MovieChat Forums > Bunhongsin (2005) Discussion > The Asian horror boom ends right here.

The Asian horror boom ends right here.

posted 18 years ago by Puppetmister
25 replies | jump to latest

Just saw 'The Red Shoes' at the Edinburgh Film Festival (it was horribly misadvertised). You might think it would follow that if you liked Ringu, Ju-On, Dark Water etc. you would love The Red Shoes. On the other hand, I reckon you might find that this is the film that finally overloads the cliche wagon and marks the point at which you no longer find this 'new wave' of Asian fresh, edgy, novel and exciting. You can tick off the hackneyed motifs as they appear, but here's my little checklist of cliches that this film piles on:

A newly single thirtysomething mother (whose feathered hair looks fantastic throughout).
Her creepy child.
A haunted object that keeps on reappearing even after being discarded.
Lots of false shocks from people popping up unexpectedly.
A heroine who may or may not be imagining things. Lots of dream sequences and hallucinations.
Nasty things happening to petulant schoolgirls. In a subway.
Creepy girls with long hair hanging over their faces.
Spooky people standing in lifts and corridors.

Anyone spot any others?

=Doctor Fact is Knocking at the Door. Someone, please - LET THE MAN IN=

[–] Emong 18 years ago

Uhm.. I wouldn't count "Creepy girls with long hair hanging over their faces" as a cliche. Asian horror is based on that element. It's like complaining why there's so much blood in splatter movies. Makes no sense.. But the other things you mentioned - so true.. But I loved this movie throughout! Just didn't like the false scares and the whole Dark Water -setup.

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[–] Pyro_Keebler_78 17 years ago

Comparing creepy girls with long hair on their faces and blood in a splatter movie is a horrible comparison. EVERYONE has blood in them. You stab someone and they bleed, thats what happens to everyone. I don't remember hearing about the creepy girl with long hair over her face that lived inside me.

I'd like to add to the cliches the hallway with flickering lights where mysterious figures appear at the other end.

[–] Apathy4progress 17 years ago

Consider the creepy girl with long hair aspect the same as serial killers in American horror films. Asian horror focuses a lot on the supernatural. The girl with long hair is a mythological element common in their countries, in the same sense as violent, sociopathic criminals are common in Hollywood films. So maybe blood in splatter movies is a bad comparison, but at least Pyro Keebler is on the right track.

"Ignorance does not equal innocence"

[–] heartfaker 17 years ago

Better yet, consider the creepy girl the same way you would consider a masked killer. It's just a staple, not a cliche.

[–] sara-34 17 years ago

I think it's possible for a thing to be both a staple and a cliche.

If the masked serial killers in American horror films hadn't gotten so tired and redundant, we wouldn't have turned to Asian films for something fresh. Eventually the hair-in-the-face girl is going to get old as well.

[–] Starvenus 14 years ago

First off, I know I'm responding to a few years old post. Albeit the flick just played on SunFest, so there.

Apathy, love the signature and your post. I'm a horror buff when it comes to books also; and just like films, a good horror story is hard to come by. Anyhow, an ex was enthusiastic in providing me bilingual (Korean/Japanese-English) books most of which were a big yawn except for the "ancient" tales.

Guess what, most of their ghost stories featured a scorned haunting female. For years when I read the post on Int'l films I want to shake and hang my head in shame. Granted I may have a better understanding of Asian-culture/history, but how hard is it too Google something before posting ones ignorance for the world to see ....BTW it's Asian-American Appreciation Month (May).

[–] teenasung 10 years ago

Yes. There's even a myth attached to the pale long haired girl ghost in white. They say she's a girl who died without being married. This is why she wears white.

This is not the greatest signature in the world. This is just a tribute.

[–] entr0pyandanarchy 15 years ago

Brilliant!
"I don't remember hearing about the creepy girl with long hair over her face that lived inside me."

Someone call a producer, next new Asian horror flick!

[–] squarepanths 17 years ago

How about the shadowy figure materializing on the camera in the subway station at the end - straight out of Ju-on. And the girl in the subway train window as it flashes past - elevator scene from Ju-on.

terrible movie

[–] gonzogonzalez45 17 years ago

Well, I don’t think the Asian horror boom ends right here. I think the "girl-with-long-hair-over-her-face" ends here (hope it does!). Maybe other scary movies will come out like Imprint, Marebito or three extremes series which are different.

The bad part is that HOLLYWOOD has to remake a few more of those "girl-with-long-hair-over-her-face" movies and THEN will end up SO fed up. Don't you think?

[–] haewatein 16 years ago

If you go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%C5%ABrei
you can find out that Japanese Ghosts in general look that way: with black long hair and so on.

This is like when you complain that in nearly all Asian movies the people are eating with chopsticks...

[–] beckapoe 16 years ago

A bit too much Asian cliché's for sure. But I liked it and thought the movie was somewhat charming.

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[–] villainsrule 16 years ago

How about the horrid cliche of the main character being the killer/ghost/whatever is the main thing of the movie? This was original in movies like 50 years ago and mostly due to its rare useage. Nowaday, especially in Asian horror, it's almost expected.

Tack onto cliches, the police never doing anything. Come on, this many deaths and the cops don't even interrogate? Yeah right.

Cheating husband/boyfriend...lame. Come on, because the ghost/killer is almost always female in the Asian horror universe, there are too many bad husbands being overused. Whether they are abusive (physically/sexually/psychologically), or just plain douche bags, husbands and boyfriends are getting a bad rap in Asian horror.

The long, black hair covering the face IS a cliche because not every horror movie in Hollywood has a masked killer. We too, use ghosts, demons, magic, monsters, mythical creatures, etc. in the movies. Asian horror almost exclusively deals with female spirits. It is getting old. I'll admit the scariest movies have a female spirit, but the weaker additions, as this is, are really turning people off, fast.

I'd recommend a medium of the two that was pulled off pretty well in Sukob (the wedding curse). Although we have the creepy dark haired ghost girl, at least it lacks all the other cliches especially the whole unraveling the mystery of the ghost by freeing the spirit only to find out they are pure evil ultimate ending cliche!!! In Sukob, they tried to make the spirit more of a force that comes to those who violate a superstition with no reason or origin to the ghost or demon or whatever the hell it is supposed to be. If anything, the only reason why the ghost(?) looks the way it does is for pure intimidation purposes.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] villainsrule 12 years ago

Oh, good one! So you dig up an old thread to give such a witty reply? You must truly be pathetic. If you actually read my post you'd see how I thoroughly go over my flaws with this movie and the current trend of Asian horror at the time. What do you do, just name call. I never said "all" Asian horror follows cliches, but that too many do and this one is an offender. Can't take the criticism? Get over it and grow up. Your idiocy must do wonders for your personal life.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] villainsrule 12 years ago

Are you retarded or just trollin'? I even listed an Asian horror movie in my post that went against the cliches to show a comparison to the common trends. I really don't get your point in posting. I like Asian horror, but the Red Shoes was as cliched as it comes and too many movies have followed suit. If you have a problem with my reasoning, I highly suggest you get over it.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] villainsrule 12 years ago

Lol, okay you really are either illiterate, mentally retarded, or just a huge troll. Again, you ignore how I go on a rant on how to use originality with the movie Sukob. And yes, the long-haired ghost girl is cliched if it is in EVERY movie you nitwit. It's apart of their culture? Who's culture? Not every "Asian" culture has some story about "long-haired ghost women." Let's take Japan for example. Do you realize how many urban legends, ghost stories, and other lore they have there? They have such a rich mythology to draw from and yet we've been getting Ringu clones for a decade now. That is when it becomes a cliche and the trend should cease. Does every movie out of Japan do this? Of course not, but there are enough for it to be annoying.

The sad thing about you, is you don't even try to defend this movie despite it's huge flaws and array of cliches. All you do is try and bash and draw conclusions from my post despite your inability to read. For your annoying trolling, you go on the ignore list. Bye bye idiot!

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

Somewhere amongst this (hugely bloody) mess of a movie there may have been the basis of a possibly good film. I think the OP is correct in that sadly the director chose to believe that nothing succeeds like excess and overloaded the movie accordingly.

[–] mistermojohoho 12 years ago

Sadly, this is still better than you average horror movie from Hollywood.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] fun-niji 10 years ago

I'm Asian that's lived mostly in Europe. These films you mentioned, by now I have no idea if you've seen others besides, are just one part of what makes Asian Horror Movies. These 'fad' movies you refer to are only brought overseas because of the surge of their (genre's/ sub-genre's) popularity amongst Western viewers (despite Ethnicity at this point).
(P.S. Not going to bring up the other excellent posts made by others, such as the constant presence of blood and gore in the Horror genre. Referring back to these doesn't take much brain power after-all.)

But unless you're Asian or know where to look, unfortunately, you'll end up getting stuck to what's advertised or hyped online or otherwise -on sites like this or sites generally in English.

As for fantastic hair btw, it's not a cliche. For most, regardless of age, we do have fabulous-albeit-boring-straight hair. It's in the genes. Personally, I have moments that I'm not happy with this but you know...

EDIT: Cursed objects or heirlooms (in general) are staple items in almost every genre. Can't just conclude that this is purely an Asian (Korean or Japanese specifically, seeing as they're culprit to the popularity of the aforementioned 'fads' on your lists) practice. The Red Shoes is THE cursed item in Hans Christian Anderson fairytale - a fairytale that originated in the West. And once portrayed before this on film in 1948.