Forum - View topicANNCast - Boils and Ghouls
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Relmstein1
 Posts: 16 |
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I must have missed that. Hey, Does anyone remember that one episode of Samurai Jack where he had to escape a cemetery? That one was pretty creepy and it had some scenes right out of the Evil Dead movies. Not really anime, but it might fit the bill. |
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Takeyo
 Posts: 736 |
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Are you referring to Haiyore! Nyaruko-san? |
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writerpatrick
 Posts: 671 Location: Canada |
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I would think that Hell Girl is one of the best examples of horror. After all, isn't the idea that someone could sent you to Hell and you have no control over it scary?
Shigurui: Death Frenzy probably comes the closest to any horror anime I've seen. That show is not for the faint of heart--or stomach. http://www.youtube.com/show/shigurui Ayakashi ~ Samurai Horror Tales may not be the scariest but is one of the most interesting to watch. Shiki is not the most scariest but it is good vampire fiction. They seemed to have gone back to the more traditional lore. But it seems to today's audience is desensitized when it comes to horror. If you look at many classic horror movies they really don't seem that scary at all. It's a matter of degree and what people expect. And I think today there's too much substitution of gore for the psychological. |
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Animehermit
 Posts: 964 Location: The Argama |
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trust me its much much worse in the manga, i don't gross out or scare easily, but the eclipse is one of most horrifying things I've ever read or seen in anime/manga. also; i completely agree with Zac about The Mist, one of the last genuinely scary movies i saw. As well as drag me to hell, in particular the ending. Last edited by Animehermit on Fri Oct 29, 2010 11:33 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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bemused Bohemian
Posts: 404 Location: central Mizzou (Moral Oralville) |
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I haven't encountered anything in anime that has frightened or creeped me out during an episode viewing or after watching a series. The show that had the largest affect/effect on me was the fourth story which aired on the 1980's Creepshow Movie series titled "The Crate".
Without spoiling the outcome of this story for you if you haven't watched it the premise is a tilted case study of a dynamic about an alcoholic college professor (Hal Holbrook) unhappily married to a combative aging beauty (Adrienne Barbeau) where divorce is not a stable option financially. The setting is a college that has a mysterious unopened crate underneath a certain stairwell. No one has opened the crate in decades and memory of its content has been lost. You get to watch a gruesome scenario unfold once content becomes known. I have only been able to stomach watching this particular story all the way through once. The other scripts to this series were odd in an amusing dry way (Something to Tide You Over...3rd story...comes to mind) but no TV show unsettled me like "The Crate". I can watch the show up to a certain point and then I have to change the channel. |
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zrdb
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NSFW Language Warning: Yeah, there's some swearing. You'll live.
Again-my poor widdle ears have been shitting [expletive] goddamned scarred for life. |
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FaytLein
 Posts: 1260 Location: Williamsburg, VA |
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Yeah, Betterman had a pretty effective atmosphere for being at the very least very frightening, but I felt that by the mid point it lost a lot of its impact, aside from Sakura's creepy voiceovers at the end of each episode. I heard Requiem from the Darkness was pretty dark, might have to dig that out and finally give that a spin.
I do COMPLETELY agree that the Mysterious Stranger bit is one of the most creepy things I have ever seen. Anytime you see a headless clay figure call himself Satan.....It can send shivers up your spine. |
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Iliketacos
Posts: 12 |
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Great podcast, horror in anime is something thats not commonly seen. Just wanted to comment as far as the whole anime not being able to be scary because it's 2d thing, at first I totally agreed with that. However, as I'm beginning to think about it, my first real exposure to anime, thanks to Encore Action channel, was Blood Reign: Curse of the Yoma.
Man, did that scare me! Granted, I was 10 at the time... however, I've been watching cheesy hack n' slash "horror" films since I was a toddler, and they never really bothered me. However, with Blood Reign, it wasn't a bad kind of terror, it was kinda, fascinating, it was creepy yet cool, and I taped when they reran it and watched it over and over again! Granted, the scariest part is the whole creepy looking monsters thing, and the horribly mutilated corpses. So I don't know for sure if you would classify that as a real horror flick. Kinda straying from anime a bit, but I wanted to point out some video games that made me almost soil myself. The older Resident Evil games, imo, are one of the few games that have me turning my head every 5 seconds. It's not the zombies, or the fact that stuff will lunge out through walls and things at you, but the overall atmosphere is what does it to me the most. You're literally trapped in an eerie environment, with mutilated corpses and groans of zombies n' things outside, and you have to work your way around puzzles, which were obviously a security measure set by those whom knew what was to come, with no way of knowing whats next is terrifying. Basically the environments were what, imo, made these things a nightmare. And supposedly, unless I heard wrong, those environments were rendered in 2d (which would explain the lack of 3d camera in those games). Another video game example, that's purely 2d, though not necessary horror, is Snatchers! Despite it being old, that game made my hairy back hairs stand up! So I honestly I don't think anime can't be scary just because it's anime and in 2 dimensions is the reason why we haven't seen much "horror" in anime. I think it's just that anime creators either feel they're obligated to use those "it's a cat" tricks or the whole haunted school scenario because they're working with anime, or they don't care because they don't think it'll sell. I think 2d horror anime can be done, and done well, if they wanted to. Also I noticed as was said in the podcast, giving protagonists way too much power will make anything remotely scary just fall to pieces, imo! |
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tuxedocat
 Posts: 2183 |
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Did anyone get creeped out by the spoiler[mushroom children] episode of Mushi-shi, or was it just me?
Serial Experiments: Lain has never failed me whenever I show it to someone. It creeps out every first-time viewer I've ever shown it to. Live action horror films hardly ever do it for me, especially ones with make-up and CG effects. Those kind of thing ruin all the suspense. The fear comes in the anticipation of what is hidden and NOT shown. Once they actually show it, all of that tension dissipates. I like to stay way out of the mainstream for good horror. And yes, there are still good, scary vampire movies, but no one ever sees them because they are either (1) foreign, or (2) extremely indie. I liked Habit - by Larry Fessenden, and I'll also recommend Låt den Rätte Komma In (Let the Right One In), which was recently re-made here in the states (called "Let Me In" - I can't vouch for because I haven't seen it. anyone here seen it yet?). All I can say is that the original, Swedish film, Let the Right One In is very good. Pair it with the Fessenden film, Habit, for a decent vampire double feature. One of the most disturbing films I have seen is pretty old school: Roman Polanski's Repulsion. The man himself is pretty repulsive, IMO, but the movie is very good, and very very unsettling. Edited to add: There is also this movie, Kissed, which is about a necrophiliac. I literally couldn't stop watching, though I wanted to. YMMV. Last edited by tuxedocat on Sat Oct 30, 2010 2:41 am; edited 1 time in total |
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poonk
 Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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It is surprisingly hard to think of genuinely scary anime, isn't it? I can't think of a single one that I've seen. I think whoever (Zac?) said it may have to do with being less able to insert oneself into the situation when it's in animated form (as opposed to live action) pretty much nailed it on the head. Live action wins in regard to viewer immersion and written horror enjoys the effect of the reader "filling in the blanks" for what they're not explicitly show. Animated horror seems to be somewhere in the middle of the spectrum and lacks the strengths of each.
As for me? If I want to genuinely frighten myself I cuddle up with one of my Lovecraft anthologies. I never tired of rereading those. For live-action movies, my favorite type of horror films construct this eerie sense of isolation that comes from knowing that there's no one who's going to come help you. A few things I've watched lately include The Thing ('82), The Fog ('80), and the Korean movies Guard Post 506 and Antarctic Journal. Speaking of the Antarctic Journal, I also enjoy films where spoiler[it's not entirely clear if what you saw was genuinely happening (caused by an outside, "supernatural" force) or simply the POV of the protagonist gone mad.] And one last thing: Can I make an honorable mention for select episodes of the new(er) Doctor Who series? For being a family-friendly sci-fi show it had a lot of scary moments. Such as: The Empty Child ("Are you my mummy?" *shudder*), Silence in the Library, Midnight... oh, and Blink. Blink was shown to me before I ever watched any of the newer DW shows and it's a well-written, thoroughly engrossing, stand-alone story that doesn't require you to know one whit about Doctor Who to enjoy it (in fact, the Doctor is barely even in it). I was somewhat unnerved around statuary of any sort for a good week afterwards and to me, someone who prides herself in being quite rational, that makes it a genuinely scary story. P.S. And yeah, I bought a "The angels have the phone box" t-shirt too. 
Last edited by poonk on Fri Nov 26, 2010 4:41 am; edited 3 times in total |
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tuxedocat
Posts: 2183 |
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Those never get old, I agree. If you would like something newer that uses Lovecraftian themes in a clever way, I highly recommend author Will Elliott's The Pilo Family Circus. If there was any horror book that could be adapted to an anime, This one would be my first choice. http://www.amazon.com/Pilo-Family-Circus-Will-Elliott/dp/0980226023/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1288425141&sr=8-1[/list] |
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Takeyo
Posts: 736 |
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Shifting to live action, huh? Okay.
While I enjoyed Habit, I don't recall it being particularly scary. While watching, all I could think was, "man, Fessenden should not have cast himself as the lead!" That, and that the man needs to find himself a good orthodontist. 
Fessenden's Wendigo, OTOH, I absolutely loved. Part ghost story, part Deliverance, told from the perspective of a little boy. Great story, in my opinion, and kept up a good, creepy vibe through the entire film.
I think some of the most Lovecraftian Doctor Who episodes came out back in the 70's with Tom Baker's 4th Doctor. My favorite is still Horror of Fang Rock, where the Doctor, Leela, and some human cannon fodder find themselves held under siege in a fog-enshrouded lighthouse by a unearthly foe. Always makes me think of the Colour Out of Space, for some reason. The good news is that both Fang Rock and Wendigo (which you might also like if you're looking for something involving subjective reality) are up on Netflix. |
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Animehermit
Posts: 964 Location: The Argama |
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on Lovecraft references: its funny how Noah mentions berserk as a horror manga, the current berserk arc, Fantasia is very lovecraftian inspired. spoiler[what appears to be a town full of people is actually a Kraken's tentacles, the Kraken, it seems has the ability to control people]
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pancakesandsex
Posts: 6 |
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I don't think Betterman ever kicked that habit of giving you this overwhelming feeling of dread, but I can see becoming a little desensitized to it over 26 episodes, especially if you watched it in a short period of time. If anything, Betterman's problem is the often comical diffusion of that dread. It's just so good at establishing it in the first place I think it really warrants discussion here. |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2545 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Shigurui is NOT a horror anime, nor is it meant to be. Disturbing imagery does not automatically equal horror, though horror can certainly use disturbing imagery. Shigurui is a period piece that focuses on the more violent aspects of the time than most titles of its ilk do. It also helps that the original mangaka, Takayuki Yamaguchi, did Apocalypse Zero before this, so his knowledge of the human body and how to utterly destroy it is almost unparalled. |
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