My recent article on Japanese horror attempted to explain horror in Japan by examining some details of the Japanese culture. Nicholas Rucka takes a different approach in his fascinating article The Death of J-Horror?: he describes in some detail the history of Japanese horror cinema and why the current boom isn’t likely to survive indefinitely. Rucka has quite a few obscure films under his belt; I was particularly interested in some of the connections he draws (Woman in the Dunes to Tetsuo The Iron Man? interesting). He also clearly shares my disdain for the term “J-Horror.” Check his article out.
J-horror hit a creative dead end long ago. There really isn’t much you can do with the avenging spirit theme that hasn’t already been set up in Noh and Kabuki theatre.
The problem is not just with J-horror but Japanese cinema as a whole. Too much time spent on copying their other large export…games. At least in Hong Kong and Korea (with Korea it’s at the expense of smaller productions); they’re always coming up with new stuff, probably due to their lack of computer game assimilation (it’s more traditional and tied in with history).
That’s not to say other Asian productions are amazing…very rarely will something amazing like Infernal Affairs, In The Mood For Love, Old Boy come along. It’s hard not to get sucked into the exoticism of forgein cinema….