My Top 5 Horror Movie

I like horror movies. That’s why I chose this topic. I don’t want to meet real ghosts and scary scene, but sometimes I seek thrill. Many Japanese also like horror. Talking about the scary stories and a test of our courage are the things Japanese in summer night. So, there are lots of horror movies which have high quality in Japan. Some of them are so horrible that Hollywood remade them. Now, I’ll show you.

1 BATTLE ROYALE


Director – Shinji Fukazawa
The original novel – “Battle Royale” written by Kousyun Takami (1999)
Genre – Horror, Violent, Thrill
Release – 2000 in Japan
Tagline – Can you kill your best friend?
Casts – Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Beat Takeshi (Takeshi Kitano)

It was the megahit movie that raised social phenomenon. In those days when the movie was released in Japan, it was so shocking and brutal topic that the government prohibited under-18 children from watching it. This movie was based on Takami’s novel Battle Royale, but the setting is a little different between the movie and the novel. In the novel, people live in the imaginary country called the Republic of Daitoua (It was the old name of East Asia which Japanese called in the World War 2). In the movie, people live in future Japan. Here is the summary of the movie below:
In the future, Japan unraveled. Most children didn’t respect and believe adults, and have become delinquent. Then, the government enforced a law called the BR (Battle Royale) Law. It forced a ninth-grade class selected randomly to kill each other until one survives every year. This year, the class that Syuya Nanahara (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and forty-one other students belonged to was selected. They were taken to an isolated island. There was a former teacher (Beat Takeshi) as a director of this murder program. From now on, three days survival started….
Some people may say this movie is not horror. In general, it may be right, but I was so scared about the madness of normal people, even classmates. After I had watched it, many times I imagined what I would do if I were under the condition. I cannot kill my friends, NOW, but I don’t know if I were selected by the BR Law…. I’m afraid of that the future like this movie will come because it is possible! Actually, the most cruel and dangerous thing is human not ghost.


2 CHILD'S PLAY


Director – Tom Holland
Awards – Saturn Award 1 win/3 nominated
Genre – Horror, Thrill
Release – 1988 in America
Tagline – You’ll wish it was only make-believe
Casts – Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent

This movie has had four sequels until 2004, and a remake movie will release this year. The story is simple. A doll that has a murderer spirit kills people to obtain human body. The doll’s name is Chucky. The murderer who possesses the doll is Charles Lee Ray. It said that this name came from three real murderers. Incidentally, the doll made in Japan. I think the story is too fantastic, but really scary. Especially, the face of the doll is so horrible that it cannot be a doll for children. When TV showed this movie, I was a child. I couldn’t watch his face at close range. I watched it from the next room. Ever since, I has been afraid of dolls for a long time. Now, I ‘m OK.


3 RING


Director – Hideo Nakata
The original novel – “Ring” written by Kouji Suzuki
Genre – Horror, Mystery
Release – 1998 in Japan
Tagline – I didn’t expect that I was killed by a Videotape.
Casts – Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Miki Nakatani

It was remade as The Ring in Hollywood, 2002. The core of this story is an urban legend about a videotape. It is, “Unless you have someone watch this videotape within seven days after you watched it, you will die.” A reporter Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima) found a videotape at a cottage in Izu. Two girls had stayed there before they were killed mysteriously. Reiko was investigating the reason of their death. She tried to watch the videotape, but it was the real videotape curse…
The scariest scene is when a woman ghost Sadako, who kills people comes out of TV. Her appearance became the representative of Japanese ghost. It was the first horror movie I felt scary. This movie treats an urban legend. It attracts people’s curiosity strongly because it is mysterious and is close their lives. A videotape is common electric equipments. (Currently, DVD is more common and popular, but…) It is not dangerous. However, it is a curse of serial killing in this movie. People may conceive how about their videotape after watching it. So, their fear continues even though the movie finishes. That’s why this movie succeeded.


4 CHAKUSHIN-ARI


Director – Takashi Miike
The original novel – “Chakusin Ari” written by Yasushi Akimoto
Release – 2004 in Japan
Genre – Horror, Mystery, Suspense
Casts – Kou Shibazaki, Shinichi Tsutsumi
“Chakushin” means receiving the call on a mobile phone in Japanese. Along with this title, the mobile phone is the key item of curse. I regretted that I had watched this movie on the big screen in the theater. The sound of curse calling was so terrible. There are 2 sequels and Hollywood remade it as One Missed Call in 2008. It is mystery, but it was confusing for me to understand. Anyway, I’ll introduce briefly:
Friends of Yumi Nakamura (Kou Shibazaki) died one after the other. They all had received the strange call on their mobile phone. The calls came from the future, and each character was called by their future self. Each character hears their own last words. Yumi also received the call. She started to search the mystery of the slaughter calls.…
The main topic that people received the call from the future will die is a creative idea matching the current social. Every people of today have a mobile phone. It is, rather, rare that you meet a person who doesn’t have it. However, the mystery part of this movie is difficult to understand. I couldn’t know why this curse happened and also the end of this movie (I can’t tell you). If you have a opportunity to watch it, please tell me!


5 I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER


Director – Jim Gillespie
The original – “I Know What You Did Last Summer” written by Lois Duncan
Genre – Horror, Thrill, Crime
Release – 1997 in America
Casts – Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze Jr.

This film was big successful. It was nominated and won multiple awards such as nominated Saturn Award of Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films USA, and won ASCAP Award of ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards. There are two sequels. You can feel thrill as if you are chased by a killer. Don’t watch alone. Here is the general:
Two couples had an accident and killed a man last summer. They dumped the body into the ocean, and decided not to talk about that anymore. One year later, Jennifer got a letter written that “I know what you did last summer”. She visited her friends with same secrets about last summer.　However, the race with mysterious murderer was already started…
My heart pounded all the time I watched the movie. I don’t know when and from where the killer will appear. It was like a test of my courage. This movie doesn’t have theme. It only provides us thrill and fear. If you feel thrill, this movie is the best!