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Saturday March 15th 2008, 7:31 pmA MESSY HOUSE…
I haven’t been able to work or blog for a bit due to having lots of work and repairs done around the house. We’ve been living with contractors for about the last 3 weeks. I had planned on working through it all but things didn’t quite work out the way they were in my feeble brain. We had to put a new roof on the house because of it’s age and we were having leaking problems. The leaking caused damage to both bathrooms and therefore they needed major repairs done. Yay. Anyway, $15,000 dollars later and having total chaos around here I’m finally getting back on track.
I’m starting work on the second issue of the “unnamed” project and finally finishing up my one off issue of Jonah Hex. Oh, and look for something involving an ambushed bug.
MASTER OF HORROR…
No, this is not a reference to the poorly executed tv series of the same name. I’m referring to horror comics master Junji Ito. I’ve just recently completed reading the 3 volume set that dark horse had published. As to be expected they were truly haunting works. The first 2 volumes dealt with his Tomie stories. Truly creepy. In fine Japanese tradition they were about obsessive behaviors and usually ended up with the horrific death of Tomie. She is this girl who keeps coming back to life in one bizarre circumstance after another of men murdering her in very violent ways. But it quickly becomes much more complicated than pure fantasy of men having power over women, which is what the author wants you think you are reading at first. That you are reading a misogynist male powertrip. But in essence it really is an exploration in the power of survival in the guise of an unknown demonic or alien entity in the form of a girl that uses obsession to provoke one to dismember her in garish ways. You see this is how she multiplies. Her individual dismembered body parts slowly become multiple versions of herself. One of the interesting things though is in one story is that the separate versions of herself are compelled to kill each other as well. As to say that she must continually struggle to become the most evolved version. Strongest of the fittest. What is fascinating is that you would think that the murderous rampage images would be the most horrific. Though they may be horrific, the most shocking and truly creepy, make your skin crawl, images come from the scenes with her regenerations. Mr. Ito may be trying to say that formation of life is messy and icky. The other thing about Junji Ito’s work, as in other Japanese horror, he doesn’t try to explain the technical reasons for what is happening. You just have accept what you are seeing. I think this lack of explanation found in Japanese horror is what truly makes it scary and thought provoking. It is very chillingly compelling when compared to American horror, where most of it explains everything to such a degree that it takes any of “thrill” out it. In my opinion, good, truly scary horror, is when something is completely unknown, unexplainable. It touches on a more primal fear. My only complaint is that the Tomie stories don’t form a single narrative larger story much like his other works I’ve read.
Volume 3 focuses on his short stories. Some of them are okay but others are truly amazing.
Other Junji Ito works I recommend that are available in english are Gyo and my personal favorite, Uzumaki.
MUSIC…
Perversely playing with my ipod with obsessive fervor.
3 Comments so far
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hey there mister beaton
yeah i agree that some of the content for masters of horror wasn’t bad. but as a series whole, it certainly doesn’t inspire me to watch it again ever again. i think season one was a little better than season two. it seems that most episodes just fall flat and aren’t scary at all. although “jenifer” by dario argento has gotta be one of freakiest things i’ve seen. that one haunts you for awhile. but that is to be expected of dario argento. i just don’t feel like plowing through horror muck to find one or two gems.
and yes you need to read more junji ito. as matter of fact you should read more manga. there are certain ones out there that are astonishingly good. even a lot of the much older material is amazing and doesn’t come across as feeling dated. let me know if you want a list.
Comment by jwh3 03.22.08 @ 10:41 amLeave a Comment
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Not all of MASTERS OF HORROR was poorly executed — just most of it.
The Tobe Hooper/Richard Matheson one (“Dance of the Dead”) was excellent. I quite liked the Lucky McKee one (“Sick Girl”), too.
But yeah, Ito is amazing. You practically forced me at gunpoint to read Uzumaki and I’m glad you did.
Comment by Beaton 03.18.08 @ 12:27 pm