I would argue that the horror/slasher film genre is much more popular in East Asia. Any horror B-movie gets a quick release in Taiwanese theatres. Is it because they translate easy?
And what’s up with Korean horror films? 哎呀!
When life gets mundane, get the crap scared out of you.
I have loads of theories about this, but I’m off to Chinese class. I’ll post later.
a culture with lots of psycho xiao jiehs will most certainly have lots of horror films.
my
Still waiting!
Well, if you think about it, the dead continue to “exist” in a parallel universe in the minds of most East Asians - that’s why they burn shit and make all those offerings - and occasionally, when these ghosties are pissed off, or for whatever magic reason, can come back to the land of the living and make trouble. These are not impossible scenarios as we in the west that have vastly jettisoned our dark ages beliefs may assume, but real potential horror shows. They also use the threat of these marauding ghouls as lessons in morality and proper behaviour from the time the kiddies are no bigger than weevils.
A more interesting question is why the fuck those atrocious Korean soaps are so damned popular THROUGHOUT Asia? I’ve seen them dubbed into just about every Chinese dialect/language imaginable, Thai, Vietnamese, you name it. Ms Huang and the little Thai princess can just drop into a catatonic state the second they hear the theme music. What gives?
HG
actually, they are getting more popular in US as well (Saw III, The number 23, and all the other ones too) sorry can’t remember the name of it.
Still waiting![/quote]
Me too…