This is a problem that is endemic across American cinema. Every plot strand needs to be gathered up and tied off in a pretty little bow, so the audience leaves the cinema without any questions in their stupid little heads. Ringu never explained who the girl, Sadako, was. It didn’t give her a backstory. She was just a horrifying creature, a malevolent spirit that wanted to harm whichever poor viewer stumbled across the videotape next. In Ju-on, who the hell knows how that curse works?
In Japanese culture, there’s the legend of Hanako-san. It’s similar to the legend of Bloody Mary, in that school children say her name and she appears in a toilet stall. How she got there, nobody knows. It works without needing to know how she got there. The same is true of horror – the scariest horror is all the scarier because it just happens – there’s no reasoning. It’s horrifying on a dreamlike subconscious level. Showing everybody the reasoning behind the screams does not a scary film make.
Do you get it now, Hollywood? Just follow my four step plan and you can acheive Asian horror remake success.
Success!
Feel free to use the comments below to share your stories of success using these simple steps. There’s no point commenting if you haven’t.
