[merylsilverburg]

Originally Posted by Meiko

I don't like very much Japanese horror, so I don't mind them remaking these movies. It's not that I don't like Asian actors, it's that I find the movies really weird, with no meaning and difficult to follow because they make no sense to me. And most of them are about cursed girls with long hair and phones or computers. Silly! I liked the American version of The Ring and The Grudge for these reasons. They sort of got rid of all the nonsense of the originals.

I think what you are speaking of are the modernized and cheap Asian horror films that are prominent nowadays; similar to many Western horror films now that overdo the gore and blood to appeal to the mainstream audience. Unfortunately, I have not seen any classic Asian horror films since they are probably hard to find now and my sister does not know the English translation for the titles, but my sister has when she was a child. She described them to me as disturbing and eerie and compared them to classic Western horror that were disturbing and/or gave you the shivers, like "Nightmare on Elm Street" or "The Exorcist" or "The Shining."

As silly as stories of cursed phones or computers or videos may sound, Asians believe in them greatly since these sorts of situations have and do happen (whether you believe it or not, that's up to you ). Which is probably why such themes or subjects occur often or are overused in some cases.

As for the lack of meaning or understanding, could it be a cultural difference? Perhaps certain things that are written into the movie are things that people wouldn't "get" unless you're Asian or have an understanding of Asian customs/thoughts (this is not in offense, so don't misunderstand). It's true that films are now made where everyone can and should understand its meaning but there are quite a couple of things that I sometimes don't "see" due to my lack of Asian behaviorism...in these cases, my sister would have to point it out to me (I'm ashamed, I admit). EDIT: I'm interested to know which films you didn't understand Meiko because I would like to see them for myself.

Well, I prefer Ringu over "The Ring" because the latter just seemed too overdone while I enjoyed the subtleties and the quiet tone that were in the first.