GO! GO! ASIAN GHOSTS

Yes, I’d shamelessly slipped behind in my Asian horror (or A-horror, as web geeks and fan-boys refer to the genre), when the good folks over at Tartan put me up to speed with some of their latest releases. Stand outs: the sophisticated, lushly photographed The Red Shoes, and ghost/cop thriller Arang. I know, I know… the female ghost with matted, long dark hair covering the face has pretty much been done to death (pun intended) but I’ll be damned if the Koreans aren’t still managing to get a little extra milage out of this tired horror trend. Not sure how far this can go on, but I’ll take it over watered-down, tepid American remakes any day. If there’s any justice in the world, we’ll soon be encountering a rash of Asian giant monster movies, courtesy of The Host‘s huge success.

I’m going to take this opportunity to recommend some more obscure titles that may have slipped under your radar, at the same time shamelessly plugging online retailer YesAsia. I also suggest hitting your local Chinatown to find the official Hong Kong DVD releases, often in all-region editions.

Futago – hands down my favorite Asian thriller at the moment, this nasty little psychological thriller is a Chinese ghost story with a decidedly Japanese twist; slow, brooding and visually stunning. Mio (Hisako Shirata) arrives in Hong Kong from Tokyo, looking for her missing twin sister, only to find the residents at the boarding house to be secretive, frightened and unwelcoming. Then the rash of sudden deaths begins. Futago really succeeds in setting up a convincing atmosphere of dread and hopelessness, with a pay-off worthy of Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. How this missed a US theatrical or DVD release is beyond me. Maybe the Japanese spirit killing off a bunch of Chinese had something to do with it; I thought it gave the film a deliciously twisted subtext. Tartan, this one’s got your name written all over it.

Colour Blossoms – I encountered this at the Berlinale in 2005, and was sure it’d end up on our shores at some point. Oh well, our loss. This sexy art-house film attempts to mix genres as far-flung as the Chinese ghost story with heavy-handed Wong Kar-Wai posturing and a shade Red Shoe Diaries-type erotica thrown in for good measure. The result? An existential erotic ghost story that veers dangerously close to camp… but never stops entertaining. The plot involves Meili (Teresa Chiang), a gorgeous female real estate agent who finds life a lot more interesting after renting a house to the vampy Madam Umeki (Matsuzaka Keiko) and meeting male model Kim (played by male model Sho); soon she is practicing heavy S&M with both. We meet many more beauties, male and female, and Colour Blossoms becomes a mediation on desire and excess. Or something like that.

Visible Secret – Not quite as Pan-Asian, respected Hong Kong director Ann Hui takes on a ghost story of her own, involving a disenfranchised straight hairdresser whose new girlfriend has the unfortunate ability to see dead people. With the just the right touch of humour and romance to balance out scares, this ends up being rather sincere and poignant. Another beauty to look at (who’s financing these things anyway?), this one’s a keeper. I kept thinking Chungking Express meets The Grudge.

So yeah, ghosts ghosts ghosts. Vengeful, remorseful, horny. One for every taste. So keep em coming, I’ll never stop watching.