Japanese Horror Cinema

by Jay McRoy (Editor)

Overview

A much-needed critical introduction to some of the most important Japanese horror films produced over the last fifty years, Japanese Horror Cinema provides an insightful examination of the tradition’s most significant trends and themes. The book examines the genre’s dominant aesthetic, cultural, political, and technological underpinnings, and individual chapters address key traditions; the popular "avenging spirit" motif; the impact of atomic warfare, rapid industrialization, and apocalyptic rhetoric in Japanese visual culture; the extents to which changes in the economic and social climate inform representations of monstrosity and gender; the influence of recent shifts in audience demographics; and the developing relations (and contestations) between Japanese and "Western" (Anglo-American and European) horror film tropes and traditions.

Japanese Horror Cinema includes a preface by Christopher Sharrett; case studies of internationally renowned films such as Nakata Hideo’s Ringu, Ishii Takashi’s Freeze Me, and Fukasaku Kinji’s Battle Royale; and a filmography of Japanese horror films currently available in the U.S. and the U.K.

Contributors: Christopher Bolton, Phillip Brophy, Ian Conrich, Gareth Evans, Ruth Goldberg, Richard Hand, Steffen Hantke, Matt Hills, Frank Lafond, Graham Lewis, Jay McRoy, Xavier Mendik, Gary Needham, Steven Jay Schneider, Christopher Sharrett, Eric White, Tony Williams.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780824829902
Publisher:	University of Hawaii Press, The
Publication date:	04/30/2005
Series:	Traditions in World Cinema
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Jay McRoy is Professor of English and Cinema Studies at the University of Wisconsin – Parkside. He is the author of Nightmare Japan: Contemporary Japanese Horror Cinema (Rodopi, 2008), the editor of Japanese Horror Cinema (Edinburgh UniversityPress, 2005), and the co-editor (with Richard J. Hand) of Monstrous Adaptations: Generic and Thematic Mutations in Horror Film (Manchester UniversityPress, 2007).

Table of Contents

Preface by Christopher Sharrett; I. Introduction; Introduction: recent trends in Japanese horror cinema - Jay McRoy; II. History, tradition, and Japanese horror cinema; Section introduction; 1. Traditional Japanese theatre and the contemporary horror film - Richard Hand; 2. Uncanny adaptations: the case of Rampo Edogawa - Ruth Goldberg; 3. Cultural transformation and body horror in Japanese cinema - Jay McRoy; 4. Case Study #1: Nakata Hideo's Ring - Eric White; III. The "avenging spirit" motif and Japanese horror cinema; Section introduction; 5. Japanese horror under western eyes: the female avenger - Steffen Hantke; 6. Transforming femininity in Japanese horror cinema - Christopher Bolton; 7. Case Study #2: Ishii Takashi's Freeze Me and the rape-revenge film - Frank Lafond; IV. National anxieties and cultural fears in Japanese horror cinema; Section introduction; 8. Japanese 'Gothic' horror on film - Gary Needham; 9. US/UK horror fans and the international value of Japanese horror cinema - Matt Hills; 10. Case Study #3: Fukusaku Kinji's Battle Royale - Tony Williams; ; V. Technology and the body in Japanese horror cinema; Section introduction; 11. Metal-morphosis and the tormented body in the Tetsuo films - Ian Conrich; 12. Acoustic atmospherics in Yoshida Yoshishige's Onimaru - Philip Brophy; 13. Pinnochio 964, Death Powder and 'the new flesh' - Graham Lewis; 14. Case Study #4: Kurosawa Kiyoshi's Pulse - Steven Jay Schneider; Appendices; A. Takeshi the killer: an interview with Miike Takashi - Xavier Mendik; B. Filmography (including details re: production, format and current availability in the US and UK) - Jay McRoy & Gareth Evans.