Trend Talk: Remakes of Asian Horror Films

First off, sorry I haven't been around for quite a while, but being back at school I don't have quite the access to horror films as I do at home. Plus, there's this whole "schoolwork" thing that happens to take up a lot of my time. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this blog.

Now, on to the first of my Trend Talks (catchier name coming, if I can think of one). The other day I saw a commercial for yet another American remake of an Asian horror film, this one the 2004 Thai film Shutter. This remake extravaganza has been going on for the past several years with such notable films as The Ring, The Grudge, and Pulse. It should be noted that Shutter, The Ring, and The Grudge were all produced by Roy Lee, who is apparently a fan of remaking Asian horror.

First, let me tell you the problems I have with this trend. First off, remakes stifle creativity. If remakes continue to be easy money for movie studios, they will stop looking to writers for new ideas and simply grab any ol' existing movie off the shelf of their local Blockbastards and remake it. Eventually this will just lead to watching the same movies over and over again and not watching anything new.

Additionally, there's a bit of a culture gap between Asian moviegoers and American moviegoers. Take the American film Pulse and it's Japanese progenitor, Kairo. In Kairo, the plot focuses mainly on the bleakness of death and the afterlife, as well as the dangers of technology. When a character dies in Kairo, he is replaced by a black stain on the wall. My brother made a good point when he drew my attention to the fact that this is similar to the fate of those killed by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Pulse focuses more on ghosts entering the world through technology (not that technology is dangerous in itself, more of as a conduit of the dead).

Don't get me wrong, this trend isn't all bad. There are some good Asian horror films which the general American audience simply doesn't have access to. Remaking them is one way to introduce them to more viewers. However, I would prefer it if instead of remaking these films, companies would just get the rights to distribute them in America. Though, the fickle American movie viewer generally doesn't enjoy subtitles. Something about "reading's for squares."

Then again, maybe all my problems with this trend stem from the fact that Asian horror films scare the everliving shit out of me. Who knows?