style type film that follows what happened up to the days a horrible tragedy took place on the opening night of a haunted house attraction. No one knows exactly what actually went down, so the reason for the documentary is to attempt to figure out what truly happened that night.

3. Repo! The Genetic Opera

A horror musical! It’s set in a future where organ failure is extremely common so naturally a huge company comes along and is like “Okay you can have an organ transplant, but you have a huge payment plan and if you can’t pay then we’re just gonna kill you and take your organs back.” Also it has so many good songs would highly recommend if you haven’t seen it (and you can stomach a bit of gore).

4. The Devil’s Carnival & Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival

Another horror musical! And done by the same people who did Repo! For the record The Devil’s Carnival is only about an hour long but the sequel is a full length movie! A short quick explanation is that it’s set in Hell (unsurprisingly) and follows the people who end up there - also during this the Devil is planning an attack - but I’ll let you find out the rest if you haven’t seen it yet.

5. Ju-On and/or The Grudge (Any Film)

It’s my favorite horror franchise, so of course Ju-On was gonna end up on here! Whether it be the original Japanese films or the American remakes, it follows vengeful spirits who were murdered in their home and are taking revenge on anyone who enters.

6. Sinister & Sinister 2

Okay I know Sinister 2 is one not very well liked, but since I have seen it I decided I might as well include it (though I don’t really remember my thoughts on it it’s been a while). Video tapes that contain children murdering their families and a mysterious being that may be at the center of it is the basic plot for these movies.

7. Tragedy Girls

Basically you got two best friends who capture a serial killer because they themselves want to become serial killers! Don’t wanna say too much outside of that, as that is the basic plot concept honestly, but it’s a really fun movie.

8. The Final Girls

A girl dealing with the anniversary of her mother’s death ends up, with a small group of others, stuck in a horror movie that her mother actually starred in. Okay as much fun as this one is it does pull on the heart strings a bit I gotta admit. But it’s truly great and naturally has a feel of an older slasher movie.

9. You Might be the Killer

Another one that’s got that older slasher movie vibe as it takes place at a camp. One where the counselors are getting picked off one by one by a masked killer. Comes in our protagonist, who is calling his friend, who isn’t at the camp and also is a huge horror enthusiast, for help to figure out what to do and maybe figure out what’s going on/who the killer is.

10. Danur (aka Danur: I Can See Ghosts)

A young girl who just wants friends finds them in the form of three potentially paranormal ones. Though it seemingly being just a childhood thing, it actually becomes of great importance as she gets older. This movie also has a sequel, Danur 2: Maddah.

11. Fright Night

For the record I am talking about the remake here, as I have not seen the original, but if you would prefer to watch that one - or maybe even both - go for it! Basically, teen starts to believe his new neighbor is a vampire after more and more people go missing. Also David Tennant is there if you go with the remake so that’s always fun!

12. Tales of Halloween

Admittedly I wasn’t too into this film, but I know a lot of people like it! Not too much to say, it’s a horror anthology with 10 different segments that take place on Halloween! So you’re bound to find something you enjoy within it, whether it be the paranormal, witches, or even just dumb fun horror comedy antics.

13. The Tag-Along

Based on an urban legend from Taiwan, “The Little Girl in Red”, it focuses on a man and his girlfriend. Of which the man’s grandmother suddenly goes missing one day - eventually leading to him discovering clues of a potential unknown little girl who had began following his grandmother around. There are two sequels to this movie as well that I have not seen yet, that being The Tag-Along 2 & The Tag-Along: The Devil Fish.

14. Three... Extremes

Another anthology film that contains three separate stories, each one coming from a different East Asian country. It also has a prequel, Three (or 3... Extremes II in the U.S.), and a full length film made from one of the stories within it, Dumplings.

15. The Hallow

Really feel like the point of this movie is like ‘Don’t fuck with the woods’. As it basically focuses on a couple and their baby, who seems to be the target for the odd things happening to them that seems rather connected to the woods nearby.

16. The Devil’s Candy

A man moves with his family into a new home, and slowly begins to feel as though something is possessing him in a sense. That and also the potential fact his family is being targeted by the previous resident of the home.

17. Wake Wood

Apparently FMA did not teach us not to fuck with the dead enough, so here’s a movie about a grieving couple that lost their daughter who move into a town that holds the power to bring someone back from the dead for only 3 days. Unfortunately like FMA, things go horribly wrong (just not... in the same way as FMA).

18. The Cabin in the Woods

College students go out to a cabin in the woods in which things quickly take a turn for the worst. Seems simple enough, but it’s so much more complicated than that - however I won’t be sharing any of those details for those who haven’t watched it yet.

19. Prevenge

A pregnant woman who’s husband has recently passed away, believes that her unborn child wants her to track down and kill everyone who was involved in the accident. An extremely wild but honestly rather fun time.

20. You’re Next

Home invasion, baby! In which everything goes to hell for a family and their partners when masked killers start trying to kill everyone there. Though things take a turn quick and you start to wonder who is really the ones being hunted down here. (A fairly well known one, but I had to recommend it given one of my favorite characters in horror is in this movie)

21. Kuronezumi (aka Black Rat)

Not too much to say here basic plot wise. Six students receive texts from their dead classmate, they follow as the texts ask and go to the school at night, and then start getting targeted by a killer wearing a rat mask.

22. Lights Out

A family potentially being haunted by a creature that only appears when the lights go out? Plus a whole lot of family drama? Always fun truly! It’s also somewhat based off a viral short film of the same name that the director had made before he got to make it a full length film.

23. Absentia

Absolutely had to put a Mike Flanagan movie on here. One that focuses on a pregnant woman who’s started towards attempting to move on with her life after her husband disappeared seven years ago. However, as she takes a huge step towards doing so, something rather odd happens - which I’ll let you find out for yourself if you choose to watch it.

24. Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Perhaps it’s because it’s the one Halloween movie without Michael Myers, or perhaps it’s because I was blanking out on movies I watched that aren’t extremely well-known, but I felt the need to add this one on here. It focuses on this man who is out to kill children on Halloween by using a line of Halloween masks. So basically another fun one to watch on Halloween!

25. The Barn

Teenagers go to a barn where there’s a supposed curse that can awaken Halloween-themed monsters on Halloween night. What could possibly go wrong? Honestly another one that would be a lot of fun to actually watch on Halloween.

26. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

A really fun documentary type film where it’s set in a world where iconic horror slashers are actually real! And a documentary crew are out to make a movie centered around Leslie Vernon, who wishes to go down in history as another one of the famous slashers. This one is really just *chef’s kiss* to me, very much recommend if you haven’t seen it.

27. Creep & Creep 2

Found footage type films in which we follow people who are hired by this rather concerning man to film him. That’s really all I can say unfortunately without trying to give away too much.

28. What We Do in the Shadows

Another documentary-style type movie! It tends to be more comedic than it is horror, but it follows  a group of vampires that live together! Sort of documenting their lives and how they survive day by day. Honestly it’s so ridiculous and hilarious, and I know many people have seen it by now but I have to recommend it none the less as it’s one of my favorites. Plus, it also has an equally hilarious tv series now that you can also give a watch!

29. The Banana Splits Movie

Who doesn’t want to see the Banana Splits as animatronics that start randomly slaughtering people after the news that their show is going to be cancelled? Honestly it’s really just a fun, ridiculous movie that isn’t meant to be taken seriously. Perhaps something to watch with friends to get in the mood for Halloween.

30. The Last Exorcism

Another one that has a sequel I have not seen: The Last Exorcism Part II. Another documentary style film (Sorry I added so many of these whoops), that follows a reverend who goes around performing fake exorcisms. Things start getting a bit more complicated though when lines start beginning to blur between what is real and what is fake while doing his current “exorcism” he was asked to perform.

31. V/H/S & V/H/S 2

There is also a third film, V/H/S: Viral, however I have not seen that one. Not too much to say here, they’re basically just an anthology of short horror films that are supposedly being shown from VHS tapes.

[slashertalks]

The ring review??❤️

OK so ik i could like safely assume this is abt the 2002 remake, The Ring, but since you didn’t specify I used this as an excuse to watch Ringu so this is basically gonna be a two-for-one review!

Now, I’ve seen Gore Verbinski’s The Ring multiple times and though it’s now lost most of its edge, the ending of that film STILL fucks me up. The “what about the person we show it to?” line followed by a sharp cut to segments of the tape and then static? Holy SHIT yo! I kind of want to buy this movie on VHS just for the aesthetics of it all. Potential future impulse purchases aside, The Ring is an excellent movie. There’s a lot of tension, good effects, an interesting story— it all builds up into a great paranormal film with, again, potentially one of the single best endings to a horror movie in cinema history. 

I have to say I may know a little more about Ringu history than your average, casual horror viewer, so I’m gonna throw a little backstory at y’all. Ringu, the 1998 movie, was based off of a novel of the same name. It was preceded by a 1995 television movie which was more faithful to the book, but supposedly not as good— I haven’t seen it so I can’t judge it. However, between the novel/TV movie and the 98 movie, a big change took place: the protagonist went from male to female. Reiko Asakawa, single mother and journalist is reporting on the urban legend of a tape that kills people— this is perhaps the biggest difference between Verbinski’s remake and the 98 film. In the remake, Rachel only begins investigating the tape at the request of her sister, and the mother of the teen who died at the beginning of the movie.

The Ring, it’s worth noting, is an almost shot-for-shot adaptation. It certainly expands on the premise, with the addition of horses and the suicide of the father, but I was ultimately surprised by how similar the two are. Now, I’m firmly of the belief that US remakes of foreign movies are unnecessary, but I also can’t deny that I love The Ring. Beyond the improved ending, the distorted corpse faces are MUCH scarier (thanks to more modern effects, of course, but the fact remains). It’s necessary to be somewhat lenient with Ringu, since it didn’t have the backing that a big Hollywood film would. With what they have, they make the tension work quite well.

I have to note that my opinions on Ringu/The Ring and Ju-On/The Grudge are reversed (I know Ju-On: The Grudge is the third Japanese Ju-On movie, I’m speaking specifically about Ju-On: The Curse). Ju-On: The Curse is worlds better than The Grudge, though I personally find The Ring to be better than Ringu. I must note that Ringu almost seems like more of a thriller than a strict horror movie, however, whereas The Ring is 100% horror— and that without Ringu, The Ring wouldn’t have had such a strong foundation to build off of. 

Ultimately, I would watch The Ring over Ringu — I would potentially even watch Rasen over Ringu, but that’s a post for another day (seriously, give Rasen another chance; it’s a little slow, but it has a lot of interesting ideas and it’s fun to see Ryūji Takayama again. Ryūji was definitely a favorite, moreso than Noah).

Also, not to perpetuate the unfair connection between Ringu and Ju-On (they really are very different movies), if you want to watch a Japanese ghost movie, watch Ju-On: The Curse (not The Grudge!!!) — There’s a quite a lot more charm to The Curse than to Ringu, and a lot more scares, and since the remake was The Grudge I feel like horror fans who aren’t into Japanese horror may not know two movies came before the Japanese original of The Grudge!

Ultimately, though, this is one situation where the remake outshines the original, though arguably not by much— a remake is always intrinsically tied to its original, and although the remake is better in my opinion the source is also a very strong film. I would not recommend watching them back to back, however, since they are so similar. Give yourself a bigger chunk of time than I did, because I feel like I didn’t appreciate Ringu as much as I could’ve when it was directly following Verbinski’s The Ring.

I will also take a moment to note that because the protagonist in the novels was male, I appreciate that Verbinski’s remake was also female-led— it would’ve been easy for them to pull a “we’re being more faithful to the novel” and made Reiko/Rachel male instead. Considering the way things go in Hollywood, I do really have to say I’m glad Rachel was Rachel; it’s always refreshing to have female leads in horror that aren’t completely flat, stereotypical slasher-fodder.

[moonlightmadnessreviews]

The Grudge (2020): Time Jumps and Jump Scares and Snores, Oh My!

There are very few times I’ve let out an audible groan at the conclusion of a movie, especially when I’m in a theater full of people. Last night was one of those rare occasions, and as The Grudge’s end credits began to roll, I wasn’t the only one left groaning. The Grudge was never one of my favorite films to come out of the Japanese-to-American remake boom of the early to mid 2000s, but having seen the promising trailer (how could I let myself be fooled? I know better than to trust trailers!) and the original in theaters, I figured I’d give this one a shot.

Directed by Nicolas Pesce, whose last film The Eyes of My Mother would be a better investment of your time, this reboot/remake/sequel tried to stoke the fires of interest that have long gone out in this franchise. We are introduced to Detective Muldoon and her son Burke, played by Andrea Riseborough and John J. Hansen respectively. Having lost her husband to Cancer only 3 months prior to the events we see, the film wastes no time in begging us to feel sympathy for the Muldoon family. Unfortunately, the story beats are there, but (despite great performances by Riseborough and the entire cast throughout) the heart is missing. Muldoon and her partner Detective Goodman (Demián Bichir) find the body of a woman who looks to have been burned alive inside her vehicle, wrecked just off a secluded service road. However, once Goodman hears there is a connection to the Landers Case, he decides he wants no part of the investigation and this prompts Muldoon to start digging into the case herself.

As we’ve seen in the series up to this point, The Grudge refers to the grudge a spirit carries when they’ve been killed in a fit or rage, their soul now dead set on revenge. This film does nothing to build on that lore, simply implying that the curse was brought to America by Mrs. Landers after having worked in Japan. What we end up with is a film that bounces between several different time lines to help give a back story and context to the Landers case, but forgets to give our protagonist anything to do. When we do follow Muldoon, it is shown she has quickly fallen into madness after entering the Landers house and we are shot into these flashbacks as she goes through the case file itself.

In theory, that is an awesome concept. In practice however, we’ve seen it done before and other films don’t linger on these flashbacks for so long that the main plot line ends up feeling like an afterthought. It’s as if the film wanted to live by the old adage “show, don’t tell” and took it way seriously. I would have felt much more compelled to care about Muldoon and her son had we condensed these long flash backs to montages laid over interviews with real estate agent Peter Spencer (John Cho) or Detective Wilson (William Sadler), and had Muldoon haunted by Fiona Landers (Tara Westwood) herself.

I can honestly say I saw where the film was trying to go, and what Pesce was trying to do with it, but it really just got away from him well into the first act. You can tell he wanted this film to feel smart, that he was trying to inject heart into it and he had such a stellar cast that he may have just felt they would help to polish the mess we ended up with. If not for the cast this would have felt like a straight-to-Netflix release, and of all the cast members, Lin Shaye really shines! I have loved Shaye since seeing her in Detroit Rock City, and her work in the Insidious franchise is my favorite part of that series.

I never enjoy ripping on a movie, but I’m not above calling out a boring movie when I’ve seen one. The theater was filled with patrons on their phones and conversations from noisy teens and I couldn’t even be mad about it. You could tell the time jumping was getting to people, not causing confusion but frustration and the few scares this movie had were so telegraphed, they were met with laughter rather than screams and that’s never a good sign. As couples walked out and the theater grew emptier and emptier, those who stayed seemed to get rowdier and rowdier, which is a shameful way to have a movie received. I’ve only experienced one other movie that had its audience so disinterested by the end of its run time and I don’t think Pesce intended The Grudge to be in the company of Jeepers Creepers 3 when brought up in conversation.

The Grudge 2020 felt like it would have served better as a short film, something with a runtime of 10 minutes, tops! That’s all it would have taken to show the story of Detective Muldoon. We could have seen her at the end of her investigation, driven mad by the hauntings, with interviews and interrogations to give us the same exposition we got from the time jumps, and it probably would have hit harder and with a more favorable outcome. With a screenplay that thinks it’s smarter than it is, a stellar cast working from boring material, and scares that just fall flat, The Grudge earns its spot in the pantheon of sub-par January horror releases.

Rating: 1.5 Full Moons out of 5 🌕🌗

[tlbodine]

A Decade of Horror Recommendations: Millennium Edition

After my 2010s horror recs post, @comicreliefmorlock asked me to do some for older films. So I figured I’d just work my way backward. 

The lists might get a bit shorter and less diverse as I go back in time as I’m not as well-versed in older horror films, but I’ll toss out some recommendations for what I’ve seen and maybe some will be new to you anyway :)

Long post under the cut! 

2000: A Surprisingly Good Year for Horror 

Maybe we don’t think of the Y2K year as a big one for the horror genre, but it was still riding the tail end of the slasher/teen horror revival. Some must-sees:

Final Destination: I’ve written pretty extensively about this movie and it’s no surprise that I like it a lot, even if the sequels get downright ridiculous. The original still stands on its own feet. 

Ginger Snaps: Maybe one of the best werewolf movies, period. Smart writing and a strong female cast as an added bonus. 

American Psycho: Did you know this came out in 2000? I honestly always thought it was older, somehow, maybe because by the time I watched it in college it seemed like everyone had seen it. Fun fact: did you know it was directed by a woman? 

What Lies Beneath: Part psychological horror, part drama-thriller, and sporting a surprisingly A-list cast. It has some well-worn tropes, but it’s a solid watch. 

Battle Royale: Speaking of movies that seem like they’re way older than they are, did you know Battle Royale only came out in the year 2000? 

There were a smattering of Asian imports in 2000 but none of them quite got their feet under them. I will make a shout-out/honorable mention here for Blood: The Last Vampire, an anime film that’s pretty well-known and gets referenced a lot. 

2001: The Beginning of the End (for a little while)

Some solid stand-alone titles came out this year, but it also was the start of when the 90s revival started to dwindle down, I feel, with plenty of disappointments to go around. Scary Movie didn’t help much (and it also launched a whole trend of really awful spoof movies, which tried real hard to kill the comedy genre for a long time, imo). Anyway, some recs! 

Jeepers Creepers: The director is an unfortunate sack of shit, but the movie is quite good. The first part, which draws heavily from a true story, is especially chilling. 

Thirteen Ghosts: An underrated gem. The plot twists too much for my liking, but the ghost designs are super cool and the whole concept of the house is neat. A+ for originality. 

The Devil’s Backbone: Maybe my favorite Guillermo Del Toro film, and a damn good ghost story to boot. 

Suicide Club: A Japanese import that feels a bit ahead of its time in terms of pop culture (and internet culture especially). Features a couple of squick-heavy scenes I still struggle to watch (but, like, in a good way). 

Ichi the Killer: Another Japanese import and my introduction to Takashi Miike, who makes me more viscerally uncomfortable than just about anyone. 

It’s also probably worth mentioning From Hell, the Johnny Depp movie about Jack the Ripper, which many people enjoyed. I personally strongly dislike the film for reasons I can’t fully explain. 

2002: Wait, That’s When That Movie Came Out? 

I feel like 2002 was a big year for me in the “movies I enjoy but didn’t watch until years later” department, probably because I was a teenager with minimal access to decent cinema. It was also a rocking good year for Japanese horror. 

28 Days Later: A movie that brought about the return of zombies in a big way, and also introduced (or at least popularized) fast zombies. Also it’s super scary. 

May: I don’t even know if May counts as horror, but it’s a dark, quirky movie that I try to make everyone watch because I love it so much. 

Ghost Ship: Honestly the bulk of the movie is pretty forgettable, but the opening scene is one of my favorite moments in gory cinematic history. 

Signs: M. Night Shyamalan’s last decent movie or his first shitty one, depending on who you ask. I liked it a lot when I first watched it, and it started to fall apart more and more as I got older. 

Ju-On: The Grudge: One of the better-known Japanese horrors and one whose tropes still get referenced and re-used. Skip the 2004 remake and watch the original trilogy. 

The Ring: Probably the best-known Japanese horrors and maybe the import that put “Japanese horror” into public consciousness. 

There was a lot of shlocky dreck in 2002, some of it decent (Cabin Fever) and some of it downright awful (Pinata: Survival Island/Demon Island). I should also mention Red Dragon, based on Thomas Harris’s novel of the same name, which quite a few people liked (I’ve only seen it once but I recall being underwhelmed). Also an honorable mention to Dog Soldiers, which I have not seen but which I hear frequently recommended as an A+ werewolf film. 

2003: Wow that’s a lot of dreck 

Look fam nobody said these film recs would be objective. There were a ton of horror movies that came out in 2003, I just didn’t really like hardly any of them. Some exceptions: 

Willard: The movie that made me want to start keeping rats as pets, which says more about me than it does the film. It’s a great movie, though, the first thing I ever saw Crispin Glover in (and god, he’s amazing), and one of the few films that I think is better than the book. 

Identity: A pretty decent psychological horror starring John Cusack. Watch this and 1408 together as a double-feature for maximum fun factor. 

House of 1000 Corpses: Look, if you’re reading this blog, you probably already have an opinion one way or another of Rob Zombie. The movie’s on the list because it’s arguably historically important, not because it’s objectively good. 

A few other notable moments from 2003 included a Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake (just watch the original, but if you insist on a remake, this is one of the better ones), the second Final Destination film (the last good one in the franchise), the Jeepers Creepers sequel, Freddy vs Jason, Darkness Falls, and Dreamcatcher. Like I said, there were lots of movies that came out this year, I just don’t think they were very good. 

2004: Oops we created torture porn 

I was in college at this point, which meant I was watching less horror than at any other moment in my life (I had a roommate who really hated scary movies) so maybe that’s why I haven’t heard of the majority of movies that came out that year. Or maybe they were all just really bad, hence why I still haven’t seen them. Hmmm. But! A few shining stars: 

Saw: Obviously a classic. I’m lukewarm about the franchise, but the original is an excellent film and well worth watching, especially given the impact it would have on the next many years of horror cinema. 

Shaun of the Dead: Hilarious, and honestly one of my favorite zombie films of all time. 

Dumplings: A Korean important you likely missed in 2004 but may have seen in a Three Extremes compilation. Well worth the watch if you’re not squeamish. 

Otherwise 2004 was pretty lackluster. Some forgettable franchise installments, some shlocky creature features, some unnecessary remakes. Lots of titles I’m unfamiliar with, though, too, so somebody tell me if I missed a big one that year! 

2005: Ehhhh

Just a couple important titles this year too: 

Hostel: Not a great movie. In fact, pretty damn campy. But an important one to watch to understand the torture porn genre. 

The Devil’s Rejects: See above re: House of 1000 Corpses. Hit or miss but a well-liked film by Rob Zombie fans. 

And  you know what, I think that’s actually it. I mean there were other movies -- a remake of The Fog,  the infinitely predictable Hide and Seek, the second Saw installment, and of course Doom. But it just wasn’t a great year for horror, imo. One shout-out here though for Wolf Creek, which is on my to-watch list; I haven’t seen it so I can’t vouch for it, but it does get recommended to me a lot. 

2006: Mostly more of the same 

Did we seriously have a Saw movie every year in the 2000s or what? No wonder everybody got sick of them and thought all horror was torture porn for a while. Talk about market saturation. 

Anyway, some shout-outs: 

Stay Alive: This movie is ridiculous, but I love it a lot. It’s about a video game that kills you in real life, and is a more successful video game movie than most actual adaptations. 

ReCycle: An Asian import. I missed this one entirely when it came out, but it’s one of my favorites to have discovered in later years. It’s a seriously cool movie, both fanciful and deeply uncomfortable. Content warning for abortion, but it’s not what you think. 

Otherwise, just some mostly soulless remakes (The Omen, The Hills Have Eyes, The Wicker Man), some franchise installments (Saw III, Final Destination 3, The Grudge 2). I will give an honorable mention to Black Sheep, which is so-bad-it’s-good ridiculous, and to that cult favorite Slither. 

2007: Wait, is horror getting good again?

Well, not quite, but we’re back on the map with some promising additions in a year where the genre seemed to be struggling to rediscover its identity: 

The Mist: One of the better Stephen King adaptations. 

30 Days of Night: A divisive entry in the canon, but a pretty interesting piece to study for anyone interested in vampires. 

28 Weeks Later: Not exactly a direct sequel to the earlier 28 Days Later, and probably not as good of a film, but pretty good in its own right. 

1408: Watch this one with Identity (see above) and enjoy a night of John Cusack going crazy in hotel rooms. 

The Orphanage: One of my favorite horror films of all time, both deeply unsettling and agonizingly sad. 

Paranormal Activity: The highest-grossing film of all time thanks to its low budget. Also what we can blame for the burst of popularity in the “found footage” style. 

Dead Silence: A movie that still frequently gets recommended and delivers some solid spooks. I’m not as fond of it as a lot of people, but it deserves a mention for how often it gets referenced (and for playing “killer ventriloquist dummies” straight as a trope). 

Trick r Treat: A Halloween classic. 

Of course the year brought us another Saw and another Hostel, a contentious Halloween reboot, another stab at I Am Legend (often adapted, rarely well), and a smattering of other sequels. I have not seen The Girl Next Door but based on how rarely I hear it recommended compared to the book, I imagine I’m not missing much. Borderlands was OK but, for my money, forgettable. Oh, there was also Grindhouse, a double feature which I quite enjoyed (I saw it in theaters, where it came with a warning for length, which I found amusing) but which history does not seem to have remembered positively. 

2008: Did Somebody Order a Recession? 

Back to slim pickings, although I admittedly have not seen most of the films released that year (I was pretty damn broke in 2008, so maybe that’s why). Still: 

Let the Right One In: Skip the later English remake, you cowards, and watch this with subtitles. It’s so good. SO GOOD. An unexpected twist on the vampire story, and kind of a romance to boot. Sort of. In a really messed up way. 

Cloverfield: A couple things are neat about Cloverfield. One, it was an early adopter and trope-setter for found-footage movies. Two, it successfully spawned a franchise where none of the movies feel related at all. Three, it launched with some really cool viral marketing that was utterly ahead of its time. On the downside, the shaky cam may in fact make you vomit if you get seasick easily. 

Repo! The Genetic Opera: A classic. Also may in fact be the only film of its kind, or at least the only rock-opera scifi-horror that comes to mind. 

I haven’t seen Pontypool, though it’s on my watch-list -- I’ve heard it’s quite good. Ditto Tokyo Gore Police which delivers, to my understanding, exactly what it says on the tin. Speaking of movies I didn’t see, can we take a moment to appreciate that a film called “Sauna” with the tagline “cleanse your sins” came out this year? Jfk 2008, are you OK? 

2009: Why are all the best horrors comedies this year 

It really does become obvious just how much the genre was floundering to figure out what it was doing the latter half of the decade, because the movies are so weirdly hit-or-miss. I do have some favorite hidden gems, though, alongside a couple well-known recs: 

Zombieland: A genuinely funny feel-good zombie comedy-horror, feeding right into a growing cultural fascination with zombies. 

Jennifer’s Body: Is this a comedy? Is this a horror? What is this? I’m not sure how to classify it but I sure do like it. 

Antichrist: Ok I don’t know if this is a recommendation per se, but if I had to watch this with my own eyes, I’m making y’all watch it too. Have you ever wondered what it might look like to watch a filmmaker have a psychotic break while making a movie? That’s almost literally what this film is. 

The Human Centipede: This is a cop-out because I have not watched these movies and I in fact refuse to watch these movies because the premise is fucking stupid, but I will acknowledge the historical, ah, importance? of this film in the greater scheme of 21st century horror. 

Dread: One of my favorite movies, and the film I recommend to anyone who wants to watch a torture film done right. I love the shit out of this movie. Please go watch this movie. 

Grace: Deeply disturbing and pulling approximately zero punches. It’s one of the best films to tread the “horrors of motherhood” territory, which is saying something because that’s very fertile (ha, ha) ground. 

I actually have not seen Drag Me to Hell or The Last House on the Left, although people have recommended both to me. Anyone want to chime in with how good they might be? I also want to make a shout-out to Daybreakers, which I feel like nobody ever talks about but which actually has one of the most fascinating vampire concepts I’ve ever seen on film. The movie itself is kind of boring and forgettable, but the idea is really neat. 

And that wraps up my journey through the 2000s in horror. Next decade: The 90s, coming right up! 

[sentientpaperbag]

Do you like any other horror movie series or is it just Jason?

Oh yeah, horror is my fave genre of movie lol

The f13 movies are just my fave cuz of Jason and how over the top they are. Cuz they’re really fun.

But I also like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, the Puppet Master movies are really fun and I have a soft spot for them, I like the first two alien movies and the Predator movies although they’re technically sci-fi moreso than horror, some classic movies like Dracula and Frankenstein are fun, and the Wolfman is one of my all-time favorites. The Mummy, the original one with Boris Karloff, is pretty good. I enjoyed both the Japanese and American versions of The Grudge and The Ring (although the American sequels are laughably bad. I watched Rings in theaters and had to fight laughing the whole time, and I knew it was gonna be that awful lol)

I’m also a big fan of really over the top cheesy b-movie horror films, like The Mantis, holy shit that one’s funny, and this kinda obscure British horror movie called Island of Terror, my sides hurt from laughing the first time I watched it.

I also like the more psychological horror films too, like the original Psycho is still really interesting when you go into the movie through a psychological perspective.

Foreign horror is probably one of my favorite genres of horror though. American horror is usually crude and bloody, although I’ve noticed Italian horror is… like that but times 10 in the blood territory. Japanese horror movies are so vastly different from American horror.

Listen I could talk for hours about my love of the horror genre lmao

OH and how could I forget about horror musicals?! Little Shop of Horrors, Phantom of the Opera(i like the 2004 film despite its...many, many flaws), Rocky Horror Picture Show, the works! I love musicals as much as I love horror films lol.

Fun fact about me and Phantom of the Opera, it’s literally my favorite musical of all time, and I’ve been trying to collect every version of the movie to ever exist. I’ve got the original 1925 silent film, the 1962 film, an obscure version with Robert Englund of all people playing the Phantom that came out in 1989, I like that one a lot cuz it really plays up the horror movie tropes, the 25th anniversary DVD of the musical, and a DVD of the Australian production of Love Never Dies, PLUS the original 1986 album of the original musical cast of PotO and the first official soundtrack for LND. I also have the original novel and one of the oddly many unofficial sequels. Unfortunately it’s Phantom of Manhattan and I don’t like that one cuz it’s the one that got kind of adapted into Love Never Dies. Anyway, I’m still on the search for as many PotO movies as I can get! I also have a really cool snowglobe and I got to see the musical for the first time live back in January.

Sorry I went off on a tangent

Also I named my car Christine but that’s because of the Stephen King story lol

[comicreliefmorlock]

So here's a fun game. What are, let's say...10-15 pieces of media (books, tv, movies, whatever) that seem to have been made JUST for you? why?

*cracks knuckles*

Surprisingly, not all of these will be Tanith Lee.

…however…

{And this goes under a cut because this is going to be a very long, verbose post. A really long, verbose post.}

1. “Tales from the Flat Earth” by Tanith Lee

These books are essentially like sitting by a crackling fire on a cool summer night beneath the glimmering night sky while a smiling crone cards wool and tells you the stories that come from a time aeons before your birth. I have never in my life found a quartet of books–let alone one book–that have so completely and absolutely captivated me. From the first page of “Night’s Master,” I was gone.

Not only the language–breaking the fourth wall and referring to “words lost when the world reformed itself in the chaos”–but the characters… Azhrarn, the personification of Wickedness who saves humanity with love. Uhlume, the personification of Death who faces a form of mortality and is forever changed by it. Chuz, the walking embodiment of Madness, who is gentle to those under his domain and understands that he cannot understand why he does what he does.

Ferazhin and Narasen and Sivesh and Simmu and Jornadesh and Kassafeh and Zhirem and Azhriaz and Dunziel… Names I have never forgotten because they all but sang to me. A flat earth that holds the best and worst of humanity, often balled into a single person, with Underearth and Innerearth and Upperearth holding gods that have grown so distant they no longer recall humans were their creation at all. 

I have always loved mythology and these books? These are myth.

2. Pan’s Labyrinth -dir. by Guillermo del Toro

I’m not from Spain or know Spanish. I knew nothing about the Spanish Civil War when I first saw this movie. And this was the first film I saw that cemented del Toro for me as the only man I would ever trust to turn Tanith Lee’s books into cinema. 

I love fairy tales, mythology and folklore. And when you read enough of it, you see how bloody it actually is. How terrifying it is to realize that you’re not the only one in the world, humans aren’t the only ones, there are creatures on the midnight side of reality that share space with you. 

And I never really liked the Disney version of fairy tales with “happily ever after” and weddings. 

This movie was literally like watching something I’d imagined for myself. The acting was fucking phenomenal, the sets and costumes were off the hook and the comparison of “fairy tale horror” and “real horror” that overlapped just blew me the hell away.

And Doug Jones… Doug Fucking Jones. I never respected mimes until him and now I give all the respect. Being able to act, to breathe real life into a concept and a costume until it becomes a character you could picture walking through a forest or peering around a corner while not being able to use your own voice OR your own facial expressions is a kind of magic I think does not get enough appreciation.

DOUG FUCKING JONES, LADIES, GENTS AND GENDER REBELS.

3. Fatal Frame - Tecmo

I’m a writer/reader, not a gamer. When I have downtime or I want to relax, I almost always gravitate towards a book instead of a video game. The few games I’ve played purely for my own enjoyment have usually been MMOs and involve roleplaying.

Except for the Fatal Frame series.

Survival horror is my favorite game genre and I lamented when Resident Evil became more “survival action” than survival horror. (Fuckin’ lickers in the original Resident Evil game oh my god.) I wanted a survival horror game that had some meat to it, had something really compelling about it.

And I found Fatal Frame.

I love Japanese mythology. I especially love Japanese ghosts. For some reason–maybe out of sheer novelty because I, being an ignorant American raised near the US-Mexico border, have had little exposure to it–Japanese ghosts are my absolute favorites. Yurei (and the other subclassifications) just have something to them that I haven’t found in other mythologies. I’ve read and reread Oiwa and Okiku’s stories, been fascinated by the concept of the Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai and wanted more of what I found.

Which Fatal Frame provided.

Not only do the game mechanics work beautifully for someone as easily startled as I am, but the story behind each individual game is achingly intense. The intricacy of the interwoven histories, the rituals, the underlying question of “was all this really necessary or was this a priesthood trying to stay in power”… I love absolutely everything about these games. 

4. “The Blue Sword” by Robin McKinley

I’m not going to lie–this book took me forever to actually read. The first two pages were so achingly boring that I had no fucking clue why my mother had recommended it to me.

And then one day, bereft of anything else to read, I flipped through it. I still distinctly remember the line that made me stop and go “wait, what?” – “…your horse tells me where you’ve been…”

me: wait what horses can talk in this? wtf? *flips to the beginning and sits down to fuckin’ read it*

Slogging through those first few pages? Worth it. Because Harry/Hari/Harimad was the first heroine I’d ever encountered that I could imagine myself being. She was too gangly and not particularly pretty and kind of clumsy. She didn’t draw admiring eyes everywhere she went, spent a lot of time going ‘I can’t do this wtf’ and had aches and saddlesores.

Meeting Harry felt like seeing myself on a page for the first time in my life. And seeing someone with flaws like me going through adventure and fighting and succeeding and failing and getting a happily ever after felt like a warm blanket. Like someone had written a book just to tell me: “It’s okay that you’re not beautiful or graceful or soft-spoken and elegant. It’s okay that you’re clumsy and a goof and your hair is fuzzy as fuck because you can be a heroine, too.”

5. “Whoever Fights Monsters” by Robert K. Ressler

No, I’m not a serial killer. :D Nor am I an FBI profiler.

However, after reading “The Silence of the Lambs” by Thomas Harris for the first time in ninth grade, I was fascinated by serial killers. Like… how did they do it? How did they get away with it? WHY did they do it? What kind of person did things like this? I wanted to know so much more and I started grabbing every book on serial killers that I possibly could find.

And the reaction of classmates and teachers who saw my reading material was… less than stellar. Even my mother was vaguely worried about what I was getting out of reading all…that.

It felt like my fascination with serial killer psychology was a flaw in my character that no one else seemed to share. Until I read “Whoever Fights Monsters” and saw Robert K. Ressler talking about the exact same thing. He wasn’t a “sicko” or a “freak” or a “lunatic” or a “killer-in-training” for being fascinated by the psychology of humans who could treat other humans like a moment’s disposable entertainment.��

And suddenly, neither was I. 

6. American Horror Story: Hotel - FX

‘American Horror Story’ is entirely my thing. Interwoven narratives of fascinating (and often awful) people combining “American horror history” with interpersonal storylines? Yes, thank you, I’ll take a dozen.

This season in particular, however, is just more for me than any other. 

Maybe it’s the vampires that are self-obsessed and not particularly powerful but end up with petty grudges and complaints. Or the ghosts that bitch and whine at each other, find consolation together, use Twitter and spend their long, long days doing little more than drinking, smoking and obsessing over their lives and deaths. Maybe it’s the single location with so many years of history weaving together like a book of short stories. 

I love ‘Hotel’ because it feels like Brandenburg to me. I could so easily see the entire season taking place in my fictional city and mentally insert my own characters into the show without losing a single step.

Also Kathy Bates is absolutely glorious and I desperately wish to be a tenth as glamorous as Liz Taylor. 

7. “The Butterfly Garden” by Dot Hutchinson

Books about serial killers? Yes, please.

Books about serial killers told by a victim who barely survived and understands what trauma really means? Yes, please.

What especially got me about this book is my thing for dioramas. The first one I ever remember seeing was in the El Paso Museum of Archaeology (yes, I’m from El Paso, Texas) and it always both frightened and fascinated me. 

^ This one in particular would keep me motionless for ten or twenty minutes at a time, kind of terrified at a house within a building and then absolutely enthralled at a house inside a building.

And the dioramas mentioned in “The Butterfly Garden” were akin to those in “The Cell” –some terrible, awful glimpse into someone’s mind that was visualized and externalized in a permanent way. 

8. “War for the Oaks” by Emma Bull

I love the fae. 

And I also have read enough to know that those sprightly little fucks are terrifying and humans are rarely left unscathed by them.

This book was my introduction to “urban fantasy,” much as Charles de Lint was my introduction to what I consider “mythic fantasy” and a city that felt so much like my own. 

And what was so quintessentially, absolutely me about this book–other than the main love interest being the Phouka :D :D :D–was the underlying theme about creativity.

It’s a driving force, a magic that humans have. It’s uniquely human (as far as we know) and often the only talisman against the dark that we’ve got. With creativity, there’s magic. There’s a spark of something beyond the mundane realities of survival. Creativity is a sword and shield all in one, complete with a lure to bring others along with you.

Whether it’s through music, art, poetry or graphic design, creativity is the actual drive for immortality that pushes us to reach beyond ourselves and touch those we have no possibility of seeing or speaking to in our own short, real lives.

9. Good Omens - Neil Gaiman/BBC

I loved the book when it came out. I didn’t expect to love the mini-series. I especially didn’t expect to love the mini-series for the #IneffableHusbands.

I won’t belabor the point about why this is on my list. The #IneffableHusbands tag on my OOC blog is enough. :D

10. What We Do in the Shadows - Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi

Vampires who are as absurd, incapable and oblivious as me? Yes. All of my yes. 

Having played the old World of Darkness tabletop games for years--and absolutely fallen in love with them--I found this movie and was in absolute heaven. These are vampires I can actually imagine hanging out with. These are vampires (and werewolves) I can envision walking around a city.

Noble creatures of the night don’t seem real to me (aside from the obvious reasons.) The supernaturals in this movie? They felt like people I knew. Like people I could meet or characters I’d written myself. 

I like the fantastical being put into the mundane--which is why my genre is ‘urban fantasy’ although I have such an eye-twitch about it being all supernatural detectives chasing various pieces of ass now--and I especially love it when the fantastical doesn’t outweigh the mundane.

Imagining vampires vacuuming and riding the bus fits in nicely with my desperate belief (and hope) that the fantastical isn’t JUST imaginary but actually exists. 

{And there, I’m restricting this to 10 or we’ll be here all NIGHT.}

[theliterateape]

Top 5 Scariest Films for Halloween

By David Himmel

 It’s October, which means it’s prime time for enjoying all the things that chill our bones, terrify our souls and spook us so bad that the only way we can fall asleep is with all the lights on, a crucifix over our beds and a copy of Infinite Jest on our night stands to be used as a blunt weapon against any potential demons or undead killers who may come for us.

I’ve never been a fan of haunted houses. I spook too easily, I guess. I’m not the guy they want walking through their halls anyhow. In past houses I’ve committed all offenses in reaction to being spooked: punched a worker square in the nose; stomped to death some kind of mechanical tentacle protruding from the floorboards; grabbed a psychotic clown by his wig and headbutted him in the teeth; made my wife go first.

Around this time of year, I’m a bigger fan of staying in where the people around me are safe. But I still enjoy giving myself the heebie-jeebies. That’s why I’m offering you, dear reader, my pick of the Top 5 Scariest Films you should watch this Halloween.

✶

1. Shutter (2008) Written by: an original screenplay by  Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom Directed by: Masayuki Ochiai Starring: Joshua Jackson and Rachael Taylor 

A Japanese flick from the producers of The Grudge and The Ring, this supernatural tale makes you want to regret every photograph you’ve ever taken of dead Japanese girls. Like all good horror films, Shutter offers an important lesson: don’t bring your new wife to the city where you participated in raping an ex-girlfriend. The movie is allegedly one of Mark Judge’s favorites. But don’t let that keep you from watching it. Just don’t watch it with Judge in the same room. That’s scarier than even this film’s horrifying omega.

  2. Gravity (2013) Written by: Alfonso Cuarón and Jonás Cuarón Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón Starring: Sandra Bullock and George Clooney 

Thanks to the film Apollo 13, we know traveling in space is risky business. In part because of their affinity for Tang, astronauts are tough mofos. They have to be brave, incredibly intelligent and able to keep their calm in the most dire of circumstances. Such is the case in Gravity. While servicing the Hubble Space Telescope, Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) are forced to abandon their maintenance mission when high-velocity space junk rips through their orbit poking holes in their mission and their co-worker’s face. That’s all well and good. At this point, Gravity is an action film. It’s when Bullock is left in space with nothing else than a fire extinguisher and Clooney’s ghost running its oh-so-charming mouth off when the fear grips you tighter than Buzz Aldrin’s space diaper.

Oh, screw it. The trailer is enough to make you never want to leave the earth again with as much of a jump for joy.

3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens Written by: Lawrence Kasdan, J. J. Abrams and Michael Arndt Directed by: J.J. Abrams Starring: The ruined childhood of virgin 50-year-olds everywhere 

The brief synopsis of this movie is Star Wars: A New Hope. There aren’t many seat-jumping moments in this film. Every opportunity to heighten the intensity and threatening nature of Kylo Ren and The First Order is met with almost slapstick humor. What makes this film a perfect watch for Halloween is hindsight. Unlike the best horror films where surprise is the most important element, The Force Awakens is a terrifying flick because we know the wreckage it leads to: Disney’s churning out diluted facsimiles of the Original Trilogy to take our money while leaving us wondering what we just paid for. The Force Awakens is the first Star Wars film that can honestly be considered a suspense/thriller because of Disney’s ingenious mindfuck. It has more of a “Holy shit! I didn’t see that coming!” moment than Get Out and The Usual Suspects.

 4. Superman III (1983) Written by: David Newman and Leslie Newman Directed by: Richard Lester Starring: Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor, Margot Kidder 

I was probably 5-years-old when I first saw this. I thought Richard Pryor was funny. I thought Superman was awesome. I though Margot Kidder was beautiful. I thought the climax where Vera Webster is transformed into a cyborg was the stuff of pure evil. Satan’s nightmares. The worst possible way die. It was this scene that kept me from owning a Walkman and being unable to hug my dad if he was wearing his pager. I had a complete distrust of ’80s technology. I’m still not sure that our answering machine isn’t responsible for my parents’ divorce.

5. Mannequin (1987) Written by: Michael Gottlieb and Edward Rugoff Directed by: Michael Gottlieb Starring: Andrew McCarthy, Kim Catrall, Meshach Taylor and James Spader

To start, this film’s main title song is Starship’s Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now. Yikes. Beyond that, this thriller will have you biting your nails down to your second knuckle as you watch the perverted delusions of a young man unravel all over the streets of Philadelphia. (Director Michael Gottlieb should have picked Bruce Springsteen’s Streets of Philadelphia as the title tune.) Ancient Egyptian curses, sexual attraction to inanimate objects, emotional psychosis and a demonic sidekick in Meshach Taylor’s Hollywood will leave you feeling haunted all the way through Thanksgiving. Mannequins, along with wax figures, are inherently terrifying; those unblinking eyes, the stiff limbs. Mannequins exist so that we may picture ourselves as them, which is fashionable, fit and always gorgeous. But they are lifeless, cold and as much alien as they are human. So when one comes alive in the form of ’80s-hot Kim Catrall, one would expect the fear imposed by these ceramic effigies to dissipate. Fortunately for your horror film-viewing pleasure and thanks to the genius of Cannon Films, this is not the case with Mannequin.

By the end of the film, you’re left wondering; if perception is reality, who’s perception are we perceiving? Mannequin is more of a mindfuck than The Force Awakens.

[bitchofnovember-blog]

black cat: favorite urban legend?, potion: favorite horror movie?, coffin: have you ever had a paranormal experience?

black cat: Definitely the story that park rangers, forestry workers, and search-and-rescue personnell know about random staircases in completely empty and remote places where there is no reason for a staircase to be there, or sign that said staircases were even built by human means. The staircases move around - there one day, gone the next, and BAD SHIT happens when they are approached. It might not happen to the person who approaches the staircase, but they are a BAD SHIT trigger. Some people seem to know more about the staircases than they’re saying, but refuse to talk about it. People who talk about the staircases often end up with trouble on their hands from people who know more than them. The official story is that *there are NO staircases*, but everyone knows that they’re out there, because everybody who spends a decent amount of time in the wilderness has seen at least one. Myself included.

Hmm... I can’t narrow it down to just one, but I’ve got a current top few: First, the original Japanese versions of the Ring (Ringu), the Grudge (Ju-On), and Dark Water. I can’t emphasise enough how much more I enjoy the originals than the weak-sauce Hollywood remakes. The concept of relentless, vengeful, Japanese ghosts, or Onryo, is possibly my favourite folklore ever. From a Western POV, I love Event Horizon and the Descent, for excellence in creepiness and atmosphere. And I must give a shout out to Repo! The Genetic Opera. I’m not sure if it’s exactly horror, but a gothic rock opera about organ repossession, starring Anthony Stewart Head, Sarah Brightman, Ogre from Skinny Puppy, Paul Sorvino, and Paris Hilton’s face falling off, all funded by the last 5 Saw sequals must be something like horror!

Paranormal experiences... If you mean weird shit that I cannot find a good, reasonable explanation for, then yes. I’ve had my life saved by someone else’s precognition; had my own detailed, but useless precognitive dreams; seen people who could not possibly have been there while 100% sober; and may or may not have shared a telepathic link with a cat (again, while sober). Fuck it, my family’s Irish, and my Great-Granny was most likely a witch. That’s the recipe for Weird Shit, right?

[astralechoes]

(for the halloween meme) 1, 4, 8, 11, 12

1. Favorite scary movie

Hmm, it depends on the genre. I like ‘The Shining’ because it’s really well made and Jack Nicholson is pretty creepy. I also really like the original version of ‘The Omen’. I prefer atmospheric, psychological horror more. I really like ‘Ju-on- The Grudge’ as in the original Japanese version and not the American remake they did, and the original ‘Ring’ movie too. I feel like Asian horror might be my favorite but I also like the classic horror too lol. I can’t stand the stupid jumpscare tactic they use nowadays, I get more creeped out with a good atmosphere than just having something jump out at me to try and scare me it just pisses me off lmao.

4. Halloween costume I want to dress as but haven’t yet

Oh gosh I haven’t really thought about this kind of thing at all, I used to just dress up in cheap halloween costumes like witches costumes. Last year I went to a Halloween party in a Daenerys Targaryen wig with a black dress and devil wings so I have no idea what I was trying to be there. But this year I’m going to be Velma from Scooby Doo so maybe that costume??? IdkIreallydon’tdressupforHalloweenmuchunlessI’mgoingtoaHalloweenparty.

8. Favorite scary video game

Fatal Frame hands down, I love that series. I love the concept behind it, I also really like how it’s mostly set in traditional Japanese manors so all the ghosts are dressed traditionally and also a lot of the places the games are set in are based on real houses that the creator of the games played in when he was a kid. But yeah definitely Fatal Frame lol, I also like the Clock Tower series. Greogry’s Horror Show is a classic adolescent favorite of mine and I really liked the anime series of it too. I like watching playthroughs of Until Dawn but have never actually played it myself. I don’t really get to play video games much anymore.

11. Favorite Autumn drink

Pumpkin spice everything, only tried it last year and fell in love with it. Ihaven’thadanythingpumpkinspicethisyearyetneedtochangethat. Also hot chocolate is nice at this time of year with cream and marshmallows veryhealthy.

12. Favorite Autumn food/treat

I haven’t eaten pumpkin in ages but I do like pumpkin. I like anything with cinnamon too notsureifthatcounts. I don’t really eat food specifically for seasons, if I feel like eating something then I’ll just eat it lmao.

@askharukakujo

[mewtonian-physics]

I totally agree with you on the Japanese “Asian horror” movies. I STILL can’t finish “Shutter” (not a Japanese horror) My friend and I watch them all the time! Do you have any favorites??? Freddy Randle

ooh well i do love the grudge and the ring, which i guess is inevitable since they’re like... THE most commonly known ones, at least where i’m at. i’ve actually seen both versions of the ring, the original japanese version and the american remake... they both had their strong points but i do think i preferred the original. it’d be interesting to see how a remake of the ring would do today, since video tapes aren’t really a thing anymore; i wonder how the curse would transmit? maybe through youtube? it’d get a lot more victims than the original version that way, though... unless the video was made private so you could only view it if you had the link... yeah, i think that’d work!

sadly i don’t have access to a lot of them as i have no money i can spend on them(i have at LEAST seven years of tuition to go through). so it’s hard to pick favorites. i have several that i really want to watch, though. i want to finish the grudge and ring series, that’s for sure. i’m also very interested in dark water, kuime, one missed call, kairo, and kwaidan. i plan to avoid any other american remakes because i have heard that most of them are not very good. then again from what i can tell the american and japanese ‘horror styles’, so to speak, are very different, so i suppose it was inevitable. 

wow i have a lot to say on this subject lol

[culturalgutter]

One of the greatest joys in my life is coming across almost ineffable wonder. I take pleasure in the good and the bad, sure, but there are wonders in this world. There is art that transcends our petty categories of “good” and “bad.” Things I find difficult or even impossible to evaluate because they fill me with awe. The merely competent rarely contains wonders. Most merely competent art rarely contains wonders because it often sensibly makes do with what it can accomplish what it can with the resources it has and the ambition or fervor to try anyway. Most art that is widely considered bad contains one or maybe two such wonders. Then there is Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope (1975).

Wolf Guy is a film adaptation of the two-volume manga, Wolf Guy: The Origin (1971), written by Hirai Kazumasa with art by Hisashi Sakaguchi. The manga is itself an outgrowth of Kazumasa’s 1969 short story, “Vice School.” Kazumasa really felt wolf guy and over the next three decades his short story expanded into young wolf guy and adult wolf guy stories, novellas, manga and two film adaptations, Toho’s Horror of the Wolf (1973) and Toei’s Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope. Wolf Guy: The Origin concerns an American-Japanese middle school student, Akami Inugami, who is a werewolf. Akami transforms into a very groovy werewolf who reminds me of Wendy Pini’s wolf-riding elves in his personal wolf style. (Elfquest’s Wolfriders didn’t mount up till 1978).

Sakaguchi’s cover art for Wolf Guy: Origins, Vol. 2

ElfQuest art by Wendy Pini.

But rather than fun hijinx as Akami tries to hide his nature from the faculty and his fellow students, the manga is dark. There are stabbings and rape. I have both volumes in Japanese, but I don’t read Japanese. So I’m going with what I can gleam from the volumes, Sakaguchi’s curly, twisty art and Patrick Macias’ introduction to Arrow Video’s blu-ray release of Wolf Guy. Incidentally, I highly recommend all the special features including interviews with Sonny Chiba, director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, producer Toru Yoshida as well as essays by Patrick Macias on “the resurrection of Wolf Guy” and Jasper Sharp on the context of Wolf Guy in film history. Sharp uses my favorite Japanese aesthetic term, ero guro nansensu–“erotic grotesque nonsense.”

In the film, our enraged lycanthrope, Akira Inugami, is played by Sonny Chiba. Inugami is the only survivor of a clan of werewolves who were massacred by their human neighbors. Now he lives in Tokyo and his wardrobe and soundtrack are fully 1975. The film opens as a terrified man in an immaculate white suit and gloves stumbles into traffic, screaming, “The tiger is coming!” Inugami  slaps the man trying to get him to calm down. But Inugami is much more compassionate than the street fighters Chiba often played, and slaps him almost delicately. The man is still in no state to explain as he raves about the tiger and how “Miki has cursed us!” Surrounded by stopped cars in all four directions, he flops from hood to hood before his back is slashed open by invisible claws. He turns and we see as his chest and throat are torn open. Inugami covers the dead man with his trench coat. As he looks into the neon, he sees a ghostly tiger panting–but he’s the only one who sees it.

Inugami is questioned by the police, and it seems like he always is. As the detectives grow impatient with Inugami’s answers, they bark at him, “Wherever you go, there’s always an incident!” A werewolf just can’t get along in this human world. But Inugami’s in luck. He’s exonerated by the autopsy report. The blame is placed squarely on a demon.

The detectives argue briefly before releasing Inugami. “It’s the only possibility. I can’t do anything about it,” the chief detective says.

“It’s unbelievable.”

“A human being wouldn’t be able to slash a body like that and not in such a short time, either.”

Miki sings at the strip club.

Yes, that’s the world we’re in. Is it noir? Is it horror? Is it martial arts? Is it science fiction? Is it a yakuza picture? A movie about a cat demon lady? It’s all of them. Inugami is released and begins an investigation into this tiger and the stripper/singer Miki who has cursed these men. And I think it’s more of an enticement than a spoiler to say that he discovers so much including:  amazing 1970s fashion; relentless funk and psychedelic guitar; blood like tomato sauce; a murder romper**; intriguing burlesque; labial butterfly club decorations; a distraction mouse; gangsters playing ring toss using a broken mannequin; threatening chanteusery; a grudge turned into a tiger; a band/ group of heavies called, The Mobs; government conspiracies; and a secret intelligence agency willing to weaponize the paranormal whatever the cost–including gross surgery represented with real surgical footage. There are so many wonders I cannot share them all.

Sweet opening titles

Do you notice anything about this butterfly

Distraction mouse!

The murder romper.

In making Wolf Guy, director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, writer Fumio Konami and producer Toru Yoshida created a wonder, even if maybe they don’t feel like it now, at least according to the interviews included in the special features. And while there are so many things I could talk about with this movie, I am going to focus on one. Sonny Chiba never transforms. He becomes invulnerable on the full moon, to the point that he can break steel bars and suck his own organs back into his abdomen with a smile. But he never gets hairy.  When I first saw the movie, this disappointed me. Because part of the draw was the idea of Sonny Chiba turning into a werewolf. I wanted to see his transformation. Seeing the film again, with time to ponder, I feel differently. It makes sense to me, not just in terms of the limitations of the resources given to the filmmakers and the time they had to research werewolf movies and read up on European folklore, (i.e., none). It makes sense that Sonny Chiba’s werewolf form is Sonny Chiba. In fact, Sonny Chiba might be the ideal werewolf form.

Lucas Cranach the Elder, “The Werewolf or the Cannibal.” c. 1512

Historically it’s not all that off. While the werewolf now is very much about the transformation, in the past the werewolf had mostly been recognizable for murder and cannibalism, often targeting children. So much so that when French missionaries encountered First Nations accounts of windigo, they understood the stories as about werewolves.*** During the period of the European werewolf trials, the accused didn’t always transform into a wolf. Some acted like wolves. Some just killed and ate people. And when given stories of how someone had transformed into a wolf by means of a salve, belt, robe or skin, there were judges and scholars who would dispute that the werewolf had in reality transformed. Instead, they argued that it was a matter of perception–that the accused believed and perceived themselves as changing into a wolf and that any eyewitnesses’ senses had been deceived.

And Wolf Guy is not alone in its cinematic presentation of a werewolf in human or mostly human form. A few recent movies present werewolves that way. In When Animals Dream (2014), Marie’s nails crack, she grows more body hair in awkward places and eventually her eyes change, but mostly she changes mentally. As her town’s doctor tells her, “You’ll also change emotionally and be short-tempered and aggressive.” Her mother, who goes full werewolf never looks like Lon Chaney Jr. or Benicio Del Toro in their respective transformations. Ginger Snaps (2000) has almost a sliding scale from the vaguely lupine Ginger when she’s having fun to angry, monstrous wolf. As far as I remember Sybil Danning remains constantly Sybil Danning in Howling 2: Your Sister Is A Werewolf (1985).**** And in Claire Denis’ Trouble Every Day (2001), Béatrice Dalle’s Coré has all the signs of being a werewolf without the furry looks. Driven into a frenzy, she bites her lovers to death during sex.

Wolf Guy is much more peaceful than some of those werewolves. He doesn’t bite or eat human beings. Completely human JCIA Agent Katie (Kumi Taguchi) might lick his blood off his hand during sex, but he eats a steak at a fancy restaurant. In fact, he’s such a gentleman, I don’t remember ever seeing him without his pants on. In his most intimate moments he removes only his jacket, tie and shirt. He doesn’t kill in a ravening fury. He only kills to protect himself or others. Akira the last of his kind. As she died, his mother told him that it was his responsibility to avenge the wolf tribe, but he walked away from that. The brutality is reversed. He is a victim of human violence and still compassionate towards humans, even protecting terrible people. He tries to help the man killed in front of him, the last member of The Mobs and Miki (Etsuko Nami), the woman who has been tormented into becoming demonic. He is loved by three of the five women in the film: Kate; Miki, whose grudge is killing men; and, Taka (Yayoi Watanabe), a woman from his old village who loves the werewolves for their kindness. (One of the women was his mother).*****

Sonny Chiba in his werewolf form.

Even when he is driven too far, Akira’s instinct is to retreat from the world, to live peacefully by himself. His lycanthropic tragedy is not  that he is cursed to kill, to reveal the beast controlled and restrained by civilization. Instead his curse is that humans perceive him as an animal to be used or destroyed. And in the modern world, this human cruelty is inescapable.

If Yamaguchi had more resources, he might have made a werewolf movie that was more like a traditional Western werewolf movie, transformation and all. But I think the movie would be worse for it. As it is, Wolf Guy is a work of wonder.

*Horror of the Wolf was based on Kazumasa’s Wolfcrest novels, available in English from Kodansha.

**Inugami, as I note, is not murderous, but I really like the phrase, “murder romper” for his final outfit.

***No, you’ve read too much about werewolves!

****No, your sister is a werewolf!

***** Miki is also named after his mother. And then there’s a very awkward sex scene.

~~~

Wherever Carol Borden goes, there’s always an incident.

Wonder of the Wolf Guy One of the greatest joys in my life is coming across almost ineffable wonder. I take pleasure in the good and the bad, sure, but there are wonders in this world.