Kôji Shiraishi Day

 

‘If you’re a fan of Japanese horror, you’ve probably stumbled upon a film by Koji Shiraishi at one point or another. Whether it’s his 2005 found-footage stunner Noroi: The Curse, or the over-the-top Sadako vs. Kayako (2016), which pits the ghosts of both Ringu and Ju-On against each other in a brawl for the ages.

‘In both of the aforementioned films, Shiraishi is able to effectively create sympathetic villains by delving into the tragic backstories of these characters and their misfortunes; he reveals that they are often victims of circumstance, sent down their destructive paths due to the actions of others. However, in his other found-footage works, Shiraishi explores the complexities of the terrifying villains he creates by allowing the audience to spend time with them, using the medium to create first-hand relationships between the characters and the camera. It’s through this humanization that he’s able to expertly make the viewer feel both sympathetic and horrified by the heinous acts that are shown on screen.

‘In 2009’s Occult, Shiraishi plays a version of himself who leads a documentary crew on an investigation of a murder and attack at a beachside resort. As they interview survivors, the film slowly begins to shift its focus to the story of Shôhei Uno (played by Shiraishi himself), who had a ritualistic symbol carved into his back by the murderer which left him able to hear the voice of an ancient deity and witness what he calls “small miracles.” Uno is portrayed as a downtrodden replacement worker scraping together an existence by sleeping and showering in manga cafés while eating dollar ramen that he weighs by hand to gauge value, showing excitement when his choice contains a few small pieces of wilted cabbage. The crew offer to pay him for each miracle recorded and even let him bunk on the floor of their production studio. This is a charity he graciously accepts, vowing to pay them back for their kindness through dinner after his first real paycheck.

‘Similarly, A Record of Sweet Murder (2014) follows journalist Kim Soyeon (Kkobbi Kim) and her cameraman Tashiro, played by director Shiraishi, who are both called to an abandoned apartment building by childhood friend-turned-mass murderer Sang-joon Park (Je-wook Yeon). While playing outside as children, Park recorded the death of one of their friends who was hit by a speeding car in the backstreets of South Korea. He’s committed to a mental institution at age 10, but breaks out 17 years later in order to commit a total of 27 murders, which “the voice of God” has told him will bring their dead friend and his vitcims back to life. The acts of violence we see in the film feel reluctant, with a jittery and uncertain Park wincing as if it causes him physical pain to carry out his actions, and even admitting that he feels remorse for his crimes. Also, despite trapping her in a dangerous situation, he shows genuine concern for the wellbeing of Soyeon throughout the film, tending to the slash wound he gave her, and reassuring her that she will be fine.

‘Both films further humanize their antagonists through the interactions they have with the crew recording them and by extension the viewer, due to Shiraishi inserting himself into the story. In Occult, Shiraishi and Uno form a true camaraderie — first through working on the documentary, and later as they work together to complete the task Uno has been sent on by the deity. In the latter film, Park has to rely on the crew in order to complete his ritual. Though he threatens them to keep them in the building he does his best to avoid being truly violent with Tashiro and Soyeon. Soyeon even comments that despite all that he’s done, he hasn’t changed much since they were children.

‘As a director, Shiraishi revels in building a tension between the image he’s created of his villains, the terrible things we’ve seen them do, and the supernatural forces that compel them; ultimately revealing that each element feeds into the next, driving the characters to their inevitable destruction.

‘The third act of Occult comes to a head when Shiraishi’s character learns that he and Uno are both marked by the deity and that they must work together to bring people into the “other world” by performing a suicide bombing at the busy Shibuya train station. Though he’s adamantly opposed, Shiraishi’s character is terrified into cooperation by Uno in a cutaway reveal that sees him first transform into the original attacker and then into a cosmic abomination. Uno maintains his thankful demeanor up until the detonation and even after his mysterious disappearance in the blast; returning the camera and dollar he borrowed from Shiraishi’s character by transporting them through time from the hell dimension he is now trapped in.

‘Likewise, in A Record of Sweet Murder, after kidnapping and murdering two couples in a search for final victims who display true love, Park learns that both he and Soyeon have also been marked by the the voice he’s been hearing. In order to bring their friend back he must first kill Soyeon and then himself. After tearfully taking Soyeon’s life, he comes face to face with a cosmic horror and is transported back in time to the death of their friend; throwing himself in front of the car and saving their life. The film ends with the camera again falling through time, and landing at the feet of the trio in a different timeline where they lived happily and healthily in the city.

‘In the end, Shiraishi’s characters are both sympathetic and malicious; taking the darkest pathway possible for a chance to change their lives. By humanizing his villains in this way, he doesn’t make excuses for what they’ve done, but leaves you to determine if the sacrifices they made were worth it.’ — Anthony Langley

 

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Stills

 

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Further

Kôji Shiraishi @ IMDb
Koji Shiraishi YouTube CHANNEL
KS @ MUBI
KS @ Letterboxd
How Kōji Shiraishi Turned the Found-Footage Subgenre on Its Head
How Koji Shiraishi Creates Villains
If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It): An Interview with Koji Shiraishi
The Indecipherable Forms of Kōji Shiraishi’s Found-Footage Cosmic Horror
“There was a responsibility but I did enjoy creating the film!”
Kōji Shiraishi’s Noroi is a found footage horror like no other
Quick Koji Shiraishi Interview
THE SUBVERSIVE QUALITIES OF KOJI SHIRAISHI’S GROTESQUE

 

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Extras

The Nightmare Cinema of Koji Shiraishi

L’Horrible Interview #4 : Kôji Shiraishi

良いお年を！

 

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Interview
from 3:AM MAGAZINE

 

David F. Hoenigman: How did you feel when you heard Grotesque was banned in England?

Koji Shiraishi: I was happy. Since there was a reaction I was very happy, but of course if it can’t be shown, and it can’t be released, I’m a little disappointed, but actually that means the movie I’ve made has the power to cause a controversy, so I’m happy in that way.

DH: So the purpose of Grotesque was to cause a reaction?

KS: As the person who made it, I wanted to make something that was impressive, and then the producer said, “I want you to make something horribly violent, so violent that it almost can’t be shown”, as these were my orders, I embraced the challenge of making something stirring and emotional while portraying extreme violence. I wanted to portray people who withstood as much one-sided merciless violence as possible, who were unable to fight back, but who never entirely succumbed, not even in the end. I was also, as a director, interested in portraying the feelings of one who’d commit such crimes, so I didn’t want to abandon that angle. I thought merging these two things would be interesting. I kept that in mind as I made the film.

Of course, on the surface it’s a violent movie, since I like that kind of stuff and since I’m making the film, I can see beyond that. Some people will only see violence and not the central parts of the story, it’s a natural reaction, I accept that.

DH: Who is the producer?

KS: Takafumi Ohashi from Ace Deuce Entertainment. They deal with all kinds of films, all genres, they do big movies too, and they do small films like Grotesque.

DH: Why did they want a violent movie?

KS: Probably because violent films are popular. There are many people who want to watch them. The producers had a feeling that there hadn’t been a film this violent made yet in Japan, so if we could make one so violent that it almost couldn’t be shown, they figured they could expect a set audience.

DH: Are the people that want to see it Japanese? Or are they foreign?

KS: Of course we thought of overseas too, but mainly we thought of Japan. Nowadays Yoshihiro Nishimura, Noburo Iguchi, and Sion Sono too recently – make Japanese films anchored in the portrayal of violence. And because these films tend to attract audiences, following this trend, I think I was asked to make this film. And probably of the directors that Mr. Ohashi knew, I was the only one who could make something this extremely violent.

DH: Do you watch violent movies?

KS: Yes, I watch them. It depends on the film, but movies that merely focus on blood and guts are boring. I like things that entertain. It’s old but Dawn of the Dead, I also like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, I also like The Thing – they’re great as films, and their portrayal of violence is great. I enjoy seeing these things that can only be portrayed in movies, but I’d hate to see them in reality.

DH: Noroi is a complex movie, Grotesque is very simple. For the same director, they’re quite different.

KS: Grotesque, because it’s a low-budget small scale work, couldn’t be too complicated, because the number of filming days was limited, and because it was filmed in mostly one spot, we couldn’t gear up the movie to become big scale.

And since it was filmed in mostly one spot, to advance the story within these constrictions and to make it as entertaining as possible was an interesting challenge.

DH: I’ve heard you don’t want to continue making horror films.

KS: No, that’s not true, if something suits me I want to make it regardless of the genre. I just said I’d like to try making films that aren’t horror. I like to portray the feeling of being scared and fear itself within film, so I’ll probably continue to do this. But rather than violence, an intense fear, for example: about nature, fear and menace, the existence of the extraordinarily awful – or however you’d like to put it. I’d like to make works that tie this together with thrillers or suspense, anything, so I can’t say I won’t do horror.

DH: Comedy?

KS: Yes, the movie I’ll soon complete, Bachiatari Boryoku Ningen (“Cursed Violent People”), is a comedy. It’s a comedy but it’s a fake documentary. You can say it’s the same style as Occult. It can be called a violent comedy, a gritty & manly film, but ultimately a moving coming of age film. It’s quite difficult to explain.

DH: Would you like to make a Hollywood movie someday?

KS: Yes, I’d like to make one, I want money, making small films in Japan is not profitable. If you don’t make a big movie, you can’t make decent money, I’d like to achieve commercial success at some point so I’d like to try to make a Hollywood movie.

If I could make a big movie in Japan, I don’t think it’d be as good of a film as I could make in Hollywood. When you make a big movie in Japan, you get bombarded with forceful input from all different sources within the infrastructure, the opinions are not as professional as they’d be in Hollywood and the film itself has a tendency to become less and less interesting. Because of this, if you make a big Japanese movie there’s a higher probability that the end result could be an unentertaining film. If I make a big movie, I’d definitely want to do it in Hollywood. Unfortunately, as of yet, they haven’t come calling.

DH: Do you always write your own scripts?

KS: They’re almost all collaborative scripts, I write on my own as well. Once, only once, it was entirely up to another person, but in general I’m always involved.

DH: Which of your movies was the most difficult to write?

KS: It’s always difficult.

DH: Even Grotesque?

KS: Yes.

DH: Grotesque angered a lot of people. For example, after you were featured on the cover of the popular English language magazine Metropolis here in Tokyo, a reader wrote in:

“The idea that this man made this sick movie, and that Metropolis is giving him credence by featuring him in such a way, along with posting sick, disgusting pictures from the film, is deeply disturbing. What is the benefit of a film like this? To cater to sick freaks? It’s a sad day when people who make films that have no other purpose than to show how low human beings can go get as much attention as this piece of garbage.”

KS: (laughing joyously ) Have these people seen the film? I want them to see the film. But perhaps, maybe if they see the film they’ll be more angry.

DH: Do you think people’s opinions will change if they see the film?

KS: I wonder… some people’s opinions may change, some people’s won’t change, and I think some people will become more angry. But I don’t remember saying anything in that interview that could’ve stirred up such anger.

DH: I believe these reader’s comments came from a foreigner. Did this movie also anger Japanese people?

KS: I think there weren’t any angry people in Japan. They may think it’s not entertainment or that it’s too graphically violent, but there aren’t any people angry enough to say I’ve done a terrible thing. I wonder why.

Well, if Japanese parents found their children watching Grotesque they’d probably be angry. But there’s an age limit to make sure that really young people can’t watch it, it’s very difficult for underage kids to get a hold of.

DH: Who’s your favorite Japanese director?

KS: I like Sogo Ishii, a bit older movies Crazy Thunder Road, Burst City and The Crazy Family and recently Gojoe and Electric Dragon 80.000 V.

DH: Have you met him?

KS: I was once involved as a staff on one of his filming sites, we became acquaintances, since we’re both from Fukuoka Prefecture, there was a tight bond. Since Crazy Thunder Road is my favorite movie in the world, I have tremendous respect for him.

DH: How about foreign directors?

KS: There are many I admire: Brian De Palma, Sam Raimi, Abbas Kiarostami, John Carpenter.

DH: Evil Dead?

KS: I like it.

DH: Army of Darkness.

KS: Army… I don’t especially like. I like Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn.

DH: How about John Carpenter?

KS: Of course, The Thing, it’s absolutely amazing.

 

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14 of Kôji Shiraishi’s 89 films

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Ju-Rei: The Uncanny (2004)
‘Ju-rei is a cheap film and for the most part it is very evident. The DV quality of the film is rough, muddy and grainy, the acting can be sub-par at best, and the lack of decent special effects or blood at times calls attention to itself, intentionally, but Shiraishi uses these limitations to good effect. The lack of special effects and blood force him to rely on one thing: tension. While some would consider this a good thing (myself included), this is the aspect of the movie that will polarize viewers most. The film plays out in long, static shots, and can test a viewer’s patience if not prepared. Because we are forced to view the same image for sometimes minutes, tension is created just from the sheer anticipation of when the moment of terror is going to occur, and from which part of the screen. Ju-rei is very slow, and built entirely on this simple concept.’ — Matthew Hardstaff

Watch the film here

 

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Noroi: The Curse (2005)
‘Noroi: The Curse constructs a whole world to inhabit out of paranormal vhs documentaries, psychick children, tabloid news, the remnants of drowned witch villages, and the powerful demonologies which animate the central mythos. It is best to watch Noroi: The Curse by knowing little or nothing about it save that it is a fake paranormal vhs doc, the last of its line, as the researcher responsible has disappeared after uncovering a story too vast to be fit onto vhs cassettes. The only other logical comparison to this movie in scope and folkloric jolt would be The Blair Witch Project, yet where that movie felt impressionist, ambient and sketchy (in the best possible way), Noroi: The Curse brings the weight of the cosmos down upon you, a heavy comet of ice and dirt and blood and dread and feathers which knows your name and is coming for you and when it does it ends up a relief. Noroi feels Lovecraftian in inspiration and extent, but derives most of its charge from old-school Japanese demon stories of sorcerous cabal, a mountain of dead bodies, a nightmare tunnel to a place not better than where you began.’ — nathaxnne

Trailer

 

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Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman (2007)
‘Legend holds that 30 years ago, a suburban town was terrorized by the spirit of a woman whose horrid face had been grotesquely disfigured. Roaming the streets wearing a long coat and carrying large scissors, the spirit would approach her young victims and, while removing the mask, ask if she was pretty. The victim’s response would almost always lead to their violent death.’ — Letterboxd

Trailer

the entirety

 

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Ura Horror (2008)
‘Clips from this movie are scattered on youtube with 1M+ views and were highly circulated in the mid 2000s as “creepy japanese videos” with seemingly no origin. They’re presented as actual found footage online, confusing people for years. So many people have seen this without actually seeing it, it’s so sick.’ — Eva Loveless

Watch the film here

 

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Grotesque (2009)
‘In 2009 Kōji Shiraishi released the extreme horror film Grotesque, which stands out in his filmography. The film leaves behind found footage in order to focus on sickly realism that takes place in only a couple of claustrophobic locations. After the sweeping cosmic implications of his other films, Grotesque is very insular and smaller in scale. I would absolutely suggest Grotesque to anyone with any interest in extreme horror. It takes a simple structure and puts the viewer through a gauntlet of misery, but a lot of the strange choices draw attention to the film’s construction.’ — John Patterson

the entirety

 

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Occult (2009)
‘Koji Shiraishi is interested in strange indiscriminate murder at a sightseeing resort. He goes behind the camera to investigate the circumstances surrounding strange occurrences and interview the survivors.’ — MUBI

the entirety

 

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Teke Teke (2009)
‘The upper torso of a female, claws her way around Japan searching for her lower half. The person’s lower half was severed in a train accident in Hokkaido. Anyone that hears of this story will see Teke-Teke’s lower half walking aimlessly around the countryside within three days.’ — Letterboxd

the entirety

 

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Shirome (2010)
‘In his latest film, Shirome, Stardust Promotion’s relatively new pop idol unit Momoiro Clover star as a group of girls who enter an old abandoned school hoping to have their wishes granted by a spirit called Shirome. The girls initially had no clue they were being filmed for a movie at all. Instead, they were told that they were being filmed for an upcoming television show exploring haunted locations.’ — Letterboxd

Trailer

 

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Cult (2013)
‘Bruh. In terms of found footage I feel like they showed too much so falta one star. But fuck I love this movie. Neo is such an edgelord but it suits him so well. And I fucking love the idea of a demon bomb. OMG.’ — KirstnMichelle

the entirety

 

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Sadako vs. Kayako (2016)
‘To be honest both the Ring and Ju-On franchises have felt fairly worn-out of late, and are hitting the point where combining them together in a King Kong vs Godzilla-style smackdown is not the worst possible idea in the world. If nothing else it is a solid excuse for a deliberately silly and over-the-top exercise in nostalgia and parody. Sadly director Koji Shiraishi takes an overly reverent route, and that pretty much kills Sadako vs Kayako in its tracks. The overwhelming majority of the film is taken up by establishing the two supernatural forces and easing its protagonist into their respective curses. It is a bizarre waste of the audience’s time, since one can reasonably expect anybody tempted to watch the film will already be well familiar with Ring and Ju-On and their respective set-ups and rules.’ — Grant Watson

Trailer

 

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Vauxhall Rideshow (2016)
‘The story of the found-footage style film involves a group of young women being trapped in an empty school while stalked by a deranged slasher and menaced by supernatural apparitions. Vauxhall Rideshow was specifically crafted to take advantage of the 4DX format, where the movie is accompanied by such gimmicks as vibrating seats, blasts of air, and scented mists to create a more complete sensory experience. Director Koji Shiraishi compares the combination of 4DX trappings and the subjective, “false documentary” camera-work of Vauxhall Rideshow to the works of William Castle, an American film-maker known for including similar gimmicks with the release of his horror pictures such as The Tingler, House on Haunted Hill, and 13 Ghosts.’ — CULT FACTION

Trailer

 

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Hell Girl (2019)
‘Maybe a closer film adaptation of Death Note than Adam Wingard’s American film, while I’m not familiar with the source material here, Shiraishi shows clear versatility in transplanting the exploitation genre fare of his non-FF work onto dark teen J-drama; visually some of his cleanest fare until it goes all gnarly body horror, the contrast never overwhelming the screen as everything moves so smoothly. what saves the narrative from treading water is its use of a literal cult musician similar to Suicide Club, sort of grounding the supernatural elements in an exploration of mortal sin. as such, Hell Girl strangely ends up being Shiraishi’s most grounded outing, even when its literally showing hell.’ — Lee W

Trailer

Excerpt

 

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Welcome to the Occult Forest: The Movie (2022)
‘A washed up horror film director named Kôji Kuroishi (played by Kôji Shiraishi) and his assistant director named Miho Ichikawa visit a house deep in wooded mountains to film a movie. Once arrived, they meet a mentally deranged woman named Maria Miyoshi who proclaims she’s a fan of Kuroishi’s works.’ — MUBI

Trailer

 

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Safe Word (2022)
‘The pop idol and wrestler Misa the Killer, followed by a camera operator for the making of a documentary, meets the mistress Kanon and becomes herself a mistress in the BDSM club “H”. But being Kanon’s slave and other club’s clients’ mistress can bring more than a trouble. The controversial J-Horror director Koji Shiraishi realizes a roman porno in perfect Nikkatsu style, combining his maddest obsessions (among which a mockumentary) to compose a funny and eccentric ode to perversion and boundless love. An erotic, wacky and unforeseeable comedy, a traditional pinku eiga re-elaboration as well as an exhilarating questioning of the Japanese pop culture.’ — Sicilia Queer

Trailer

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Aw, thanks! I’ll definitely eat chunky if it’s put in front of me. Yes, wouldn’t that be interesting? Finding out re: our need vs. our want? I was thinking about that a bunch yesterday. I’m assuming I don’t know this Blake who’s in your head, but I am 100% sure he deserves the wild surprise party. I’ll even attend, even though I hate parties. Although ‘wild’ is hard to turn down. Love making every male in the world fem acting for 24 hours, G. ** David Ehrenstein, Thanks for the link. I don’t know that song, but now I will. ** Misanthrope, You’re the figurer. I actually saw that about the government DC offices closing due to impending extreme weather all the way over here in France. Better cray cray than dead due to a ceiling collapse always. ** Jack Skelley, Wise words there about obsession, and inarguable to boot. Thanks about our hell. We’re speaking with the lawyer this evening, but I don’t anticipate any kind of breakthrough. Never say never, but … Thanks, buddy. Where there’s a will there’s a way? Can that homily be true? Love, me. ** _Black_Acrylic, Santa does seem to have all kinds of deep connections and/or incredible blackmailing skills, so … why not? The worst you’ll get is a lump of coal. ** T. J., Now that is a hell of an image, you are so right. And highly documentable, yes. Shame. I suppose you could recreate it technically, but the magic of the moment was probably half of it. Anyway, beautiful, thanks! ** Guy, Oh, hey, it’s you! Hi, pal! Yeah, I didn’t put two and two together. Or I guess one and one. But I use ‘guy’ as an androgynous term applicable to all, so in fact you are a gorgeous guy. It’s been chilly here, but it feels like summer suddenly remembered that it’s summer today, so I’m a bit worried. Is that the new Honoré film? If so, it’s called something else here. No, I haven’t seen it. I was shooting the film in the US when it was in French theaters. I heard the boy in it was good. That’s interesting because we found the boy in ‘Permanent Green Light’ from looking at the audition tapes of boys who had auditioned to be in one of Honoré’s films that he had rejected. Weird. I’ll see the film. How are you? What’s going on? Love, me. ** Cody Goodnight, Hi. I’m solid-ish. Yeah, every time I watch that poppy field scene my chest starts hurting. I love fake snow. In Zac’s and my first film ‘Like Cattle Towards Glow’ there’s a scene where it’s snowing the whole time indoors , and we used tons and tons of fake snow plus lots of giant blowers. But the fake snow in that scene was *spoiler alert* little ripped shreds of clear plastic. I like your donut choices. I didn’t see the first Meg film either. I don’t think it was released over here. RIP William Friedkin. He made a few really great movies. Hm, favorite classical music piece … maybe Mahler’s Ninth? That’s the first one that springs to mind anyway. Nice about the Deren 4-piece. My favorite Deren is ‘Ritual in Transfigured Time’. I will: have a great day or night. Or I will try my utmost. Hopefully you won’t even have to try. ** NIT, Hi, NIT! Is there an interesting story behind why you were semi trained in asbestos abatement? Seems exotic? That’s horrible about McQueen. I didn’t know that. Jesus. Thanks for the well wishes. We’ll get through this horrible mess one way or the other. Happy day! ** Right. Since I did a Day on Gakuryū Ishii last week, I thought I’d just go ahead and do a Day on Kôji Shiraishi while I was at it. Know his stuff? Fun. See you tomorrow.