Do they involve long black hair and lots of water? What is the deal with that?

ringu is a borderline joke. It was like watching a highschool film project. Audition clear winner here. if you DNRTFA Ringu is no. 1. Ther ya go.

Oooh, is this where everyone tries to sound sophisticated by referring to the film titles in Japanese?

Apos: Hoban Washburne: The answer is Audition. I'm not going to biatch about it being just #2, but it's my #1 for sure.

Absolutely. Just one viewing was enough for me.

That giggle haunts my dreams.

Watched Audition knowing what to expect. Would've loved to watch it knowing nothing about the movie. At first it seems like a romantic comedy, awww...man fines true love, after setting up a phony audition. Cute. Then the phone call, WHAM, WTF! WTF was that!?! WAAAAAH! Next time someone asks me for a dvd to watch, I'll give them the DVD, no box don't want to give anything away, and tell them here ya' go watch this. muhaha

list not complete without Gin Gwai (2002), English translation "The Eye", http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325655/ . Of course the 2008 American version was pathetic in comparison, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0406759/ .

I definitely want to see Uzumaki at some point. The manga was excellent. Anyone seen the film other than the guy who wrote this article?

stephen74: Audition is horrifying. There are some things a person can't unsee. Like a tongueless man eating a bowl of vomit.

Or jerking off to the memory of getting your legs severed by piano wire.

I'll say this for Ringu....I've never been able to watch the end. I keep bailing just as the tape starts for (hopefully) the last time.

(The American remake is surprisingly good.)

But wow, Audition...in retrospect, the creepiest dinner date ever.

I may catch hell for this, but I thought the American version of The Ring was superior than Ringu, although Ringu is still great in its own right. That's probably the only American remake of Japanese horror that was good though. Both Ring and Ringu give me the creeps to this day.

Audition only works when you don't expect what's coming.

I must be the only person that didn't find Audition scary. Was it a bit disturbing and creepy, yes. But I didn't find it scary at all..

I am surprised Ju-on didn't make it on the list. The American version,
The Grudge, wasn't half the movie the Japanese one was.

Deftoons: I may catch hell for this, but I thought the American version of The Ring was superior than Ringu, although Ringu is still great in its own right. That's probably the only American remake of Japanese horror that was good though. Both Ring and Ringu give me the creeps to this day.

Audition only works when you don't expect what's coming.

We should at least agree that the Korean version (Ring Virus) was terrible.

Ringu wasn't the least bit scary. Audition should've been tops. I never got how people were scared by The Ring. It didn't phase me. Audition, on the other hand, quaked me to the core. Brilliant storytelling and pacing. It was a violent crescendo, slowly building up to the final scene which delivered volumes. Ringu? Meh.

Unrelated, but after Owen Hart died a friend of mine made the crack: "Before Owen Hart died he saw the ring" I busted out laughing. I felt a little bad afterwards, but people can't help what they laugh at.

Hoban Washburne: Audition

I will admit this before gods and men, my little farking sister watched Audition without flinching but I couldn't make it through it. That movie is goddamn horrifying. The only movie I'd consider worse is Hard Candy.

Deftoons: I may catch hell for this, but I thought the American version of The Ring was superior than Ringu, although Ringu is still great in its own right. That's probably the only American remake of Japanese horror that was good though. Both Ring and Ringu give me the creeps to this day.

I agree with The Ring being better than Ringu, though my opinion might be biased having seen The Ring first.

Hoban Washburne: Deftoons: Audition only works when you don't expect what's coming.

I won't argue with that, but when it does work, it's extremely effective. It takes balls to make a movie that hinges in the idea that the audience will basically be bored for about 2 hours and then completely freaked out the last 20 minutes.

Oh hell yeah, I totally agree. That's an ending that freaks people out for weeks.

PonceAlyosha: Hard Candy.

I'll be avoiding going up on the roof, than you very much. (Jesus, Ellen Page is terrifying in that.)

Though it's not the scariest movie, I got the most enjoyment out of showing my daughter the original One Missed Call, changing her ringtone when she wasn't paying attention, then calling her.

The ones I've seen:

Kwaidan - Awesome movie but not scary. It's series of creepy japanese ghost stories. Haunting is a more appropriate descriptor than scary.

Uzumaki - I was bored as hell watching this... could not suspend disbelief.

Audition - Not sure about it being one of the best... it's intentionally boring up until the last half hour when it goes batshiat insane. Decent movie... but surely there are better examples. (Takashi Miike also directed Visitor Q which I thought was way more disturbing overall)

-----

A Tale of Two Sisters is still the best Asian horror film of all time. (Not Japanese, though)

DMWJorge: A Tale of Two Sisters is still the best Asian horror film of all time. (Not Japanese, though)

Yeah, it's very good. I hate bestowing "all time best" on such things. My two favorite recent films are probably "I Saw the Devil" and "Dream Home". Again, not Japanese, but very, very damn good.

SavageSage: list not complete without Gin Gwai (2002), English translation "The Eye", http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325655/ . Of course the 2008 American version was pathetic in comparison, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0406759/ .

Which would be relevant to this thread if that were a Japanese movie. You do know that not all 'slanty-eyed yellow people' come from the same country, right?

If you be trolling, well done.

I was never scared of Audition, and I thought Uzamaki was a comedy (seriously, who the fark considers that movie scary?), but Tale of Two Sisters and Ju-On both scare the ever living shiat out of me.

/Audition was just weird
//Ringu was scary, but only the first time, after that it's funny

/Kairo

Is Tetuso Iron Man not considered a horror film? I saw that once, twenty years ago, and images from it still show up in my dreams when I go to sleep with indigestion. That shiat freaked me right the fark out.

Hoban Washburne: Homertron: Watched Audition knowing what to expect. Would've loved to watch it knowing nothing about the movie. At first it seems like a romantic comedy, awww...man fines true love, after setting up a phony audition. Cute. Then the phone call, WHAM, WTF! WTF was that!?! WAAAAAH! Next time someone asks me for a dvd to watch, I'll give them the DVD, no box don't want to give anything away, and tell them here ya' go watch this. muhaha

When I watched it I knew something was really farked up and scary about it, but I completely avoided learning anything else. So I knew enough to be intrigued but still completely lulled in by the pace and surprised/horrified by how it played out.

My friend handed me the dvd saying: "Watch this, it's f-ed up". I asked what it was about and he just said just watch it.

...and then the bag moved.

I want to rewatch Ichi the Killer now. :)

/Just recently viewed The 13 Assassins on Netflix. Screwed up imagery at the beginning but mostly normal action for the rest of it.
//I've seen all of those, and don't really feel that anything but Audition should survive a rewriting of that list.

So... my memory of film contents lately is poor, but I recall seeing another horror film... which I THINK was out of Hong Kong (I saw it in a bar, from far away) which had a GREAT image of a guy tied with what looked like piano string and being slowly torn apart with it in a white room as he tried to play a piano, or something (again, bar). I REALLY want that film (I like making small video montages for projects that I work on), if anybody can think of it?

I personally think, lately, that Korean horror deserves more credit for inventiveness and new material than Japanese horror does. Thirst, Oldboy (though the rest of that cycle is boring) and A Tale of Two Sisters are all incredibly entertaining, well-directed psychological horror.

Ichi the Killer freaked me right the fark out. I saw it with friends and we were joking around and having a good time, but then BAM! nightmares three nights in a row. Somehow it snuck into my subconscious. Thing about that movie is a character will seem sympathetic and you'll latch onto them as the protagonist, and then they'll turn around and do something totally farked.

/I have Audition on my cue, but I'm afraid to watch.

Moogable: Hoban Washburne: The answer is Audition. I'm not going to biatch about it being just #2, but it's my #1 for sure.

I've been meaning to watch that, but seeing the link and this comment reminded me to actually dig it out of my Instant Queue.

Anything by Miike is guaranteed to be a bumpy ride - even his relatively normal films are rife with disturbing imagery. I consider Audition to be one of his more conventional films - it doesn't go batshiat crazy until like the last 1/4 of the movie (which is why it's probably my favorite Miike film - it seems like a relatively benign romantic dramedy up to the point where the bag moves).

When he actually makes an effort to fark with his audience you get films like Gozu, Ichi and Visitor Q.

Only one part of Ringu really stuck with me - the girl climbing out of the television. It looks better in the American remake but it's more effective in the original IMO.

GameSprocket: Do they involve long black hair and lots of water? What is the deal with that?


It's a Japanese (new window) cultural trope

Snapper Carr: Anything by Miike is guaranteed to be a bumpy ride - even his relatively normal films are rife with disturbing imagery.

That's the opinion of someone who clearly has not watched Yatterman, Crows Zero, or Sukiyaki Western Django.

Watch Yatterman, you probably won't even be able to believe it's Miike.

DMWJorge: A Tale of Two Sisters is still the best Asian horror film of all time. (Not Japanese, though)

I couldn't get into it. IT just tried too hard.

/glad you liked it, though

AlanSmithee: Leishu: So... my memory of film contents lately is poor, but I recall seeing another horror film... which I THINK was out of Hong Kong (I saw it in a bar, from far away) which had a GREAT image of a guy tied with what looked like piano string and being slowly torn apart with it in a white room as he tried to play a piano, or something (again, bar). I REALLY want that film (I like making small video montages for projects that I work on), if anybody can think of it?

Three Extremes.
Link (new window)

I was rather disappointed. The first was cliche and predictable, the second (the piano one) was weird enough, but had a crappy ending, and the third one, by Miike Takeshi, was plain incoherent.

loved Dumplings... it was like a reallt great "tales from the crypt" vignette!

AlanSmithee: Leishu: So... my memory of film contents lately is poor, but I recall seeing another horror film... which I THINK was out of Hong Kong (I saw it in a bar, from far away) which had a GREAT image of a guy tied with what looked like piano string and being slowly torn apart with it in a white room as he tried to play a piano, or something (again, bar). I REALLY want that film (I like making small video montages for projects that I work on), if anybody can think of it?

Three Extremes.
Link (new window)

I was rather disappointed. The first was cliche and predictable, the second (the piano one) was weird enough, but had a crappy ending, and the third one, by Miike Takeshi, was plain incoherent.

Thanks!

if_i_really_have_to: That's the opinion of someone who clearly has not watched Yatterman, Crows Zero, or Sukiyaki Western Django.

You're partly right. I haven't seen the first two though I'm aware of their existence (never bothered with Crows Zero because I thought it would just be another Fudoh).

I turned off Western Django after the horribly awkward Tarantino narration (in other words I lasted about 5 minutes).