RSS
Home
Foreign origins of horror favorites
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Image Credit: CC
A scream sounds the same in every language, so its no surprise foreign movies have been adapted for American audiences, often remade by Hollywood. However, the foreign counterparts of these films tend to be scarier because of more lax film codes and experiemental tendencies. If you ever wondered where your favorite modern horror film came from, it might have origins in Asian or European cinema, like these films.
Ringu: The famous Ring triology of films was based on this original Japense of the film and be watched at http://www.asian-horror-movies.com or on YouTube here. From 1998, this film was directed by famed Japanese horror director Hideo Nakata. It has the basic premise of the first ring movie: a video tape kills everyone who watches it. However, Japan's Ringu series has many more intricate films than America's.
Dark Water: An amazing film. Acting is flawless and e you'll be jumping at shadows. The film can bee seen at Watch at http://www.asian-horror-movies.com/ as well. Also directed by Nakata, the film is about a mother and daughter who move into an apartment where they cannot get the landlord to stop the strange leaks. Soon, a ghost child starts appearing, leaving a strange red bag around the house. While the American version is very similar viewers agree it isn't as scary and didn't do as well a the box office.
Ju-on: The original Grudge, but more creepy and complex. There are also two short movies about 6 minute each - that go along with it. You can watch the film here. Written and directed by another Japanese horror favorite, Takashi Shimizu, the film is about a house possessed by a spirit called Ju-on that kills everyone that dares to inhabit its home. Shimizu also directed and co-wrote the American version of the film.
Battle Royale: some consider it to be horror while others don't, so you can watch for yourself here. The film is very controverisal and bloody, about a group of school children who are put on an island and must kill each other because the lone survivor is given their freedom, sort of Lord of the Flies. The film is set in the future when overpopulation stands to destroy the world. An American version is coming to theatres in 2011.
Shock Labyrinth - Another film by Shimizu, this film is one of the first 3-D Japanese horror films. The basic premise is a bunch of teenagers enter into a supposedly haunted ex-hospital to find out the building is really a crazy labyrinth and is seriously haunted.
Image Credit: CC
A Tale of Two Sisters: The American movie The Uninvited is based off this one. It is more psychological than ghost based, but still fairly creepy. The film can be watched here.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance: The first in a triology of films, all of which stand alone but have the same theme, this film ends up being a little bit of a tear-jerker. The sequels are not for the squeamish. The film can be watched here. The plot follows around a young man who gets drawn into the illegal organ black market in an effort to save his sister, who needs a kidney transplant.
Whispering Corridors : Like Mr. Vengeance this movie is part of a trilogy, but they aren't really connected. This one takes place in a high school and is a psychological mind trip. In the film, two students share a close bond of friendship, one of whom has strange psyhcic powers. When teachers conspire to keep the two kids apart, things turn ugly.
Biozombie: From
The Eye: Jessica Alba stared in the remake, which was pretty much a box office flop. However, the original is one of China's most notable horror films and can be watched here. It follows the same premise: a blind girl gets a cornea implant and soon begins seeing ghosts. She must track down the identity of her cornea donor to find out why she keeps seeing creepy things.
Ab-Normal Beauty: The film touches briefly on the ethics of photography and ends something akin to the gore seen in Saw or Hostel. The film can be viewed here. The film is about a female art student who was frightened by witnessing a car crash at an early age and now is obsessed with death, which critically affects her relationships. After discovery a snuff film a friend supposedly made was true, the girl must track down the identity of the person who keeps sending her gruesome video tapes.
Image Credit: CC
Spain
[REC] - The film that the American Quarantine originates from, this Spanish film is ten times scarier and can be viewed here. The film is about a reporter and her crew covering the night shift at a local firehall. They go to rescue an elderly woman trapped in a burning apartment building, only to be trapped in the building themselves and discover the elderly woman is not what the expected.
The Orphanage: The film stars Belén Rueda as Laura, Fernando Cayo as her husband, Carlos, and Roger Príncep as their adopted son Simón. The plot centers on Laura, who returns to her childhood home, an orphanage. Laura plans to turn the house into a home for disabled children, but a problem arises when she and Carlos realize that Simón believes he has a masked friend named Tomás with whom he will run away. After an argument with Laura, Simón is found to be missing. A version of this film is coming to America in 2011.
Sweden
Let the Right One In: The terror of the Sundance film festival, this film is probably the scariest vampire flick since Nosferatu. Puppy love goes sour in this film about a bullied 12-year-old boy who develops a friendship with a vampire child in Blackeberg, a suburb of Stockholm, in the early 1980s. This one is slowly getting more attention, but still isn't too well known. It is only really well known among the big horror film fans right now. There's going to be an American remake in 2010.
So, if you want to know which scary films are coming to theaters soon, all you have to do is look around the world.
