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A Discussion Into Whether ‘J Horror' Is A Term Of National Identity, Or Cinematic Sub-Genre, Using The Texts; Ringu (1998), Audition (2000) And Ju-On (The Grudge) (2003).

Introduction

In 1998, Nakata Hideo released to the Japanese market Ringu (1998). This film was an on screen adaptation of a semi successful novel of the same name. Written by Koji Suzuki, the film went on to become the top grossing horror movie in Japan's cinematic history. The narrative tracks a reporter as she investigates a cursed videotape and her quest to remove the supernatural curse that she has imposed on herself and her child. The success of the film, and subsequent remakes (Ringu 2 (1999), Ring 0: Birthday (2000)) breathed life into the Japanese horror genre, as a number of similar films came to surface; Ju-On (The Grudge (2003)), Honogurai mizu no soko kara (Dark Water (2001), Kairo (Pulse (2001)) and Kaosu (Chaos (2000)), to name but a few. It wasn't long however until these films were influencing the rest of Asia, with a stream of Korean (Phone (2001), Tale of Two Sisters (2003)) Thai (Bangkok Haunted 2001) and Chinese (The Eye (2002)) films coming to surface.
Hollywood saw potential in these films and bought the rights to Ringu (1998), with the idea of remaking and repackaging the original in an attempt to reawakening the struggling Hollywood's horror genre, which for a number of years had been running out ideas, exhausting the ‘stalk and slash' model to it's extremes, with such reincarnations as Jeepers Creepers (2001) Cabin Fever (2002) and Wrong Turn (2003) taking it upon themselves to recycle successful ‘gore-fests' that had entertained the horror fan 20 years previously. The result was The Ring (2002); the film was quite different from anything they had seen before, and subsequently word of mouth took over and audiences grew. The film went on to create a substantial profit and a call from western audience for more of the same. Hollywood responded with a number of Japanese remakes; (The Grudge (2004), Dark Water (2005) Pulse (2006)) and ‘original' conceptions (Fear Dot Com (2002)). Around this time, although not a direct source can be found,...