Post-Halloween Depression? Oh HELL No! Site News, Updates for November 2012 (Including Ju-On/Grudge Info)

4 November 2012

Damn, not only is my ‘hit count’ improving drastically, but as of this writing, I’m at exactly 666 hits, which is a first! That’s pretty awesome, and– wait, did you guys hear that noise? Why did it get so hot in this room all of a sudden?

Yes, sadly Halloween has come and gone, but the scary goodies will be continuing, hopefully at the same pace they have been. Right now lots of horror fans are pretty excited about American Horror Story Asylum, so I’m adding more news and spoilers as I hear them (with spoiler warnings, of course). Hopefully I’ll get a news round-up with links to any new interviews at least once a week. I’ve noticed lately that the specific search terms that show up the most for the show* are variations on “American Horror Story who is the Pinhead.” I’m surprised a fan page for Naomi Grossman as Pepper hasn’t sprung up–wait, actually, I bet if I searched, there’d be a couple at this point.

I upgraded and added the option for adding sound and video files to my posts. I’ll keep slapping up the You Tube videos, of course, but now there’s other forms of media. I’m trying to use the “Press This” option (AKA re-blogging), too, so that you get some variety; I’m the only one writing this site, hearing fresh voices is probably nice. There’s room for every horror writer/blogger on here! Everyone has been super-cool and supportive lately, and I appreciate it. It was just a few months ago when I was averaging about 30 hits on a good day, which really was a drag.

If you want to check out Horror Boom on You Tube, I don’t have anything really spectacular right now, but I’m putting together playlists, especially of hard-to-find movies that are worth a watch.

Oh yeah- here’s a poll (below) that’s be cool if you could give your opinion on. Basically, what would you like to see more of here? If you have a favorite feature and just want it to keep going, that’s worth a vote. You can vote for up to five things you think would be groovy to see on Horror Boom, plus write in something if it’s not listed. Plus, I promise to actually pay attention and respond to what you’d be amped up to see on here. Thanks in advance for voting …and hopefully it’ll take your mind off the “Election 2012” 24/7 media jamboree that you’re really, really fucking sick of hearing about (and thinking about) by now. ENOUGH. We already sent in our ballots and are mostly watching horror DVDs when the TV is on, until Election Night. At this point I think many of us just want it to be OVER. Anyway, the feedback from y’all fellow horror fans would be great.

Image-wise, I just added ten more photos of Kayako to the recent Ju-On Gallery. They’re all PR photos (or very close– if they weren’t ones taken in a closed session with Takako Fuji posing and making her scariest facial expressions, they used shots on set as official PR photos) and I’m pretty sure, unless you have a weird Ju-On obsession like I do that includes buying the novel, tie-in Manga, and a copy of the Ju-On “Haunted House Simulator” game for Nintendo Wii even though I knew I’d probably be too much of a pussy to sit down and play, there’s several you haven’t seen yet. At least half of them were staged photo shoots, because if they were in a Ju-On movie scene, you would definitely remember the image/shot. Check out the latest growing Kayako gallery here. The first series of Grudge/Ju-On images I posted, let me think, right over here, and here’s the “Chills to Beat the Summer Heat” gallery I did second. More Ju-On goodies–OK, I don’t know if that sounds appropriate when referring to one of the Top Five most frightening females in horror history, let alone J-horror history. Uhhh, try that again. I mean more Ju-on/Grudge (relatively) rare footage, trivia, and of course, plenty of new photos are coming soon. Also I would again to state I am well aware I do not own the copyrights to any of the images, they’re here to entertain you; if anyone who DOES own the copyright wants me to take it down, I will. Just contact me …I’m not looking for any copyright trouble!

Meanwhile, genius that I am when I’m not getting enough sleep, I go rifling through Kayako content on the night we set our clocks back, after I spent several hours (before and after sundown) watching a bunch of J-Horror shorts back-to-back Friday and Saturday to build up a decent backlog of “Scariest Short Horror Film of The Week” entries like a moron. Hell, I’m watching a featurette right now on The Grudge 2 (American sequel) boxed collector’s tin/set AFTER I sat through the last half of the movie; I think back and find no real justification whatsoever for this. Something tells me an Onyro might be making a surprise cameo in one of my dreams soon. Ooooh goodie!

While I’m on the subject, I’m still puzzled and sort of concerned over the amount of males who make comments on You Tube, and/or have websites, where they rhapsodize about how hot and sexy Kayako is. Not Takako Fuji, the actress who plays her, mind you, or even Fuji-San as Kayako before she was murdered, but Kayako in full-out terrifying, crawling or limping un-naturally right at you, dead white, eyes wide as saucers, bloody running down her face, croaking out the classic Grudge/Ju-On Death Rattle mode. Attraction is subjective, and I know she’s a beautiful actress, but I just don’t get it. One said the “kind of lustful, hungry look” she has on her face is “soooo HOT!” Fine, to each their own, but I do hope it’s not because the think only women who look very dead, have broken necks, with blood-smeared faces and a white dress so soaked with her own blood it actually could be mistaken for a red dress are sexually attractive. I’m not even close to a judgemental person, yet I am not altogether comfortable with that piece of information…

Anyway, thanks for reading, and Happy November. Don’t forget to set your clocks back this weekend, and even if you hate less daylight (I do), look on the bright side– hey, that’s time for an extra episode of American Horror Story, time for watching/re-watching a Masters of Horror episode (may I recommend Dance of the Dead, Imprint , or The Damned Thing ?) or two back-to-back Tales From The Crypt episodes you can enjoy.

Hey, it beats more election coverage…

Stay Scared,
Mrs. Horror Boom

*after variations on “Evan Peters naked”, “Evan Peters getting spanked”, and “Evan Peters butt,” that is.

American (Deal) Horror Story [INFOGRAPHIC] (blogs.constantcontact.com)
Celebrate Halloween With The Scariest J-Horror Short of the Month – “‪Rattle Rattle” AKA Katakata (カタカタ)‬ (horrorboom.com)
A Few American Horror Story Asylum News Flashes – Spoiler-Free Round-Up For You! (horrorboom.com)
Monocyte – Halloween Horror At Its Best (comicbooked.com)
Preview of American Horror Story: Asylum Episode 4 – I Am Anne Frank – Part 1 (dreadcentral.com)

Horror Boom Halloween Treat – Giant Ju-On Gallery, Featuring Kayako Saeki!

28 October 2012

1 Comment

Ok! So here’s the second Halloween 2012 treat (three more to come). I promised another Ju-On gallery, and this time– y’know, Halloween Treats and all– I’m going to focus on Kayako. It also seems fitting, since on Halloween 2004, I was first introduced to the series and to Kayako (and her family) when my mom and I went to see the movie The Grudge in the theater (in a packed house, closer to the screen than was optimal when seeing a really scary movie). By thirty minutes in, we were holding hands!

Looks like lots of people have been doing searches and landing here because they want to dress like her for Halloween. Maybe this will help you out with the make-up. There’s a couple of make-up tutorials on You Tube but it seems as though most of them don’t understand Samara from The Ring and Kayako from The Grudge/Ju-on are two different characters. Here’s the closest I got, just taking photos to use on T-shirts I’d be selling. I wanted a recognizable image yet needed to do my own to avoid copyright infringement. Well, I gave it a shot, anyway!

Ok, I lied, I bleached out color a little bit, but trust me, I used a TON of make-up.
©2011 D.D. Reinert/Horror Boom

Oh, and please note I’m going to be adding to it over the next 48 hours until it is juuuuuust right. I have over 100 images but need to start sleeping before dawn breaks. It can’t be healthy for my system to keep the sleep-cycle of an undead crack whore, so I’m making an effort to get in bed and at least TRY to fall asleep before I hear birds chirping outside. Keep checking back, as you’ll keep finding plenty of new, scary, Ju-On photos and content all the way up to Halloween night!

Overall, I really made this as a tribute to her character. I even added a little behind-the-scenes stuff on the multi-talented Takako Fuji, who has played Kayako six times in full-length features, in addition to the two short films. As far as I’m considered, The Grudge 3 doesn’t even count as part of the series, since she didn’t play Kayako in it; in fact she wisely turned it down. I’ve read a few recent interviews with Fuji-San (they needed a translator) which I purposely sought out to remind myself that the Ju-on series were only movies, and Kayako doesn’t really exist. Fuji-San said that even though she has a strong background in modern dance, her back would always hurt for a day or so after each time she filmed a staircase-crawl (that makes my back hurt just thinking about it), that she’s a smoker who would take cigarette breaks in costume as Kayako which would make anyone walking by seeing her start to laugh, that she sometimes gets asked to “do” Kayako at parties (she always does), but most of all, kept apologizing “for all the nightmares!” That helped… sort of… a bit… a little, tiny bit, anyway.

So here’s that gallery, in some different formats to mix it up. She remains one of the most frightening female horror icons of all time, even probably up in the top five for me.

The above and below are shots where the lighting is dim, but what you CAN see is clearly Kayako, just enough to know who you’re looking at and to scare the shit out of you.

mirror mirror, on the wall, who’s the scariest one of all?

Fuck!

You’re not even safe under your own bed sheets…

This is from the very first Ju-On TV movie, and the first time I’ve ever let out a shriek watching something on my TV in my own home. During daylight, no less. Almost had a goddamn heart attack when Kayako quietly said, “Kobayashi?” held still for a long moment, then suddenly SWOOPED down close to his face. And that was the last time we (or anyone) ever saw Kobayashi Dear…

Here’s some really frightening PR shots taken…

When someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage…

…a curse is born.

…The curse gathers in that place of death.

Those who encounter it…

…will be consumed by its fury.

More quotes from this interview later on.

More coming soon; I’ve now looked at the maximum amount of depictions of Kayako (after dark) that I can without risking nightmares. If you have requests for photos/pics, please put them in the comments below and I will do my best to accommodate them!