Comments on: Vampire Girl Vs. Frankenstein Girl

By: ShaunAnderson001

ShaunAnderson001 — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:41:58 +0000

The problem is of course, is that people whose only experience of Japanese culture is as you say eating sushi, still make comments and evaluations about Japanese culture. I’m not getting at you here Dylan, but this is more a general point about the limitations, and they are obvious from this discussion, of western writing on Japanese cinema. I’m not sure how you get around this. Personally when I write on Japanese cinema, I try and stick solely to what is expressed in the film itself, because its very hard to make connections between Japanese cinematic representations and wider Japanese culture from an outsider perspective. I think my way into a film like this is through a discussion of genre – nevertheless its a good piece of criticism.

By: Dylan

Dylan — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 09:26:53 +0000

Well, I really do see their culture as quite crazy and bizarre. I don’t say “insane” as an insult of any sort, only in that their culture has so many practices that are so uniquely outraegeous compared to our – and most others – culture. Of course, my reviews are from a Western perspective – I’m sure to someone who lives in Japan, they would be accustomed to Japanese culture and probably find North American culture strange in many ways. But, I can only write my review from an outsiders/Western perspective, as I have never lived in Japan or experienced their culture beyond eating sushi, so I do find a lot of their practices outright crazy in comparison to ours.

By: KFear

KFear — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 06:38:59 +0000

Hmmm. And when i view these films I think to myself how incredibly insane the actual films are. They have an incredible energy to them that seems to hyper-extend the senses. The violence makes my pulse pound, the sex is powerful and dominating, and ways in which the films progress suggests you’re watching something in fast forward. The culture is not insane because the films, in this particular genre, are on speed. If anything, these films are real in terms of giving life to the types of fantasies we live; the sex, the violence, and the emotion. I’d say it’s insane, until I realize how true it really is. At that time, I can welcome further films such as Versus and this title.
As for the game shows and other viewer friendly entertainment, Ummmm, i’ll pass on it. Game shows that involve women stripping men by their teeth might sound sexy, but…when turned into an activity that is the soul premise behind a game show, again, i’ll pass.

By: KFear

KFear — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:11:15 +0000

There is a remake on the way for Battle Royal. Not too much is known about it and it’s not likely to see a 2010 release. I think J-Horror remakes are a thing of the past at this point. Not much else too remake, but I’m sure we’ll see The Grudge 4 and 5 on direct to video shelves at some time or another. Mirrors was alright. The original was alright too. I didn’t mind the story so much but I was just disappointed that Aja was attached to it. He’s known for taking the everyday things we take for granted and giving us a scenario where love and family are literally torn too shreds. Two things we all take for granted at some point of our lives. I just didn’t see the same emotion in mirrors. Not at all.

By: Dylan

Dylan — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:11:30 +0000

The remakes of J-horror are getting terrible. The exception is Mirrors, but I’m in the minority on that one. I vaguely remember hearing about a Battle Royale remake some time back; lets hope I’m getting it mixed up with something else.

By: ShaunAnderson001

ShaunAnderson001 — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:30:41 +0000

An interesting review, I have one or two points if I may. I think there is always a problem when Western critics deal with East Asian cinema. Its very difficul to assess the films from perspectives we can easily do so with Hollywood or European output – approaches such as sociological, political, gender and even genre…Japan has its own systems of meaning within these spheres – to suggest that Japanese culture is “utterly insane” simply because its representations of violence and sexuality are different to our own seems a fairly narrow way of viewing cultural difference. A certain type of Japanese cinematic output is hyper-real, hyper-violent and hyper-sexualised – this Manga inspired material is a unique Japanese cultural expression – perfectly understandable and acceptable to the culture that produced it.

By: KFear

KFear — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:27:01 +0000

I tend to stay away from these films. I liked Suicide Club, Battle Royal, and Iron Man, but this might go a little too far from reality for me. I miss the good old days back when I was first discovering J-Horror. Now, I’m just left with their remakes. I just watched Mirrors again. It’s kind of…almost terrible. Blah! BLAH!