The ever-so amazing Kira has a list of her essential J-Horror movies here for you to pick from and I previously mentioned the movies you can find on Amazon streaming and Netflix here. And as I mentioned before, J-Horror is my favorite horror. I think K-Horror (Korean) and C-Horror (Chinese) are really spectacular as well, but J-Horror was kinda my first and you always have special feelings for your first. And previously, our wonderful Erica mentioned how she has trouble with gore movies, so it got me thinking--I used to hate gore too, but now I can stomac[...]
0 Confession time: I've never read Stephen King's IT. Well, that's not entirely true--I've tried to read IT four separate times over the last thirty years. I was twelve when the book first came out, and I remember taking my dad's copy after he was done with it. I was a big Stephen King fan, having gobbled up all of his short stories to that point. I'd also recently finished Pet Sematary, so I was excited when I saw IT on our kitchen table one day. But despite two separate tries in the next year or so, I wasn't able to get more than halfway through the book. In t[...]
I got home from vacation and wanted to share a little day trip we took to Salem. Yes, Salem, Massachusetts...yup, the place of the horrific witch trials. A city dripping with history. The old buildings still stand, making it a neat place to visit. Because of time, I didn't get to see everything. Dude, I didn't even know about the everything there was to see. Note: Give yourself an entire day to see Salem. I thought it would be a cool place to see, but more than that, a fascinating place to just be. I wanted to walk the streets, to set foot where such terrible an[...]
I, Empath: Why I Cannot Enjoy Gore NOTE: I have temporarily shelved my middle grade horror WIP. While that project festers rests, I am preparing a non-fiction book proposal about my short-lived but life-changing experience as a PhD student. So, to jump-start the academic part of my memory, I am writing this post as a proper academic paper in APA formatting, more or less. In the remainder of this Introduction section, I will over-explain what happens in the remainder of this post. DOUBLE NOTE: To any college or graduate students who may be reading this: Stop usi[...]
I work part time in a bookstore. One that not only sells books, but if you're a music and movie aficionado there is a huge selection for you. With J-Horror month, I of course asked one of our movie guys if we had any DVDs I could buy and watch to school myself on this type of horror. He looked at me and I heard crickets. The guy who knows just about any book or movie I put in my hand, had no idea what J-Horror was. After I showed him my first post, the lightbulb went on and we went searching. He gave me four titles that we carry in the Criterian Collection. Only[...]
When the rest of the crew suggested to do a month devoted to J-Horror, I was like, what? I hate to admit it, but I did not know what J-Horror meant! Thankfully they explained and I was excited! Who wouldn't want to learn about Japanese horror? It was something I didn't know much about. If you don't either, that's okay! The fabulous Amy wrote a post about it just the other day. You may want to start here. You know much I love young adult novels, so I set out to find a few J-Horror inspired young adult novels and I was NOT disappointed. Check it out. Hello J-Horro[...]
So I am the one to blame for J-Horror July. I used Birthday Month Privileges to talk everyone else here at the Midnight Mansion into letting me have this. So yay~ A Quick Lesson On Why J-Horror is Better than American Horror I love J-Horror. It's my favorite, and I think historically the best. You don't see the Japanese remaking American horror movies (you don't really see anyone remaking American horror movies, tbh) but you do see Americans constantly remaking Japanese horror movies, to name a few: The Grudge, The Ring, Shudder, One Missed Call, Pulse, and so[...]
Everyone's got their thing: for some people it's slasher movies, for others it's creepy-looking revenge spirits. I fall into the latter category. Given that it's j-horror month, I'd like to celebrate by re-introducing a few of my favourite horror movies that deal with yurei. Even if you've never heard the word "yurei" before, you'd probably know one if you saw one: the white shoudlike dress, the long, matted black hair, and the penchant for indiscriminately killing anything and everything they come in contact with after a certain amount of time. It's a very parti[...]
I've been sitting on my couch for the last half an hour, staring at a blank screen, trying to figure out what on earth I'm supposed to blog about after this hellish week. In case you're literally living under a rock, both Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were killed by police in both Louisiana and Minnesota. According to Huffington Post, police killed at least 136 black people in 2016, according to a project by the Guardian that tracks police killings in America. Philando Castile became the latest addition to the list Wednesday night after an officer sho[...]
I am a complete J-Horror novice, but as a horror writer I'm always researching the craft of writing. Finding out how others write and reading their advice helps to make you a better writer. So when we began talking about J-Horror, the first thing I did was research what the heck that meant. Now? I want to know what the differences and similarities are in writing. There are quite a few posts coming up this month by my friends who know a lot about J-Horror, so stay tuned for more fun! For now, here's my simple take on J-Horror writing vs. Western novels... Tradit[...]