o say the very least, Takashi Shimizu is not a household name in the United States, where his horror films have yet to penetrate the American psyche with their twisted perspectives on the nature of evil, rage and revenge. Even the modest release Ju-on: The Grudge, which recently saw release stateside in a handful of theaters, is having trouble finding an audience, if for no other reason than its English subtitling, which quickly translates into "BOR-ing" to people who don't like to have to read when they're watching movies.
Soon, however, all of that is going to change. This fall, Shimizu is taking the helm on a Hollywood remake of Ju-on, which stars Yank actors Sarah Michelle Gellar, Clea Duvall and Bill Pullman, and as a preemptive strike on our quickening American pulses the director recently spoke to Science Fiction Weekly about what he thinks is truly scary, and how he plans to transform the thrills on display in the Japanese version of his film for Western audiences.
What do you think is the key to telling a horror story effectively?
Shimizu: I think the important thing is the reality of it, and how to make people scared in usual, regular circumstances. For instance, the shower scene in the original one and also in the remake version. Everybody takes showers, so I want to express a scary thing in that regular activity so people might think, "Oh this might happen to me too," and people will get scared. I think it's really important, the reality of it, and ordinary circumstances.
Many of your films feature women protagonists. Why do you feel that they are better protagonists in horror films than men?
Shimizu: Between men and women, in Japan at least, it's still a male-dominated culture. I think that men physically are very strong and women are weak, but inside, like a mother's instinct, women are really strong inside. Psychologically and mentally, women are a lot stronger than men, so when it's a serial-killer-type violent movie it may make the audience more scared, but with a woman as a ghost it's scarier, because she looks like us physically but inside she has lots of strength, and that's what makes it really scary subconsciously.
Why are ghost children always so creepy?
Shimizu: Children sometimes act unpredictably, and that unpredictability is really scary, so I think that's why a kid ghost is scarier than an adult.
How do you decide when to show only glimpses of your monsters and when to reveal them fully, to intensify the scary tone of the film?
Shimizu: I just believe in my instinct when to show the whole ghost or just express it with sounds. I try to keep in mind what makes regular people scared or what regular people would feel scared [experiencing]. I don't think, "OK, in this scene I should show a glimpse of the ghost and in this scene I'll show the whole ghost." It's more like I feel this is going to be scary if I just show a glimpse; it's kind of hard to explain, but I just trust my own instincts. There's no definite formula there.
How difficult has it been to reinterpret The Grudge for Western audiences? What are the key differences between Asian and American horror films?
Shimizu: When I did the original Japanese version of The Grudge, I had no idea that it would be released in America, so I only concentrated on what a Japanese audience gets scared of. For the American remake, I had to adjust my ideas for what is scary to American people. At the same time, the American producers saw the original version, and they said it's really scary and then decided to do the remake, so I believe that the Japanese scares are going to be reinterpreted for America, because if the American producers didn't think the original version was scary then they wouldn't have wanted to do the remake. I trust that the Japanese or Asian horror is going to be interpreted into the American [sensibility] well enough, but at the same time it's crucial to adjust some parts for an American audience so that they will feel like the remake is really scary also. There isn't much difference between the American version and the Japanese version.
How will you be updating The Grudge in the remake, since you are working with an American on the new screenplay?
Shimizu: Working with an American screenwriter for the remake was easy, because the writer saw all of the original Japanese versions, and he loved them, and even wanted to direct the remake himself for America. He really loved the original movie, so it was really easy for me to work with him, but I can't write a script in English for American actors, so I really needed another screenwriter to work with. The story is basically the same, but being that I'm the same director as the original, I wanted to make the story a little bit different for the American version. The story is a little bit different than the original one.
To what do you attribute to continuing success of these American remakes of Japanese horror movies?
Shimizu: As far as the trend of bringing Asian horror movies to America, I feel that trend is really good, but if it keeps going on I'm not sure that it will be a good thing because people will depend on more of the movies and not create new ideas. Maybe businesswise it's going to be good for a while, but creativitywise it isn't necessarily good, because there won't be any new ideas created. I feel the filmmakers should keep coming up with new ideas and making new movies.
Back to the top.
Also in this issue:
The cast of Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid
