Description
Book SynopsisGhost in the Well is the first study to provide a full history of the horror genre in Japanese cinema, from the silent era to Classical period movies such as Nakagawa Nobuo's
Tokaido Yotsuya kaidan (1959) to the contemporary global popularity of J-horror pictures like the
Ring and
Ju-on franchises. Michael Crandol draws on a wide range of Japanese language sources, including magazines, posters and interviews with directors such as Kurosawa Kiyoshi, to consider the development of
kaiki eiga, the Japanese phrase meaning weird or bizarre films that most closely corresponds to Western understandings of horror. He traces the origins of
kaika eiga in Japanese kabuki theatre and traditions of the monstrous feminine, showing how these traditional forms were combined with the style and conventions of Hollywood horror to produce an aesthetic that was both transnational and peculiarly Japanese.
Ghost in the Well sheds new light on one of Japanese ci
Trade ReviewAn engrossing, insightful celebration of Japan’s rich horror-film history, a saga shaped by war, military occupation, time-honored tales, and innovative artists who remain largely unknown abroad. * Cineaste *
Crandol’s research is firmly grounded in meticulous citation of relevant Japanese-language sources. * Monumenta Nipponica *
Moving beyond the usual suspects of internationally acclaimed turn-of-the-millennium J-horror flicks, Michael Crandol’s groundbreaking study of the transnational history of the horror film in Japan plunges us into the very bowels of the kitschy, wonderfully creepy, sometimes terrifying, always thrilling realm of the perennially popular Japanese “cinema of the strange.” -- Adam L. Kern, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
A welcome challenge to the prevailing notion that genres such as supernatural horror should only be understood in Western terms. -- Jasper Sharp, Independent scholar, UK
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Kaiki eiga: Naming the Classic Japanese Horror Film 2. Ghost Cat vs Samurai: Prewar Kaiki Cinema 3. The Dead Sleep Unwell: Censorship and the Postwar Return of Kaiki 4. Uncanny Invasions and Osore Incarnate: Shintoho Studios and Nakagawa Nobuo 5. Back from the Dead: The Kaiki Legacy of J-horror Afterword: …The End? Index
