As we head into our fourth celebration of international horror, we head to the Pacific coast of Asia. To be honest, it's probably unfair of us to lump Asian horror together into one big pot. Each country involved has its own unique identity and its own approach to horror. Japan has a long tradition of ghost stories that, in recent years, have melded with their increased dependence on technology to create such horrors as Ring and Pulse. Meanwhile, South Korea -- a deeply Christian country -- draws on religious themes of guilt and redemption for its cinematic tales of terror. Thailand's supernatural cinema is informed by a culturally-held belief that spirits are everywhere -- they even have a "ghost festival" every year.
Still, time in October is limited, so we are only able to present a very limited selection of the wide range of horror movies produced by Southeast Asian countries.(read more...)