By Jacob Oller · Published on October 25th, 2017
Fears are cultural, so each culture has an evolving relationship with horror.
Japan always puts out some of the most engaging genre art, sometimes in animation and sometimes in horror. How it got that way is a long story, just as each genre’s path to where it is now in countries’ contemporary production spheres wind long and serpentine.
Japanese horror takes from larger cultural traditions, incorporating fable-like morals into the ghost stories of vengeance and retribution, setting it apart from and tying it to other metaphorical horror.
One Hundred Years of Cinema put together this small history lesson for the intrepid Halloween adventurer, one looking outside of their Western horror tradition for more diverse scares.
Related Topics: Brief History, Horror, japan, Video
Jacob Oller writes everywhere (Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Playboy, FSR, Paste, etc.) about everything that matters (film, TV, video games, memes, life).