Last night was Fright Night with a couple of friends and colleagues of mine, Felicia Luna Lemus, and T Cooper. I’m a fan of both their writing, which is compelling, edgy and completely charming—each in its own way. Well, last night I went over to their place for a late night Fright Night.
We watched Grudge 2. The writing, design, and directing pure noir manga, and not without its soft core pervy side—cute manga girls in school uniforms. With mini-skirts. Well, there are plenty of them in the movie. Be still, my heart. Along with The Grudge, it makes for a great double feature.
The title creature—be it grudge, curse, or ghost—is a new, scary archetype for Western audiences unschooled in Japanese horror imagery. He/she/it/they appear(s) as several ages, genders, generations, races, and species—shape-shifting into and out of any number of people’s bodies… their own, or the bodies of their victims. You never know if one of them is sitting right next to you, right now.
That’s what’s scary. And that’s what scares people about anyone who’s an outlaw that can pass for normal. People think we’re going to hurt them because, hey, that’s what ya see in the movies. So, even when our intentions are kind and honorable, the idea that outlaws can pass scares the poop outta people.
