If you are like me, you are tired of the formulaic rut that American horror films have fallen into. I have seen enough shrieks-and-tight-t-shirts teen slasher flicks and elaborate serial killer films to make me want to throw up my hands in frustration and sell my “Evil Dead” DVDs to Vintage Vinyl for 50 cents apiece. Fortunately, the death rattle of the American horror genre has been vivified by fresh screams from across the Pacific. Horror as an art form is on a dramatic rise in Asia, especially in Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan – indeed, this new movement has been dubbed “Asia Extreme.”
The revitalization of the genre has followed from the successful reception of recent motion pictures: Hideo Nakata’s “Ringu” (involving the now iconic long-haired girl crawling out of the TV, better known from the American remake “The Ring”), Takashi Miike’s “Audition” (a deceptively sweet date movie that turns violently grotesque and sadistic) and “Battle Royale” (starring the legendary Beat Takeshi, who orchestrates a game in which 42 children are made to fight to the death). These three Japanese films sparked a groundswell of interest in this horror nouveau, which (excluding “Ringu”) moved away from the standard supernatural ghost stories of traditional Asian cinema.
“Oldboy”
(2003): South Korea
What would you do if suddenly one night you were kidnapped and locked in a hotel room for 15 years without reason? Or, just as suddenly, you were released on a roof (after being packed in a suitcase) with a freshly pressed suit and a command that you have five days to discover who kidnapped you and – most importantly – why? This is the opening for “Oldboy,” and as Dae-su Oh (the previous rhetorical scenario applies to the poor fellow) unfolds the horrible mystery, we spiral into madness as he does. Director Chan-Wook Park seems to have a predilection for vengeance movies, with just a cursory glance of his titles “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” and “Sympathy for Mrs. Vengeance.” “Oldboy” is unforgiving in its in-your-face violence, and the revelatory twist at the end would make even M. Night Shyamalan faint. Classic scenes: the unbelievable one-shot hallway brawl and Dae-su Oh’s fresh octopus meal.
“Ichi the Killer”
(2001): Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea
Another extreme film by Takashi Miike, a director for whom the line of “good taste” was never drawn or crossed. Adapted from a famous manga, “Ichi the Killer” follows the travails of a childishly insane assassin with razor-sharp heels and a deadly kick. This relentless killer, whose cartoonish naivet‚ somehow inspires sympathy, is mixed up with gangsters. Look for the psychotically masochistic Kakihara and his penchant for needles and (ahem) “big smiles.” No one is a hero or even an anti-hero in this black comedy, and if you can handle the gore, you will love the film.
“Ju-on: The Grudge”
(2003): Japan
The story is supernatural, but this film is definitely “Asia Extreme” in quality: an unassuming house has been cursed by the violent deaths of two of its former residents, a mother and her little cat-eyed son. Inspired by “Ringu” and its famous videotape, anyone who enters the house is doomed to suffer the vengeful, gruesome fate of the lingering grudge. Writer/director Takashi Shimizu later went on to remake the film for U.S. audiences with Sam Raimi, but the original “Ju-on” remains the better film, with a brutal opening sequence and a far more naturalistic and claustrophobic feel.
Other “Asia Extreme” films to explore: “Three.Extremes,” “Gozu” and “The Eye (Gin gwai)”