Is there a J-horror anything that doesn't suck?

[skykiii]

If you try hard enough, everything is an "emotion" somewhere at some point.

See, here's the problem with that argument:

Imagine someone comes to the forum and asks for an RPG recommendation, and you recommend Tetris. Then you have to explain "Tetris is technically an RPG because any game where you Play a Role is a Role Playing Game by definition."

Even if that makes sense, it ignores that the term "RPG" is refering to a specific thing at this moment and the guy asking for RPGs is more than likely not looking for fucking Tetris.

Same with this "everything is an emotion" argument.

At no point did I ever say "I'm mad that beautiful paintings make me feel something." It's a completely different sense of the term than what I'm actually discussing/upset about.

And I would elaborate, but the thing is... I already have, both in the OP and in a follow up post, both on the first page. I'm not really sure what I've been unclear about to make it worth elaborating for yet a third time.

Japanese filmmakers are not on the Kiwi Farms.

Gonna be honest I never understood "why are you posting this?" type replies.

I mean hey, Kiwis already have long topics going on about e-celebs who will never read this forum, woke filmmakers/game designers/novelists/etc who will never read these forums, political figures who will never read these forums... hell we even have a topic dedicated to dead people and I'm pretty sure nobody here is a ghost (except for the person standing behind you right now).

And I don't see those posts getting questioned. So why is mine different?

 

[Carnavoyeur]

And I don't see those posts getting questioned. So why is mine different?

Because they offer discourse, speculation, and laughs. You asked a question, and got answers. Then when given answers, you basically went "yeah but why??"

How would you have felt if you hadn't eaten breakfast?

 

[ShiftyBoi]

I watched that Japanese horror movie "Pulse" from 2001 and it was actually pretty creepy. It was also very funny seeing people trying to do basic shit on computers and it being portrayed as if it is a compelling procedure. Product of its time but the actual horror stuff is very effective.

Imagine someone comes to the forum and asks for an RPG recommendation, and you recommend Tetris. Then you have to explain "Tetris is technically an RPG because any game where you Play a Role is a Role Playing Game by definition."

Even if that makes sense, it ignores that the term "RPG" is refering to a specific thing at this moment and the guy asking for RPGs is more than likely not looking for fucking Tetris.

Same with this "everything is an emotion" argument.

At no point did I ever say "I'm mad that beautiful paintings make me feel something." It's a completely different sense of the term than what I'm actually discussing/upset about.

The primary appeal of horror media is the ability to explore and ask fundamental questions about the nature of reality. Your whiny brat emotions are not an interesting subject.

Watch House. It's really fucking weird and not like any other horror movie.

And the thing is, reality is what we perceive. We can only really depict things based on what we perceive. Stories about demons and eldritch horrors are playing on fears and insecurities people have about being alive, the same is true of ghost stories.

Horror does not ask fundamental questions about reality, it asks questions about you. You find horror disturbing because there are things in reality you don't want to think about. I might be talking out my ass but Japan has a very literal and unsubtle culture, so to them, all horror features human monsters because human experience is what makes horror scary.

I guess I'm just not understanding your problem, the japanese are still writing about the same experiences we have, they're just...what? Using ghosts too much?

 

[skykiii]

This is what I don't like about asian media in general. It's all human-centric.

Demon? It was a human once.
Spirit? Humans upset it somehow.
Monster? Humans got in its way somehow.

Nothing was before humans, nothing is indifferent to humans, everything revolves around humans.

Actually what you said about Demon can usually also apply to Spirit or Monster.

Otherwise yeah, pretty much.

Because they offer discourse, speculation, and laughs. You asked a question, and got answers. Then when given answers, you basically went "yeah but why??"

How would you have felt if you hadn't eaten breakfast?

Actually from what I've seen, the replies have been either A) people completely understanding and sympathizing or else B) people not getting it and acting like I'm speaking Greek.

I guess I'm just not understanding your problem, the japanese are still writing about the same experiences we have, they're just...what? Using ghosts too much?

Okay, to be fair, looking back over the OP I may have fallen into the trap of expecting people to have seen my previous rants on related/similar issues in other threads, like this one from the Silent Hill thread.

At the same time I don't think I was anywhere near as confusing or unclear as some people seem to think.

Well, if its still unclear in an hour I'll elaborate more.

 

[Mariposa2.0 LTE]

To me the best j-horror movie is Cure which kinda wraps all the way around to the other side by examining the "cure" to human pain being complete detachment from all emotions. It's got all those themes of repression and malaise but presents a horrific answer to those by basically forcefully detaching your self and just killing your problems. Got a shitty coworker that makes life harder? Just shot him, your emotions on the matter are completely arbitrary.
The reality is while horror can have high laudable intrigue into the human condition most are just cheap formal driven fast food. While I love horror including j-horror its the genre that is the most guilty of copying the style while forgetting the substance. Not everything can be a high arthouse movie and they shouldn't be, some movies are just a ghost girl killing people in creepy ways with the same copied themes every japanese ghost movies has. I mean when the grudge has as many sequels as Friday the 13th you know it's not going for a cerebral experience.

My favorite is infection. Mind bending horror.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

I just don't get your beef with J-horror or the point of even posting this at all. The genre is a product of the people who made it, it's steeped in their traditions, folklore and beliefs, just like every other media genre made by any other homogeneous society. Your post boils down to "THE JAPS DON'T MAKE MOVIES I LIKE!" Then... don't watch them?

yeah I'm not sure what exactly would be a _good_ movie
there's def a case to be made for the JP approach of "okay.... so there's a spoop.... and it spoops somebody in the intro to DEATH! and in the first act it spoops two people.... ... ... ... two people... ... ... TO DEATH!!!!! and in the third act... .... the person... ... ... who is the MC ... ... ... ... DOESNT GET SPOOPED or DID HE isn't the best movie to the point that we need seventy five of them compared to random itajank where zombies splat people and vice versa, that gets a lot more filler mileage
but yeah I'm not sure what he does want, esp out of Japan

Watch House. It's really fucking weird and not like any other horror movie.

yeah Hausu is a very nice artsy thing that also does spoop

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I never got too much into western horror in things that aren't games, nothing really makes me scared, at most anxious on what will happen to the cast. At least Japanese horror have way more fucked up shit than western horror and it includes better subversion of expectations.