American Filmmaker Takes on J-Horror

By Patricia Lamkin
Special to Asia

Jason Cuadrado loves horror film of the Asian persuasion, especially the genre known as “J-Horror” (Japanese horror). So he decided to write his own J-Horror script, and as the ultimate homage, shoot the entire film in Japanese. The fact that he isn’t Japanese, or can’t speak a word of the language didn’t stop him.

Director Jason Cuadrado discusses a scene with actor Sachiko Hayashi.

Cuadrado squirreled away over $40,000 for his low-budget indie, “Tales from the Dead” working as a web designer. Using Craigslist he found someone to translate his script into Japanese, and posted for his cast. By the January 2007 shoot date he had, “only 17 days to complete principal photography, a rapidly dwindling bank balance, a cast of thirty Japanese actors, and no translator on set," he said.

Most of the actors spoke English. But when they spoke their lines Cuadrado couldn’t understand them. He humbly credits them for making everything work. "I knew where they were by what they were doing,” he said, and even found certain advantages to this. “When you write and direct you can get so locked in on your words and how they should sound. And I didn’t have that," he said. He told them he could only offer the direction and the story. “I knew that the authenticity would come from them. And they were amazing," he said.

Despite its contemporary name, J-Horror has its origins in Japan’s Edo Period (1603-1868) in the ghostly folktales known as “kwaidan,” which tell of vengeful, earth-bound ghosts called yūrei. Traditionally yūrei are dressed in white - a burial practice still used in Japan today. Probably the most famous J-Horror yūrei is the terrifying girl who comes out of the t.v. in the 1998 nail-biter “Ringu,” (Ring) directed by Hideo Nakata. Other popular examples are “Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara” (Dark Water), and “Ju-On” (The Grudge). All of these have been remade in the U.S. with major female stars like Naomi Watts and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

While fear is universal, there are cultural differences between Japanese and American horror. "[With] American horror you spend so much of your film trying to convince people you’ve seen something, and everyone thinks your crazy for like an hour," said Cuadrado. "In Japanese horror you would say, 'I saw a ghost' and they’d say, 'Of course you did. Let’s see what it wants.'"

"We’re just born with it, being Buddists," said actress Leni Ito who plays the medium Tamika in “Tales.” “We’re just born with 'oh, that’s a spirit, and the spirits are always with you,' so it was kind of a natural thing for me to get into the role," she said.

"Tales" will premiere at HBO’s 2008 New York International Latino Film Festival, July 22-27th. Cuadrado will speak on a festival panel about Latino filmmakers and horror. He’s excited about the premiere, but a little worried how a Japanese horror film will go over at a Latino festival. “They may just want to skewer me," he laughed, "because I’m going to have to explain why I made it in Japanese.”

For more about “Tales From the Dead,” and future festival showings, visit talesfromthedead.com.