The Afterlife in Pulse

I very much enjoyed Pulse but I was confused about one aspect of it, namely the way it portrays the afterlife. For most of the movie, they focused on the fact that life is inherently lonely, and thus this would continue after we die. This was even supported when the surfer looking dude (I can’t remember his name) finally spoke to one of the ghosts in the end and he said that “death was eternal loneliness.” On the other hand, Harue’s experience with the ghosts doesn’t seem to support this. When she walks into that room and starts hugging something that isn’t there, she says something like “I’m not alone.” Also, it seems to me that when people turned into the black smudges, they did it by choice. This was especially true in the scene where Junko (I think that was her name) voluntarily fades away in Michi’s apartment. Why would they want to die if they know that the afterlife is only full of loneliness?

Which version of the afterlife do you think Pulse was going for? Or do you think the contradictions are purposeful to show that we can never really understand what happens after death, even if we were to speak with someone who has died?

Japanese Horror

I find Japanese horror to be very entertaining because it adds the element of humor to most of its films, while most American horror movies are strictly suspenseful or filled with terror. Although Uzumaki is considered horror, the way it was filmed and the effects and dialogue were pure comedy. Unlike actual Japanese horror films, American versions of them tend to actually be scary - I attribute this to the advancements in the film industry and the budgets of American films compared to Japanese; Uzumaki had a budget of 1,000,000 while movies such as The Ring have 50 million dollar budget. Overall, I really enjoy the Japanese horror films when I'm in the mood for a laugh, but enjoy the true American 'horror' films much more.

Uzumaki gives me Vertigo

What stuck out most to me while watching Uzumaki were the spirals- and this reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (one of my favorite movies of all time). Overtly, the beginning credits feature a spiral in an eye. This is seen, too in the eyes of the possessed people in Uzumaki. Vertigo’s main character Scottie (Jimmy Stewart) has been diagnosed with vertigo after witnessing his police buddy’s death over the ledge of a building. He’s off the force on sick leave when an old pal asks him to investigate, a.k.a. follow, his wife. Scottie begins to follow Madeline and eventually becomes madly in love and obsessed with her. Spirals are key to the theme of obsession in the film just like Uzumaki where people start becoming obsessed with spirals. Scottie sees spirals when he is having a vertigo spell and in his dreams, but spirals also appear in the physical world of the film- in the twist of her hair, the stairs in the church tower. The clouds spin in a spiral motion when a possessed person is cremated in the small Japanese town in Uzumaki. Spirals are interesting because they hypnotize you or make you feel crazy. (They also make me think of dizzy cartoon characters and the snake, Sir Hiss, from Disney’s Robin Hood cartoon that hypnotized his foes.) But ultimately, spirals signify madness in these films. The characters get sucked into psychosis that they cannot escape just like the way the spiral draws in your eye and keeps your attention.

Japanese Horror

One of the most interesting things about Japanese horror is the way it combines the elements of fear while also adding in some ridiculous elements of humor. There are many moments inUzumaki that seem too cheesy (like the circus music as someone else called it or the odd personalities sprinkled throughout the film) but at the same time, the movie manages to still create that suspense that induces the audience's fear. But what makes something so vague as a spiral so frightening?

As Carroll discusses in his Philosophy of Horror, the monster in the film is indiscernible or inconceivable. The spiral is everywhere in the town, and as a member of the audience, it is difficult to even picture how it can cause such incidences. At the same time, it is a shape that is transgressing the boundaries of a normal shape and becoming more than that.

Japanese Horror in America

There have been many mainstream horror films in America that have actually originated in Japan. One of the most popular horror films in recent history, The Ring, was actually a remake of a Japanese horror film called Ring. The main storyline of Ring is that there is a cursed videotape that when viewed the viewer will die in a week. This film is the highest grossing horror film in Japan, bringing in over $137 million, and was voted the scariest Japanese horror film in multiple surveys. There was an American remake of the film that was released in 2002 and was a box office hit in the United States. Another famous Japanese horror film that was remade in America was Ju-on: The Grudge. This film was released in Japan in January of 2003 and the American remake, The Grudge, was released in the United States a year later. The movie was based on the idea that whenever someone dies a death in a state of sorrow or rage, the emotion of death can remain behind and become a part of the place, eventually leading to death of others who come in contact with the tainted place. Both The Ring and The Grudge were very high grossing films, making over $128 million and $187 million respectively in the American box office. It would not surprise me in the least bit if we see more Japanese horror films successfully remade and released in the United States in the future.

Japanese Horror

I think that Japanese horror is the best kind of horror, and is why all the American movies that we see are basically replicates of them. The themes of hair, sounds, and the overall mood of the movies are very appealing in the sense of preeminent fear. I believe since we as Americans have such a different culture than the Japanese, the movies we watch are much different weird movie with many odd characters such as the guy who kept popping up out of nowhere. I like how the movie focused on something we see in everyday of our lives such as a spiral and how something simple can turn into an obsession where people fear it. Pulse also portrayed many themes of horror that we fear such as the ghosts and darkness. I personally remember going to see the American version in theaters and was freaked out, and was even more scared during the Japanese version.

Pulse

Pulse was much much more creepy than I was expecting. I admit I thought it would be more like Kwaidan or Uzumaki, but this was one of the best all-around horror films I've seen. It seemed to have elements of The Grudge and The Ring with the creepy black-haired woman and the use of technology acting as a gateway for ghosts. The horror in Uzumaki was silly at best, and any scenes that had the potential to scare were ruined by bad acting and funny lines (even though it was intentional). However, in Pulse there was no relief from the darkness. The story started out darkly with the discovery of the friend who hung himself. Then the theme of loneliness and the idea that death brings eternal loneliness is a very grave message. The lighting helped set the tone as well since pretty much every ghost-scene is in a really dark room or on a darkened computer screen (not to mention it was cloudy outside in pretty much every scene). Even the ghosts seemed to be composed of darkness since they left black spots where they died, and not to mention they were downright creepy! I found it to be the most realistic portrayal of ghosts in any movie that I've seen. One thing that made the ghost scenes creepy was their length. Most supernatural horror films involve jump scenes where a scary face pops up behind some girl in a mirror. I feel like that is the easy way to get scares, but the way Pulse does it is way more scary. The ghosts don't just come out of nowhere. Rather, they slowly creep onto the screen as the human can only stand and watch horrified. It builds incredible tension and is way more effective as a scare device than jump scenes. The scene with the black-haired woman gave me the chills, and I'm not one to be scared easily.

I thoroughly enjoyed Pulse and it joins The Ring and The Grudge as some of my favorite horror movies. Its no coincidence that they are all derived from Japanese horror. I guess I find that style of movie to be better made and way scarier. It was interesting to see the other side of Japanese horror in Uzumaki however. Or at least it was interesting until it just got downright strange....

Uzumaki makes me dizzy

Uzumaki is certainly a unique film—its combination of several genres and techniques along with the mish-mash of events proved to be pretty puzzling for me. At times, it felt serious; at others, it felt really cartoonish (even Anime-like acting). It used close-ups, weird still shots at the end, strange lighting, spiraling shots, and varying music choices. It was freaky, silly, impossible, dark, and dare I say…twisted?

I guess I struggled to find Uzumaki’s identity. It just seemed a little too all-over-the-place. Honestly, without having discussed it in class Thursday, I wouldn’t have any clue it was about obsession…or about anything at all, really. It was just too easy to get lost in all of the randomness. Like a couple of other people mentioned in their posts, I agree that Uzumaki was unbelievable with poor acting.  I suppose my point is this: Uzumaki’s less obvious meanings take a back seat to its overly-abundant themes and characteristics. Does Uzumaki try to include too many elements? Probably. Was it still entertaining at face-value? ....Admittedly, yes.

Uzumaki and Japanese Horror

Uzumaki wasn't the type of Japanese horror that I was expecting to see. Actually, I don't think I've seen a Japanese horror film like it. I was expecting the scary, makes-your-skin-crawl female 'ghosts' dressed in white with long black hair. Then the ghost popping out at random times where you somewhat don't expect it to and maybe kill someone.

To me, Japanese horror and Korean horror films share a lot of similar characteristics. I'm used to seeing a scary, makes-your-skin-crawl female 'ghosts' dressed in white with long black hair. However, ghost characters today don't follow the white clothing characteristic. I think the one reason why the 'ghosts' would be wearing white clothing is because white is color you wear to funerals. In Korea, the traditional dress in white is what you're supposed to wear. Therefore, a lot of ghosts would be wearing that white traditional dress to haunt you. I guess in a way, it's supposed to signify that she's dead. But, I'm sure the true reason why these ghosts wear white in horror movies are from history. Maybe in the past, people saw female ghosts with long black hair and wearing white clothing.

Uzumaki

I'm going to be honest, I thought this movie was incredibly strange and poorly acted. My first reaction was "WTF?" After our discussion in class, I felt better knowing that the director most likely meant for certain parts to be humorous - because they absolutely were ridiculous. I did find it interesting how moments of extreme unease and funny moments were juxtaposed. For instance, loud circus-like music plays just before we see a boy fall from the spiral staircase, which cracks his skull and kills him. Just after this moment there is the bathroom scene, with the odd girl clique that emerges from the stalls. The audience is taken from quirky to horrific moments in the blink of an eye. In my opinion, this reminded me of Alice in Wonderland or the newer version of Willy Wonka - mainly, when we see the human snails and large, animated curling hair. This made the entire move super unbelievable and completely non-frightening. I'm beginning to think the director just wanted to take peoples' minds for a trip. He certainly did that.

Uzumaki

At first, I was confused by the ending of Uzumaki because it ended abruptly. The final scenes of the still life images of the dead bodies were out of place and did not fit it with the rest of the cinematography. The still life images seemed to resemble paintings that glorified body horror. Some of the images also reflected themes from Dali or other dreamlike painters. The images did conclude the story in an artistic manner; however, it distracted me from the story and did not invoke any type of eerie feeling. At the same time, since the story was told as a narration, the images could have also represented extremely graphic newspaper photos. I did not find a point in the depiction of the dead bodies, except to artistically conclude the story, which could have been accomplished by the narrator.
Body horror was of great fascination in the movie since the director developed many creative ways to kill off characters and incorporate the spiral. The spiral is an interesting motif because it is usually associated with fun and childish actions. However, it also has the ability to create a hypnotized feeling, and has associations with the psychologically insane. Therefore, the use of the spiral was actually ingenious because it is such a familiar shape that the director uses in unfamiliar ways, which, I think, gives the movie an uncanny aspect.
Also, Japanese horror does not seem to have defining characteristics because each movie has drastically different themes. Kwaidan focused on storytelling of legends that were not scary. Uzumaki did have scary moments that mainly focused around body horror images and some moments of psychological terror. However, the movie seem to have its own conscious and recognize the humor in the filming of a "scary" movie about spirals. It was a strange combination of comedy and horror, which just made me unable to react to certain scenes and connect with the characters. I don't know if I was supposed to feel fear when the characters felt fear, or if I was supposed to laugh at the absurdity. I also think that, although spirals do invoke creepy and obsessive feelings, the plot seems so unrealistic that it did not scare me at all, if it was meant to do that.

Pulse

Pulse turned out to be one of the most chilling movies I have ever seen- and I think this is because of how realistic it is for a ghost story. In comparison to other Japanese horror films we have watched, the acting was actually spot on for the most part, so it did not distract from getting caught up in the action, and the score and cinematography were really entertaining as well. But what I think is the most horrifying is how close to reality this story was; first of all, it used the young internet to combine the spirit world with the human world, in a way that suggests a supernatural consequence of our breaking-away from human interaction and connection. This is something that I am wary of anyways, without the threat of ghosts using our disconnectedness to haunt us. Furthemore, if I had to conjure up an idea of what a spirit or ghost would actually look like if I saw one right here and now, I guess the ghosts in Pulse are as close as I can imagine...I thought it was really effective to have them unsteadily "pulse" between this realm and theirs, in a murky way that suggests even they are disoriented by their situation. It just seems a lot more believable for the "spirit realm" to have imperfections like that. This movie actually left me pondering the issues it brought to mind, about what happens after death, and did not offer any kind of sugar-coated ending so it was definitely the most effectively horrifying film we have watched in this class, it is one of the most genuinely unsettling horror films I can recall seeing.

In the immortal words of Eric Cartman: LAME :)

Pulse & The Social Network

Even though it was a subtitled film, I actually really enjoyed “Pulse.” It creeped me out, albeit not as much as I was hoping for, but the general idea of the ghosts was interesting. I liked the fact that it wasn’t the typical opaque spirit searching for a soul or rite of passage out of purgatory, but rather these spirits that were invading Earth because they had ran out of room in the other world. It’s almost similar to an Alien movie by the way they were “invading” and haunting everyone. From what I remember, they don’t exactly have a distinct face but more of a ghostly figure, which makes it even creepier. Having the ghosts take over through the internet reminds me of a cliché, saying that the internet is stealing our souls because all we do is spend countless amounts of hours on it, rather than going out in the world and interacting with people. (But, as a college student, you are susceptible and trained to use the internet for our basic needs, making it harder to survive day to day assignments without the use of blackboard and webmail. I mean right now, I’m typing this while surfing Facebook. Facebook is probably stealing my soul right now too). I do think it’s a good technique to compare the ghosts stealing souls with the internet, because we are losing touch with our own selves via technology. 2001 was back in the day when I suffered from dial-up where I lived (and hearing the dial-tone in the movie brought back bad memories), but it’s amazing how much technology and our dependence on it has changed in the past 10 years. This movie shows how we shouldn’t rely so heavily on materialistic aspects of technology to help us through day to day tasks. Sure, it makes it easier on us, but we begin to become so helpless sometimes. No longer do we write letters or go out and meet people the old-fashioned way. We’re prone to instant messaging and facebook chats if we want a conversation going. Skype is a more personable touch, but I personally am guilty of texting more than calling a person. Thank god for UNC though for allowing me to actually go out and meet people every day if I want to, when I walk around campus. That’s something Facebook couldn’t really give me a good experience of.

Overall though, I enjoyed the film. Not a huge fan of Japanese stuff if it’s not anime, and I’m not big on subtitles- but sitting in my room with the lights off watching this movie gets pretty scary at some points- especially watching the scene where the girl commits suicide when she jumps off the water tower. The whole “splat” sound wasn’t very enticing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0

^I hate this sound.

La Jetee and Special Effects

One of the subjects we touched on lightly in class on Tuesday was the ability of La Jetee to portray an alternate reality where time travel is possible with relatively no special effects. I believe this is in large part due to the unorthodox film technique of using still images rather than actual shots with movement. I found the short movie to be a nice juxtaposition to other more advanced sci-fi films we watched, which portrayed similarly impossible alternate realities using special effects, fancy costumes and special effects. Nonetheless, I felt the film was able to put forth a similar mystique to draw in the audience while maintaining a realistic feel.

Although the still shot technique could be construed as laziness, I feel this artistic approach also left the short film open to interpretation while at the same time sheltered its plot from skepticism and having holes poked in the plot. Generally, movies dealing with time travel leave complicated loop holes open for debate, however by using still images, this film seems to skirt around that issue all together, and allows viewers like us to draw the conclusions on our own, even if those conclusions are as outlandish as saying that David Bowie's success can be attributed to his adept use of time traveling.

In a Cup of Tea

So we talked a little bit about the final story in Kwaidan and a lot of people were critical of it. Compared to the other three, it's relatively brief and intimate and doesn't have as clear of a moral lesson. The only way in which I can think that it "fits" is because it recounts a ghost story that has itself only been half finished, perhaps like the movie since it only includes four of the tales from the original Kaidan literature. I'd love some more feedback on why you think the film ends this way.

La Jetee

During our class's viewing of La Jetee, I was astonished by the lack of dialogue and filming that I'm accustomed to see in typical films. My mind raced between stages of bewilderment as I fruitlessly attempted to make sense of the ever-complicating story. Due to this lack direction and the countless subsequent possibilities of horror, I found such techniques increasingly terrifying, as I never could rightly predict where the story would turn next. Previously, I had never thought still imaged shots would have such a lasting affect on my psyche. Quite the contrary, I had always felt the truly horrifying, particularly in the case of films, would be a sequence of disturbing events in motion (i.e. Saw, Hostel, etc.) where I would experience the event as it was laid out for me. However, La Jetee's ability to leave much of the action and interpretation thereof unknown left me much more on the edge of my seat, at least in my experience. I'm interested to know if others in the class had similar experiences with La Jetee or if I'm indeed so averse to horror films that I can not bear even the most basic, still-shot horrors.

La Jetée

I find the most striking part of this short film to be the use of still images as opposed to film. I think it is a blatant representation of how our memories actually work. Our memories are not like a roll of film, playing out every scene we experience in perfect sequence but is instead like flipping through a book of snapshots from our lives, some pictures clearer than others and some not there at all. The fact that the characters went unnamed was also a characteristic of how the film creates realistic rendition of how memories work. We don't always remember peoples' names but we can remember their faces.
In fact, I've read that you cannot fabricate faces in your dreams, that every character in a dream you have is a person that you have at least seen once before in your conscious life. This is why I believe the snapshot of the woman in the beginning is so important to the man who is sent forward and backward in time. Although he doesn't know anything about her besides what her face looks like, he continues to return to her in his time travel which are in a way like dreams.

Horror in Video Games and Movies

We began this unit discussing why we crave to watch horror. Probably the most likely reason is that we desire an adrenaline rush. A good scare in a movie gives us a nice little raise in heartbeat. And when the scare is nice and bloody we are granted a primal blood lust that we feel we must fill. It used to be that the only way that this could be attained was to watch a movie, but with the invention of better processors we found another way to fulfill our sadistic, adrenaline pumping desires. With better processors came better graphics and with better graphics came survival horror videogames.

It was discussed that horror films allow us to see vicious act while remaining completely safe. This is also true in videogames, but a degree of separation is removed. The character is not merely watched but to an extent the player becomes the character. One can control the actions; thus removing the, "Holy shit get the hell out of there!" shouts that plagues us when watching a movie. A good horror game makes the player realize some terror that the characters feel in movies. You cannot know the terror of running out of bullets until your faced with a horde of necromorphs or splicers (kudos to you if you understand my nerdtastic references).

Both horror movies and games are adequate ways of fulfilling our desires of terror; however, games would not be what they are without movies. Trapped in outer space on a ship with hundreds of alien being that were brought on board for the purpose of an organizations gain. Sound familiar? This is both the plot of the Alien franchise and the (AWESOME) game Dead Space. The first Resident Evil took place in an abandoned mansion with terrifying zombies, giant spiders, and a giant snake. The original version of the game released for the Playstation feature live action segues that featured featured some of the most horrendous acting on the same levels of b-movies.

I'll end this post by saying if you want a good scare with a plot that's honestly better than most horror films being spewed out today go find yourself a nice and scary game. Bioshock and Dead Space are two beautifully written series with great scares.

la Jetee a very unique piece of work

The movie La Jetee was one of the most unique movies I have seen. The fact that for the most part the entire movie is all still shots put together with just music and narration shows and incredible challenge for the filmmaker as far as production is concerned. In order to put together at 30 minute movie made entirely of stills that form the plot of a movie, none the less the plot line of a time traveling science fiction movie, is really incredible. The movie flows and for the most part is somewhat understandable. It impresses the time to take thousands of still photos and edit and move them around to create a plot. An issue with the movie I had was that if it were drawn out to much longer it would have been hard to follow and combination of no dialogue and live action would wear on the audience. The director made the film to an ideal amount of time. Overall, the film was very interesting and it was a very different style to do the film in.

As for the horror genre in general, I am not the biggest fan. Sometimes I appreciate the unintentional comedy of horror films and I am also a fan of horror films that have comedic elements. One of the best re watching experiences I have had is with Scream. What I remembers about Scream as a could was it was very violent and I wasn't really allowed to see. But watching it 10 years later, I realized it was a really entertaining movie that pokes fun at the genre during it, definitely something I did not pick up on as a kid.

Horror and Hair

Like Harrison, I too am not a great fan of horror movies. He may have had an active imagination as a child, but I still have one and imagine all sorts of scary things. That being said, I think it will be instructive for me to watch horror movies in an academic setting rather than being tricked into seeing them, as friends of mine have done in the past. We discussed in class why people like horror films- and I agree with our consensus that people enjoy the adrenaline rush it gives them. The fear makes life sacred; so watching scary movies makes us feel alive, happy to be alive. I’m a big rollercoaster person and I know there’s nothing like that rush of facing your fear and then seeing it through to the end. In addition, although I think we’d probably not want to admit it, humans have a sometimes macabre fascination with death. It’s the last adventure we will all take. Horror films and films with gore and murder can take us close to imagined, painful deaths which we hope we never meet with.

On a different note, I did some research online to see if hair actually grew after death, but I believe in actuality hair just seems like it does. While I’m not a biology/anatomy major, I think some sites said your skin contracts, tightens, therefore lengthening your hair. (I apologize if this is nowhere close to the real truth.) However, it is very interesting that hair and nail growth after death seems to be a prevalent feature in many books and films. I looked up the record for the person with the longest hair and the title is claimed by a Chinese woman. While Kwaidan recounts Japanese ghost stories, I thought it was interesting that the longest hair belongs also to an Asian person. Long hair seems to be connected in Asian culture (and other areas too) with youth, beauty and even sexuality. (I’d like to write more later, even though I’ve reached my word limit…need to go somewhere)