River Monster

If you ever wondered what happens to the animals living in a polluted river, "The Host" offers you a brilliant, worst-case scenario. The huge, olive-green, slimy monster makes its appearance in Seoul's Han River, where its swallows up its victims and spits them out in its "cozy" tunnel. Luckily for young Hyun-seo and an adamant candy thief, the mutant tadpole spits them out whole. The story follows Hyun-seo's family as they desperately search for the children, bumping into obstacles, and once in a while, succumbing to stupidity. The comedy/horror movie lacks some kinks in the special effects area, but the gruesome bones and hungry creature are enough to convey the icky idea.

Check List

In order to get a good Asian Horror movie, one that'll have you gripping the sides of your seat while your eyes squint at the screen blurring out the nasty stuff, there are a couple of elements to watch out for. Here's a list to keep in mind during your visit to the video rental store:

1) The younger the ghost, the creepier. Little boys and girls will keep you looking over your shoulder. If the dead mommy is around, even better.
2) If there's a ghost, there's meant to be a rotting flesh scene. Turn off the lights in order to make it look more realistic.
3) Murdered lovers are vengeful. They usually have no mercy when looking for the next victim. Hit pause, rewind, and replay.
4) Hair is a must. Add water to it and the effect will make you look out for the dark strands while washing dishes (or brushing teeth, taking a shower, getting a glass of water, etc.).
5) There must be some choreography. Dead people walking around stiffly create an eerie effect. They should also manipulate the space/time continuum.
6) The ghost should physically show postmortem wounds.
7) If there's no ghost involved, there should be graphic scenes of self-mutilation or torture. Missing limbs add a bonus point.
8) There is always, ALWAYS a bathroom scene. The antagonist must make an appearance (or show a limb/hand). It's preferable if the ghost/psycho looks a bit ruffled around the edges.
9) The hand with dirty fingernails has to grab a shoulder, cover someone's eyes, play with hair, cover mouth, or grab neck/leg.
10) Maggots might be necessary. Or a cat.
11) If the assailant drowned, add lots of hair/water scenes. The dirtier, the better.

Is that a little girl?

Little girls (or boys) need to stay away from scary movies, especially when they do really, really creepy things. In this scene, taken from the movie "Phone," Yeong-ju is possessed by the ghost of a murdered woman, her father's teenage mistress.
Dead children are a recurrent theme in Asian horror movies, but they usually appear sparingly, and the acting is minimal. We've seen them in Ju-On (chalk white kid), Ringu (freaky Sadako), and Dark Water (green elevator girl), and thinking about it, the exchange of words between them and the protagonists isn't substantial.
Seo-woo Eun shows the talent of a grown up artist. At such a young age, that makes her seem unnatural, almost inhuman. Hopefully, her skills will progress as she grows older. For now, she has managed to make audiences all over shudder and wonder about their own, innocent-looking kids.

Shimizu

In an interview posted in About.com, Takashi Shimizu, director of Ju-on and The Grudge, speaks of a time when he had difficulty understanding why people paid money to watch scary movies. Back in his Jr. High days, he was easily scared and avoided anything horror-related. It's difficult to imagine that the mastermind behind the hair-splitting meowing kid and the croaking, hairy woman wasn't into spooky ghosts from an early age. Life does that to you.

For those interested in getting a closer look of Shimizu, here's an interview taken from Spike.

The Grudge - Director Takashi Shimizu Interview On Location In Japan

Posted Jun 23, 2004

Director Takashi Shimizu discusses why he chose Sarah Michelle Gellar to play the lead.

Hideous Hideo

Hideo Nakata is as enigmatic as his films. We know him as the master of horror that brought us Ringu, The Ring 2, and the original Dark Water, but few know he really aspired to create dramas with a touch of humanity. In the Winter of 2005 international edition of Kateigaho Magazine he explains that: "The main theme in 'The Ring 2' is motherly love." 

As I recall, there's a famous scene nearing the end of the movie where Naomi Watt's character shows her tender affection:
Evil Samara: Mommy!
Rachel Keller: I'm not your fucking mommy!
[Rachel pushes the lid of the well shut, trapping Samara]

Hideo, I think touchy-feely dramas are not your forté.

Waking up to her

Thailand is currently gaining reputation in the Asian Horror spotlight. Although most of the movies imitate their Japanese and South Korean counterparts, they're getting there. One of the country's hits, "Shutter," gives enough chills and thrills to make it into the "OK" list.
For years, people have come up with inexplainable pictures sporting blurry images of deceased family members and bright spots floating around like halos. Most would shrug it off as a technical problem, but when the phenomena shows up in every single shot, there's clearly something wrong.
Tun is a young photographer trying to earn a couple of bucks by offering his services in weddings and graduations. One night, while driving with his girlfriend, Jane, their car hits a lurking pedestrian but they never find the body. When his pictures start showing glowing orbs, they know someone is trying to tell them something.
Like most Asian horror movies, the victim is a young woman who was brutally raped and murdered. She keeps haunting Tun and his girlfriend and nothing they do seems to keep her away. As the days go by and the apparitions get creepier, Jane starts getting suspicious about her guy. A ghost that's that ticked off must have a reason, especially when she shows up in bed drooling blood.

Watery Bowel Movement

Ok. I wasn't able to find a more graphic picture, but this one suggests what I was aiming for. "The Ghost" is far from the greatest horror movie you'll ever see, but it has its good scenes here and there. I will ignore the film's plot (basically a girl with amnesia who did something terrible, or so we think) and jump to the very beginning, which is one of the only parts worth telling (ironically, I fail to see its connection with the rest of the movie).
A group of girls having fun in a loud slumber party decide to contact spirits to spice up the night. When the sister interrupts the game, the girls go to sleep without ending the contact properly. In the middle of the night, when everyone is asleep, the annoyed sister appears in the kitchen, buckets of water emanating from her small mouth. It's not until she's drenched and about to pass out that hair starts to flow from her lips. Not much is said about the character later on, but I'm pretty sure she didn't make it.

Green Kid, Stay Away

Dark water is a cult classic in the Asian Horror genre. Although most audiences recognize the title from the remake (yeah, the one with Jennifer Connelly), the original is far more disturbing. The difference between American horror and Asian horror is that the latter tends to scare viewers in a more subtle manner. Special effects and makeup artists cost money, making it so that suspense, lighting, and sound play a major role in creating a tense atmosphere.
Hideo Nakata uses a little girl, barely visible under her yellow raincoat, to pull viewers into the plot up until the very end, where the character's true persona and motives finally unfold. In this clip, Mitsuko wraps her strong, little, green, putrified hands around her favorite mommy while young and healthy Ikuko stares frightened. Yoshimi gives herself to the ghost in order to save her little girl who stays put, petrified as a torrent a dirty, yellow water splashes against her petite body. The scene gives a new meaning to the term "Mommy Dearest."

Hairy Sink

After hours of relentlessly searching for a clip with a hairy scene, a finally came across a haunted sink. The scene is from the Thai movie "Shutter" and takes place in a dingy darkroom. Hair keeps showing up in this blog, but it also keeps lurking around in almost every Asian horror movie out there.

Digging Deeper

In the segment "Memories" of Three Extremes 2, a young wife finds herself lost in an empty city without recollection of how she got there. Back home, her husband has convinced her family and daughter that she abandoned them.
Little by little, the confused wife begins to remember the events that led to her final state. Things aren't clear and strange things keep occurring. The pieces are scattered everywhere and the puzzle is left unresolved.
Meanwhile, the husband keeps having scary hallucinations. Someone is haunting him and he knows who, but he won't say anything because he's in too deep.
In the scene shown in the pictures, the husband stares at his wife as she walks towards him with a dazed look on her face. When she start digging into her skull, gunks of clutted blood and brain staining her feminine cardigan, the truth finally hits audiences like a slap in the face. I guess you'll have to watch the movie to find out what happened.