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And I mean real, spooky, scary movies. Not that lame comedy that is not even half scary. Save for a few really good attempts, Hollywood is no match for Asia when it comes to producing horror films. Have you noticed that recently Hollywood has been remaking movies that are originally from Asia? It says alot about the ideas and creative juices of the screenwriters in Asia, doesn’t it? However, Hollywood is no doubt more superior when it comes to budget and technology.

In many scary movies, it’s easy to come across lame attempts to frighten the audience with sudden, loud sound effects and gory images. Also, if the movie is too visual (more on ‘visual’, later!), it can get quite boring. That’s because most of us don’t know how ghosts really look like. It is the *thought* of knowing that there is a presence nearby, somewhere… that really scares.

For a movie to be scary enough, it has to play with the audience’s anxiety. It has to be somewhat suggestive, like trying to tease but usually doesn’t reveal completely (until at least somewhere near the ending, or never at all).

Some quick glimpses of that someone (or ’something’) is fine, that’s why you see scary movies like to use lightnings and/or flickering lamps to show you a little bit - but not all - of the supposedly scary figures. If the lighting is not punctuated, the scene may become too ‘visual’ and that gives a lot of time for the audience to look at (in full view) and ’study’ the figure. In time, it will not be that scary anymore. I think that the fear in us actually comes from the mind, rather than just the eyes or ears.

Shutter (2004)

Shutter, which was in Thai, was one of my favorite Asian thrillers. There’s something about the Thai language - when spoken in movies like this, it really adds to the anxiety. Maybe because I don’t understand the language. We rarely come across a scary movie as good as Shutter, even though the plot may be familiar to most people. I guess it’s in the way the story was told, the creative spooky scenes were shot and the music used. Soundtrack is very important because otherwise the movie wouldn’t be as scary.

I liked the ending where the main character complained of neckaches. In addition, when he weighed himself on the scale, his weight was much heavier than normal. You know why, right? The movie director placed the camera at a (somewhat hidden) corner across the room, so the audience could see - from a rather awkward, less straightforward angle - of a figure sitting on top of the main character’s shoulders. The movie ended shortly after that scene. Very cool, ‘open-ended’ closing!

The Eye (2002)

The Chinese, too can come up with really spooky movies sometimes. Directed by the Pang brothers (who are, by the way, based in Thailand) The Eye was a Cantonese-language horror flick. It was one of the best scary movies I’ve ever watched, actually. Alor Star-born (that’s my birthplace too hehehe) actress Angelica Lee Sin Jie (李心洁) shot to a huge fame playing the role of a 20-year old visually-impaired girl who underwent a corneal transplant to restore her vision. Little did she know, the new set of corneas also allowed her to see ghosts.

Among the highlights in the movie was this particular scene where she had to share the same elevator with a ghost (that one was classic!). Making matters worse, the elevator skipped her floor and she didn’t realize it! She frantically tried to open the apartment door which she thought was hers, before realizing she was on the wrong floor. And while she was running down the staircase, a little boy (supposed to be dead) repeatedly asked her a question. Do you remember what it was?

Note: There will be an English version (a remake, yet again) of The Eye to be released next year (2008), starring Jessica Alba. Audience in this part of the world (who most likely have seen the original) will definitely tend to compare the two versions. We’ll see…

01:00am (1995)

This is a movie that I remember watching as a kid (I was in Primary 5 in 1995, hehe). It was a Hong Kong-made Cantonese film, Ye Bun Yat Dim Zhong (夜半一点钟, meaning ‘midnight 1am’ in English). Jordan Chan starred in that movie, and it was quite a hit back then. Besides trying to scare the audience, the movie had quite a dose of humor too. Basically the story was about strange things that would happen when the clock struck 1am. Very interesting and exciting. As a kid, I remember I was scared shit, but somehow the thrill of being scared itself was what I liked to experience! As far as I can remember, scenes included hospital (imagine the ’strange’ things happening in the hospital at this time!), and a particularly quiet, deserted road. Jordan Chan played police officer 36257 (yes that’s how they called him - by his officer ID), who was on duty at night on that stretch to nab illegal racers. Needless to say, he saw strange things during his duty, hehe. Oh, there was also another movie 03:00am, or in Cantonese, Ye Bun Sam Dim Zhong (夜半三点钟) released in 1997. It has a similar concept but different storylines.

Mr Vampire (1985)

I am sure I didn’t watch the movie immediately after it was released. That’s because in 1985, I was only one-year old. Mr Vampire or Geong Si Sin Sang (僵尸先生) was so successful that there were Mr Vampires II, III, IV, and V released within the next 5 years. Geong si is actually a Cantonese term for vampires. Several other geong si movies was also made based on the original Mr Vampire installments. When I was young, I liked to watch these geong si movies because of the thrill and the action! It was also interesting to learn that these geong si couldn’t walk or run. They only hopped - I am sure you know what I’m talking about.

If you’ve watched a geong si movie before, you probably know that their ’standard’ costume was usually the Qing Dynasty robes and hats. One interesting thing about the geong si was that it detects its victim’s presence not by looking, but by smelling his breath. If the victim can’t hold his breath long enough, the geong si would know where he’s hiding, LOL! One of the most popular ways to stop the geong si was to affix a yellow Taoist talisman on its forehead, like those you see in the picture above.

Have you watched any of these movies before? Basically, these were the thrillers I watched during my childhood days. Nowadays, new scary movies are usually either the serious type (with little or no humour) or the too crappy type (loaded with lame jokes and are not even scary). A lot of Japanese and Korean horror films have cropped up over the years too, which adds to the variety. But not all have a good plot or are really scary. So if you know any, please recommend them to me ;p. Not that I am a *big* fan of horror flicks… I just enjoy any genre of movies as long as it’s good.

Short talk: I accidentally left my new 4GB Kingston thumbdrive in the washing machine and noone noticed it even until the clothes were hung to dry on the clothesline. After a night of drying, it survived. All data intact! ;D And oh, we survived a 24-hour water-disruption yesterday and today. But the washing machine is now overloaded with unwashed clothes… *mutter mutter…*

Footnote: This entry is partly in response to a tag that Rinnah passed to me. I’m not passing this meme to anyone, but thanks Rinnah for this ;)

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