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January 13, 2006
J-HORROR: DEAD IN JAPAN
What if Takashi Shimizu (JU-ON, THE GRUDGE) released a movie and nobody came? That's exactly what happened with last week's release of his new movie REINCARNATION (RINNE). A relatively well-reviewed flick, even Variety said that "Local and international success look certain..." but then...psyche! The movie came out and made 98 million yen, 45% of what ONE MISSED CALL grossed.
But that's just part of the pattern of declining J-horror revenues in Japan. RING 2 and the American remake of THE RING both grossed big, and ONE MISSED CALL did pretty well but every other J-horror flick, including the Hollywood remakes, have made less and less money. Nick Rucka gives a nice recap of the history of Japanese horror movies and looks at the creative deadend this particular trend has reached over on Midnight Eye, and Hoga Central provides a handy graph that charts the declining fortunes of the J-horror wave.
J-horror has been yesterday's news for a while but now it might just be dead enough that producers stop wringing its corpse for a few more cents.
January 13, 2006 at 12:41 PM in News | Permalink