Scans_Daily

I've seen a pretty big disconnect between what I think of as the Western and Japanese traditions of horror from time to time (though the categories aren't universally applicable), and this is an excellent example of it.

Western horror tends to have rules and logic to it. A vampire is a being with superpowers that drains blood to feed. It uses those powers to its advantage, and generally behaves like a sensible if hedonistic human being would given those powers and a healthy dose of self-centered arrogance. It has defined weaknesses, and generally will operate by the same or similar rules in any story it shows up in. It's recognizable and understandable -- the horror comes from its power over you, whether that's a powerful mental charm that leaves you unable to think straight or just its ability to pin you down with superhuman strength and drink your blood. Other Western horrors are similar -- werewolves have rules about how and why they become wolf-monsters, and generally behave like we imagine vicious wild beasts with a taste for human flesh to behave. Ghosts exist for a reason, have rules for what they do, and can often be dealt with by working through whatever unresolved issues they have. There's exceptions, but usually a Western monster will be recognizable and understandable on some level -- it's just overwhelmingly powerful. You can defeat it, if you use the right weapon, or say the right prayers, or are the right kind of person. It just might be powerful enough to kill you before you can manage that.

Japanese horror, at least the traditional kind, doesn't go in for that so much. It's about mystery, irrationality, and the unknown. Things can happen that we have no logical explanation for, and that *can* have no logical explanation. Monsters don't act logically, or often even according to recognizable emotions. Threats may come from the darkness, from the wilderness, or from seemingly normal things that suddenly turn on you. More than that, it's also about the irrationality of the human mind. People are seized by passions and compulsions that make no sense, and though they may fight against them, they eventually can't help but give in, even it will lead to their own destruction. The stories are comfortable with ambiguity -- they may leave even what exactly happened open to interpretation, much less why.

Ultimately, traditional Western horror says, 'The world is a dangerous place, and only by knowing what's happening and behaving properly can you save yourself.' Traditional Japanese horror says, 'The world is a strange and unknowable place, and there is nothing in it you can truly trust and understand, not even yourself.'