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Asia Shock: Horror and Dark Cinema from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Thailand
Asian Extreme cinema is hot, and this book lays it out in all its gory glory. Patrick Galloway, who last looked at samurai movies in his well-received Stray Dogs and Lone Wolves, now takes on Asian masters of suspense, exploitation, the supernatural, and bone-chilling, blood-curdling fear and evil. The films featured here are pan-Asian, including Korea and Thailand, and represent a mix of classics and the contemporary cutting edge. Included are viewing tips and overviews of genres and cultures. "Galloway has all sorts of interesting insights and facts that'll make you want to rewatch your favorites, or check out some that you've never seen." -- Wired "It has a conversational feel, as if you're sitting down with a film buddy and just discussing the film." -- Twitch “What with brain-sauce spaghetti, switchblade cellphones, and other wonders, could horror flicks from Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong be any better? Patrick Galloway savors the genre in Asia Shock.” – East Bay Express
211 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 2, 2007
The review I gave it on Amazon:
Overall, as someone who enjoys "dark cinema" from Asia, I found this book very enjoyable, not only to learn about new titles that I may enjoy, but also to explore another person's perspective on films that I have already seen. Galloway definitely displays a genuine passion for the subject matter, as well as a profound knowledge of many aspects of Asian art and cinema. In addition to sitting back and enjoying the movies, he has clearly done a good deal of research on them.
However, I do take issue with the way in which some of the narrative veers towards the festishistic 'exotification' of Asia. Female cinemaphiles in particular will probably be put off by Galloway's repeated transformation into a dirty old Wan Chai cheek-toucher, unprofessionally slavering over the assets of various Asian actresses rather than over their performances.
I was also disappointed by an entry describing a Hong Kong cannibalism flick: Galloway mentions how Western audiences might not find cannibalism in Hong Kong such a stretch to imagine. However, rather than attributing such attitudes to racism and xenophobia, he shrugs it off by rationalizing along the lines of 'the Chinese eat a lot of weird food anyways,' implying that because the Chinese occasionally enjoy snake soup, it's only logical that they would break the universally held taboo against eating human flesh. I found this magnificently ignorant.
If you are a person who hates even the slightest hint of a spoiler, then this book is definitely not for you. Understandably, it's very difficult to write a movie review without revealing some of the plot, and Galloway is often put in the difficult position of writing about a movie that simply cannot be described or explored without tearing the gift wrapping of the film just a little bit. Ultimately, this book is best as a companion piece, and readers may wish to do as I did and skip the entries for the films they haven't yet seen, while revisiting and gaining new perspective on films they have already enjoyed.
Overall, as someone who enjoys "dark cinema" from Asia, I found this book very enjoyable, not only to learn about new titles that I may enjoy, but also to explore another person's perspective on films that I have already seen. Galloway definitely displays a genuine passion for the subject matter, as well as a profound knowledge of many aspects of Asian art and cinema. In addition to sitting back and enjoying the movies, he has clearly done a good deal of research on them.
However, I do take issue with the way in which some of the narrative veers towards the festishistic 'exotification' of Asia. Female cinemaphiles in particular will probably be put off by Galloway's repeated transformation into a dirty old Wan Chai cheek-toucher, unprofessionally slavering over the assets of various Asian actresses rather than over their performances.
I was also disappointed by an entry describing a Hong Kong cannibalism flick: Galloway mentions how Western audiences might not find cannibalism in Hong Kong such a stretch to imagine. However, rather than attributing such attitudes to racism and xenophobia, he shrugs it off by rationalizing along the lines of 'the Chinese eat a lot of weird food anyways,' implying that because the Chinese occasionally enjoy snake soup, it's only logical that they would break the universally held taboo against eating human flesh. I found this magnificently ignorant.
If you are a person who hates even the slightest hint of a spoiler, then this book is definitely not for you. Understandably, it's very difficult to write a movie review without revealing some of the plot, and Galloway is often put in the difficult position of writing about a movie that simply cannot be described or explored without tearing the gift wrapping of the film just a little bit. Ultimately, this book is best as a companion piece, and readers may wish to do as I did and skip the entries for the films they haven't yet seen, while revisiting and gaining new perspective on films they have already enjoyed.
March 1, 2022
The author. Patrick Galloway, has opted for a broad definition of his subject. In other words, this is not a book on "Asian Horror Cinema" (although there are plenty of creepy movies in it), but Galloway rather introduces about 50 films that are in some way or another "shocking" or "extreme."
There is more than enough of those elements in Asian films, as you will see when you start reading. Galloway sets the tone with his first review of Miike Takashi's Visitor Q (2001) which is a catalogue of all depravities one can imagine, brought to the screen with a liberating dose of black humor. In the Korean film Island (Kim Ki-duk) the main person does various weird things with fish hooks in body openings, which is more excruciatingly horrible than a real horror film. Or what about the tongue amputation in Ichi the Killer, kids playing soccer with a human head in Battle Royale or the girl shooting killer darts from her nether regions in Miike's Fudoh? Who would fancy the fetus dumplings from Three Extremes for dinner, or the live octopus consumed in OldBoy? And there could be no greater rip-roaring fun (albeit it rather politically incorrect) than exploitation flicks as Convent of the Sacred Beast or The Joy of Torture by the legendary Teruo Ishii. These titles speak for themselves.
You need a strong stomach and perhaps a thick skin - these films certainly are not for everybody. If you don't like these "extreme" cult films, don't throw away the Asian cinema baby with the bath water of shock: there is also a whole world of beauty out there with art house films by Koreeda Hirokazu, Kawase Naomi, Wong Kar-wai, Hou Hsia-hsien and Zhang Yimou - not to speak of Kim Ki-Duk's poetic Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring!
But back to Asia Shock. Of the 40 full reviews, 22 are dedicated to Japanese films, 9 to Hong Kong films, 8 to Korean ones and 3 to Thai cinema. The large number of Japanese films is fully justified, and Galloway aims at diversity here, but even so I missed some favorite directors. For example, Ishii Sogo (what about Burst City or the funny Crazy Family?), Ishii Takashi (Freeze me, or even better, the Angel Gut films he made early in his career - he wrote all of them and helmed two himself), Kitano Takeshi (Violent Cop or Sonatine, Kitano's violence is of a special order and there is nothing more shocking than the speed with which he rams a pair of chopsticks into the eye of a yakuza in Sonatine). Tsukamoto Shinya is present with A Snake of June, indeed his most beautiful and poetic film, but not one which I would file under "Asia Shock" - earlier films as Tokyo Fist or Bullet Ballet and of course the Tetsuo movies would have been more fitting.
Korea is properly represented with famous directors as Kim Ki-duk, Park Chan-wook, and Kim Jo-Woon, and I think Galloway gives a good idea of the shock and horror films of the Korean "Golden Age," which unfortunately already seems to be fading.
I am not very well at home in Thai cinema, so I gladly follow Galloway's lead here, but I do have a slight problem with the large number of Hong Kong films he includes. With a few exceptions, Hong Kong films are not shocking at all, but on the contrary often rather silly because of the slapstick elements Chinese directors mix in. Slapstick does not go well with horror, to say the least - especially the older films like We're going to eat you are only palatable when you are in an enormously silly mood yourself.
Why all the violence in these Asian films? Certainly not because Japanese, Koreans, Chinese and Thais are more violent, on the contrary, you don't have soccer hooligans in Asia. Society here is safe and well-ordered, with strict gun control, the people are often more well-mannered and polite than elsewhere. By the way, in China (different from Japan and Korea), violence and anger are even culturally taboo, and that is probably the reason you find it mixed with slapstick (to take the bite out of it) in the Hong Kong films I mentioned above.
But just because societies like the Japanese are so well-ordered, with intricate webs of social obligations, people need an escape valve now and then, and one such flight into virtuality is offered in the form of violent manga and films. And then other circumstances kick in, in the first place the political one of freedom of expression. Asian shock films are not produced where (self-) censorship exists, absolute freedom is a necessary first condition.
In addition, but just as important, we have cultural factors, such as the absence of taboos in Japan due to the fact that there is no puritanical or fundamental religion here that dominates society - the same can be said about most other countries discussed here. There is also no false "political correctness" - can you imagine kids killing each other in the most atrocious ways in a Hollywood film?
Although I have seen quite a lot of Asian films, Galloway's book still pointed me in the direction of several new adventures as Organ, Evil Dead Trap and Tell me something. But more than that, his reviews are such fun to read that you automatically assume the films will be fun too, and before you know it you are searching on Amazon. His book inspired me to view quite a number of films for the second time.
There is more than enough of those elements in Asian films, as you will see when you start reading. Galloway sets the tone with his first review of Miike Takashi's Visitor Q (2001) which is a catalogue of all depravities one can imagine, brought to the screen with a liberating dose of black humor. In the Korean film Island (Kim Ki-duk) the main person does various weird things with fish hooks in body openings, which is more excruciatingly horrible than a real horror film. Or what about the tongue amputation in Ichi the Killer, kids playing soccer with a human head in Battle Royale or the girl shooting killer darts from her nether regions in Miike's Fudoh? Who would fancy the fetus dumplings from Three Extremes for dinner, or the live octopus consumed in OldBoy? And there could be no greater rip-roaring fun (albeit it rather politically incorrect) than exploitation flicks as Convent of the Sacred Beast or The Joy of Torture by the legendary Teruo Ishii. These titles speak for themselves.
You need a strong stomach and perhaps a thick skin - these films certainly are not for everybody. If you don't like these "extreme" cult films, don't throw away the Asian cinema baby with the bath water of shock: there is also a whole world of beauty out there with art house films by Koreeda Hirokazu, Kawase Naomi, Wong Kar-wai, Hou Hsia-hsien and Zhang Yimou - not to speak of Kim Ki-Duk's poetic Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring!
But back to Asia Shock. Of the 40 full reviews, 22 are dedicated to Japanese films, 9 to Hong Kong films, 8 to Korean ones and 3 to Thai cinema. The large number of Japanese films is fully justified, and Galloway aims at diversity here, but even so I missed some favorite directors. For example, Ishii Sogo (what about Burst City or the funny Crazy Family?), Ishii Takashi (Freeze me, or even better, the Angel Gut films he made early in his career - he wrote all of them and helmed two himself), Kitano Takeshi (Violent Cop or Sonatine, Kitano's violence is of a special order and there is nothing more shocking than the speed with which he rams a pair of chopsticks into the eye of a yakuza in Sonatine). Tsukamoto Shinya is present with A Snake of June, indeed his most beautiful and poetic film, but not one which I would file under "Asia Shock" - earlier films as Tokyo Fist or Bullet Ballet and of course the Tetsuo movies would have been more fitting.
Korea is properly represented with famous directors as Kim Ki-duk, Park Chan-wook, and Kim Jo-Woon, and I think Galloway gives a good idea of the shock and horror films of the Korean "Golden Age," which unfortunately already seems to be fading.
I am not very well at home in Thai cinema, so I gladly follow Galloway's lead here, but I do have a slight problem with the large number of Hong Kong films he includes. With a few exceptions, Hong Kong films are not shocking at all, but on the contrary often rather silly because of the slapstick elements Chinese directors mix in. Slapstick does not go well with horror, to say the least - especially the older films like We're going to eat you are only palatable when you are in an enormously silly mood yourself.
Why all the violence in these Asian films? Certainly not because Japanese, Koreans, Chinese and Thais are more violent, on the contrary, you don't have soccer hooligans in Asia. Society here is safe and well-ordered, with strict gun control, the people are often more well-mannered and polite than elsewhere. By the way, in China (different from Japan and Korea), violence and anger are even culturally taboo, and that is probably the reason you find it mixed with slapstick (to take the bite out of it) in the Hong Kong films I mentioned above.
But just because societies like the Japanese are so well-ordered, with intricate webs of social obligations, people need an escape valve now and then, and one such flight into virtuality is offered in the form of violent manga and films. And then other circumstances kick in, in the first place the political one of freedom of expression. Asian shock films are not produced where (self-) censorship exists, absolute freedom is a necessary first condition.
In addition, but just as important, we have cultural factors, such as the absence of taboos in Japan due to the fact that there is no puritanical or fundamental religion here that dominates society - the same can be said about most other countries discussed here. There is also no false "political correctness" - can you imagine kids killing each other in the most atrocious ways in a Hollywood film?
Although I have seen quite a lot of Asian films, Galloway's book still pointed me in the direction of several new adventures as Organ, Evil Dead Trap and Tell me something. But more than that, his reviews are such fun to read that you automatically assume the films will be fun too, and before you know it you are searching on Amazon. His book inspired me to view quite a number of films for the second time.
December 11, 2019
cool story bro ur book of “criticism” sux
August 1, 2013
Unfortunately, I've come to the conclusion that Asian horror - at least the kind Patrick Galloway likes to recommend, is not my cup of tea. The majority of the stuff he's recommending in this book focuses less on the atmospheric and terrifying, and more on the gross-out and disgusting - basically stuff that's closer to saw then The Ring, and with more rape. This was somewhat disappointing, as his book about Samurai films was pretty darn good.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews