Japanese Horror Tales, Tomes, & Terror

Okay, so the first time I saw a Japanese horror movie was when my friend TJ brought over Tetsu: The Iron Man. No, this was not related to Tony Stark - it was about a man who starts growing metal parts. The story is a bit like Thinner from Stephen King except way more disturbing and gross. Years later when I saw The Ring (US version), then Ju-On (The Grudge) - I was hooked. These movies had a whole new level of creepy that just was so fascinating to me. They didn’t have to be a gore-fest but man they were freaky. Since I’ve been on my writing journey, I’ve returned to Japanese horror novels, comics, and movies to try and explore what makes them tick.

Here is some of what I’ve learned and how I’m working these learnings into my stories.

Disclaimer: I’m not an expert in Japanese horror. I’m just sharing what I’ve learned and things I found interesting. If there’s a story you think I need to check out, let me know. I’m looking forward to reading/exploring more.

The Past isn’t Even Past

I love mythology and folklore, so naturally my search to learn more about Japanese horror started there. While there were a bunch of monsters, the most common story seemed to be a haunting. More often than not, it was a woman haunting some site. And the site had a history that wasn’t always explained but that the haunting wasn’t new and everyone knew to avoid that place.

You all know I love “place” as a character in my stories, so the aspect of a place being the source of the haunting, AND everyone knew to avoid it but some choose not to, well - that’s the kind of stories I love. They are very real. Whether it is the young demonstrating bravery (and often stupidity) or the lost giving themselves over to avoid a worse situation by facing what “might” be inside or, in a few stories I encountered, the brave going to end the reign of terror.

For my own stories, I began thinking which of these three are my characters? Are they the fools choosing to face the monster, the desperate choosing the monster over another path, or the brave choosing to face the monster to end it? I didn’t encounter many stories where the person facing the horror was completely clueless. This was a very interesting concept for me because I don’t want to have idiot characters (well - sometimes I do) who stumble into a bad situation. Often my characters know, or have a hint, what they’re getting into and still proceed. In [dis]connection, Erin knew what she was doing. In Ascension, Wendy knew what she was doing. In Reflections, Edgar straight up choose his fate over and over again even when it was abundantly clear where his chooses were taking him.

My favorite tale? I’d say the samurai who goes to face the ghost on the bridge. But I haven’t read all the tales in my books. So perhaps there’s another favorite lurking. I like the concept of a hero going to “end” the reign of terror and then things don’t go as easily as planned.

Reimagined Across Media

H.P. Lovecraft’s short stories were incredibly influential on me. When I first saw a “Call of Cthulhu” graphic novel in a manga format - I was blown away. It was awesome. Gou Tanabe’s manga version of Lovecraft classics like Call of Cthulhu, At the Mountains of Madness (WOW, this one is amazing!), and The Hounds, are nothing short of stunning works of art. But Tanabe wasn’t the only manga artist exploring old horror - Juno Ito has a version of Frankenstein that was excellent. And these works got me thinking about how stories transform across mediums.

I think most of us book people have read a book and then saw the movie. That translation is so common for us. But when I see a text heavy story, like those from Lovecraft, reimagined as manga, the transformation just sparks the imagination. Considering the choices that come with this transformation are staggering. What’s an image vs. text? What do you narrate vs. illustrate? Where do you place the panels and what size are they? What even goes into the panels?

This also reminded me of an audio story I found on Audible, The Black Stone by Robert E. Howard - performed by a full cast. It was excellent but when I listened to the story as an audiobook again, I realized how much had changed in the audio production. And when I read the story on the page, I realized how much the voice in my head sounded like the narrator, and some sounded like the audio story production cast members. The transformation changed how I experienced the story. And the same goes for Tanabe’s work. When I read Lovecraft’s tales now, I’m seeing Tanabe’s work as much as Lovecraft’s words. And when I read The Color Out of Space, I might even hear Nicholas Cage saying some of the lines.

These different mediums are fascinating to me. I feel like they help me experience the story in different ways - evolving ways. And I don’t want to go back to the first time I read these tales. They’ve grown in me and with me. Now, Lovecraft’s tales not only remind me of when I was young and discovering him, they remind me of my daughter discovering manga and her passion for reading. I’m a book nerd, movie nerd, comic nerd, audiophile, and so I just love it all.

You should have known better

Did you read The Audition by Ryu Murakami? It is the classic “you should have known something was wrong” story. I won’t spoil it, but just say when a creepy woman shows up that everyone is scared of, take the hint - and avoid creating morally gray situations to summon such a person.

What I loved about this story, and a few other short novels I read, was that there’s a “when’s it going to happen” vibe that reminded me of 80s slasher movies. In those movies, you know who’s going to die, just not when. In novels like Nails and Eyes by Kaori Fujino, you know the horrible thing is coming. It’s coming at any moment. And you can even start putting together what it is, but when it does come (usually through someone else first and then the main character) - it still stings the reader with an ewww.

I like how The Audition plays with tension. There are a few times when I thought - oh man, here it comes. The tension was expertly grown, released, grown, released, grown, held, held, etc. In my own stories I’ve explored a deeper focus on visualizing the waves of tension in my stories. Are they building where I think they should be? Are they shrinking or just staying constant? These waves of tension are exceptionally executed in stories like The Ring and The Audition. These books also challenged me to consider the scales of tension: paragraph to paragraph, chapter to chapter, beat to beat.

There’s still a lot to learn in this area, but I’m working on it. Hopefully you’ll be feeling the improved application of these concepts in my stories.

There’s more to the world than Japan

I collect stories from all over the world. My library of global mythology, fables, and folklore is pretty big. Whether it is cryptids, demons, forbidden places, heroes, gods, monsters, I love pulling from all over the world to build my beasts. In a recent short story, I leveraged the Apollo myths of him being a god of disease with the stories of vampires - what if the sun god was really a vampire? I hope you enjoy the nods to folklore and myth in my tales. I’ve loved studying myth and legend since I was a kid and enjoy weaving it into my tales to build my own myths on the framework of real world tales.

Thanks for stopping by this week. I hope you enjoyed reading my learnings from exploring Japanese horror. If you have any recommended reads, drop them in the Comments. I’d love to read more and learn all I can about this style of horror. Other cultural recommendations are also welcome!

— Tim