Movie / DVD Densen Uta - 8/18/2007

On the note of US horror vs. Japanese horror (since this can be related to 'Densen Uta')...

In their horror movies, the Japanese scare in a subtle manner (a ghost pressing herself against the window silently, for example). As compared to American horror movies where things jump out onto the screen and such and there's a loud noise.

 

Oh man. Unless this is complete and utter camp, I won't be able to watch it...I have serious trouble with horror movies. (Even the ones people say aren't scary really freak me out. I still get nervous that Sadako's going to show up, years after having watched the Ring. u_u [Well, the thing that really scares me is when the movie involves something out to get you. The Audition didn't scare me, because it was really beautiful and didn't have a "this thing is going to follow you and kill you" kind of plot going on. And that...uh...that one zombie movie didn't scare me either. Staceys? Something like that. Because it was too campy. So I hope Densen Uta is super goofy.])

On the note about Japanese vs US horror movies...things jumping out doesn't bother me at all; it scares me for about a second, then I'm fine & I never dwell on it. But things like something standing behind a character in the mirror, motionless...it doesn't bother me while I'm watching it, but it sticks with me for a really long time afterwards and scares me in a way that sticks. So likely the reason why I can't watch horror movies is because the only horror movies I've really watched are Japanese ones & they employ all the methods that make me the most uncomfortable. ^^;

 

You should play the Zero, Project Zero or Fatal Frame games, then. (All names for the same series, depending on where you are).

3 in particular scares me to no end, but all games really capture that feeling of Japanese horror movies. Here the trailer for 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsoPAhrCdF8.

On the bright side, not much will be able to scare you after you've played through these. 3 isn't so scary at first because you know the ghosts only appear in your nightmares, but then after a while, well... just look at what starts happening at 3:23 in the trailer.

 

I agree, I noticed that too. The US Grudge has more "jumping out with a sharp noise" moments. I prefer moments like that, because I get genuinely scared for a moment, even if it's only for a few seconds. It gets the heart racing and is a bit of a thrill. I've found that I don't really find the creepiness of some Japanese horror movies that scary. When I was younger I would have, but now with my bad memory the scariness doesn't have a long lasting effect like it has with other people.

This is just a guess but do the Japanese find that creepy ghost type of thing scarier because as a culture they're more aware of spirits and ghosts and stuff? I'm not exactly religious and don't really care much for ghosts and spirits, so maybe that's why it doesn't effect me as much.

I've played 1 and 2. At first they both were pretty scary, but after a few hours of playing, you get used to the atmosphere and it gradually loses it's scariness I thought. I can't really say much though because I didn't complete them. Because I lack patience I gave up on the first one after several hours because I died. And the 2nd one I played for several hours and stopped. For some reason I never went back to it. I will eventually I hope. That trailer was really scary

 

The difference between the first two and the third is that in the first two, you're constantly in a hostile environment, while the third starts out relatively harmless. At first, you know it's just a nightmare, but then gradually weird things start happening in your apartment, which at first was safe. It's somewhat similar to Silent Hill 4 in that way, but this game handles it much better in my opinion.

If you like jump scares more than Japanese horror elements (for lack of a better description), I doubt you'll really get into it more than the other two games, although there are some godawful jump scares in all games as well, though a lot of them are optional. I say optional, because after the first time you beat the games, a whole lot of extra ghosts appear if you replay the games. Most of them don't fight, but they're still scary as hell.

One in 3 that made me turn off the console for a while was this: there's this room with tatami mats on the floor and around the edges there are kimono's spread out on hangers. Against the one of the walls is this pillow in front of a broken mirror. Strands of hair are pinned to the wall around the mirror.



Now, the first couple of times you go through the room, there's a female ghost in the room, who is crying while combing her hair. You can also hear her mumbling about a child she lost. The first time you see her, you obviously expect her to attack at some point, but that never happens, so you just move on. The next time you enter the room she's still there, but she still doesn't do anything except sit there, comb her hair, and cry.



This goes on for a couple of times, until she's suddenly not there one time. So basically at this point you're more worried about the ghost not being there. Then all of a sudden your film starts flashing, indicating a ghost is near. You can't see anything in third person view though, so you'll naturally look through your camera and then the very first thing you see, combined with an awful moan, is this:


(This is actually a different ghost, but they look alike.)

I seriously had to stop playing for a while after that.

 

Your description is about similar to the one I played. Unfortunately I can't remember which exactly it was, I think it was called Project Zero(I almost typed Project Hello ).

I got freaked out even though I was playing it beside many of my friends in broad daylight. :roll:

I'm really bad at horror films, but I think Densen Uta should be good. The only part that scared me thus far was in the first trailer - the guy screaming but with a distorted guitar wail.

I hope someone will upload it though I might end up screaming out loudly at home.

 

^^ That game looks really fun!

For some reason I like playing horror video games, but not watching horror movies. That's why I watched Silent Hill because that was based on a game. XD

Dunno why since in the game you're actually controlling the character so it should be more scarier than watching movies.

 

I still prefer Japanese horror when it comes to film, and when they do jump scares, they do them well. For the Project zero games, it was only the walking around that lost its scariness. At first it was pretty scary not knowing what you'll find, and the surroundings are very creepy indeed, but after a while the walking around slowly got boring. When the actual ghosts appear is when it gets your heart racing...those bits are really scary. Although that's probably due to the poor controls and movement, where the frustration of not knowing what to do makes you scared.

I wish you hadn't explained that scary moment in detail, now when I play that game I won't find it as scary lol. And yeah I think games are potentially scarier because you control the character. God knows how scary they'll get when the graphics become very realistic

I hope so too. What are the chances of this film being released on the net with subtitles?

 

Meh, it's just one scare. 3 is about twice as long as 2, so there's still plenty of stuff to scare the hell out of you. The one I described is actually not that bad compared to some of the other stuff the game pulls. One of the ghosts has a gimmick that I won't spoil now, but it's a really mean gimmick and you'll know what I mean if you ever get around to play it and encounter that ghost. When my sister was playing and got to that point, she jumped up from the couch and pinned herself against the back wall of my room as far away from the TV as possible before she managed to recover from the shock.

I'd be surprised if a high quality video shows up any time soon after release, let alone subs.

 

Now you got me interested. Knowing that I'd never get a chance to actually play Fatal Frame 3, what exactly happened? I swear I won't tell anyone else.

 

Okay, I'll do it in white so you have to highlight the text to read it.

You said you may have played the first game, so you might know about the filament in the camera.



If you don't remember, it's the red (in the picture) bar on the top. It will change color depending on how close you are to a ghost. It's blue when there's a hidden ghost (the kind that doesn't attack) or clue nearby. It'll glow red when a moving ghost is nearby. The brightness depends on how close you are to the clue or ghost.

Anyway, the game's story is about how a priestess is supposed to be sacrificed to ward off evil, and she's supposed to be tattood and then pinned to the ground (by four shrine maidens) with wooden stakes through her arms and feet in some underground temple, where's she supposed to dream for all eternity (or until she dies, because as you find out near the end of the game, the temple is littered with dead priestesses, pinned to the floor and even the walls). And that's supposed to ward off evil.

One type of ghost you'll encounter are the ghosts of the people in charge of engraving those tattoos on the priestess. To "understand her pain", they are tattood as well. Their eyes are cut out, so they can see "the priestess' dream even when they are awake." The have long needles jammed into their fingers to tattoo the priestess, and when that ritual is completed their arms are cut off.

Now, as the story progresses, you'll begin to find out the main character is the one that they want to sacrifice in this generation, basically. The story really guides you in that direction as well, there's not much you can do about it. So as the game goes on, you begin to fall into the role of the priestess more and more. However, because those engravers are linked to the priestess in a spiritual way (you know, because they share her pain and dreams), they don't register as ghosts, meaning your filament won't glow when they're around.

So my sister was walking around in this room where a bunch of body-shaped bangs hang suspended from the ceiling, and the filament was glowing blue (meaning no moving ghosts are around), so she looked through the camera to take a picture to reveal the clue, but right as she pulled up her camera to take the shot, one of those engravers came through the wall right in front of her, arms stretched out reaching for the camera, while the "scare" music kicks in. It's one of those things where you would have to been there to really get it, but it was insanely scary. The timing of it all, the atmosphere, the false sense of security, the music, it was all perfect.

It's such a great scare because by that time you've probably come to rely on the filament to tell you when a ghost is near. It was glowing blue, so she assumed it was safe, when it really wasn't. But the best part is that you're still paranoid afterwards, because you don't know what to trust anymore.

All this talk has made me want to replay it, I think I just might do that tomorrow.

 

Oh MAN.

Thanks for the description. I can totally imagine it. Reading it alone is almost enough to scare myself.

Now, when you play it for a second time, won't it be not as scary now that you already know what to expect?

 

Well, it's less scary than the first time, of course. However, it's not all scripted, so it's not like the same thing happens exactly in the same way every time.

The game has two endings as well, so a second playthrough does have something totally new to offer. You can also unlock some extras by taking pictures of scripted ghost appearances and hidden ghosts, a lot of which don't appear the first time you play through the game.

 

Hey, could you guys take the game discussion over to the games thread, and just keep this for Densen? Thanks

 

^ Sorry, it happened to fall under the category of "Horror" that Densen Uta is. I'll stop bugging Eques to spoil me with more of the game's info.

 

Found out more info. on Densen Uta from the net.

Densen Uta's English translation is "Deadly Song," but it will take the name of "Gloomy Sunday" since the movie is based on a Hungarian song with the same name (Gloomy Sunday). According to the myth, after being heard the song supposedly caused several suicides. Thus, it became an urban legend.

 

^ I think densen means contagious, infectious, not deadly. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

^
BINGO!

 

Actually, I HAVE heard of the myth of Gloomy Sunday song a couple of years back and I tried to search for the song. But it yielded no results...

 

They even had it on Hungarion Idol 2006, so somehow I think the myth is greatly exaggerated.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0-G1UyPO-Yo

Here is a pretty haunting English version:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KzWVWY5QUzg

Snopes to the rescue:
http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/gloomy.asp

So basically there's no substantial evidence that it directly inspired any suicides, let alone an unusually large amount of them. But it was a very succesful way to market the song.

On the other hand, if it turns out this is the last post I ever made, maybe there's some truth to the story afte