Horror Anime: Blossom, Butterflies and Breasts… Oh and food.
Posted by Ms Harker | Filed under Uncategorized
Lets start the weekend off in the correct fashion shall we? With a discussion about the glorious offerings that horror Anime can provide. I have always had an interest in Anime, more specifically within the horror genre but I am also a fan of the work of Hayao Miyzaki. The genius behind such Studio Ghibli classics as: ‘My Neighbour Totoro‘, ‘Spirited Away‘, ‘Howl’s Moving Castle‘ and who could forget ‘Porco Rosso‘. But I digress, I have been watching some new horror Anime of late as you have read I was in rapture with ‘Hell Girl‘ and am now becoming intoxicated with ‘XXX Holic‘.
‘XXX Holic’ is described as follows on IMDB:
“Kimihiro Watanuki, a high-schooler, is troubled by monsters and spirits who are magically attracted to him. However, nobody else can see them but him. One day, Watanuki stumbles into a shop that grants wishes, and encounters Yuko Ichihara, a beautiful, seemingly all-knowing witch. Yuko doesn’t waste time, she offers to grant Watanuki’s wish to not be able to see those bothersome monsters and spirits any longer, however, there is a price. Yuko soon sees that Watanuki is a hard worker and would be useful for housework and other chores Yuko wishes for him to do until he works off enough to pay for the amount of power that needs to be used to grant his wish.”
There is some stunning imagery in this Anime and the stories attached to the lurking spirits and lessons that must be learned are very similar to that in Hell girl. However this macabre animation employs what I have become to know as Ms Harker’s ‘Crimson Rules of Horror Anime’:
1: Blossoms: The symbol of the flowering cherry blossom appears often and through different transitions in the story and provides an opportunity for us westerners to say ‘Ahhh pretty’. Now listen up kids and get you some learning! The Cherry Blossom also represents the fleeting nature of life and was sometimes used to symbolise the suicides of young people in honour of an emperor. However they also have been used to symbolise extreme beauty or quick death. Which is how they are often employed within horror Anime.
2: Butterflies: Whilst being a symbol for metamorphosis, or the change one has made to their evil ways. Butterflies also carry the souls of the dead, or provides answers to the living to solve mysteries.
3: Food: Rice, sushi, noodles, Beer and Sake. Characters eat, they eat often and they eat with gusto, leaving Ms Harker craving Gyoza and Edamame beans! However we also often see spirits eating the souls of the wicked, or chomping down on entire villages, creating a dichotomous relationship with food for comfort or greed.
4: Breasts: There must always be a busty, raven haired woman, dressed mostly in traditional garb, however sporting large eyes and unusually large breasts for someone of Asian descent…
So there you have it, a wild ride through Ms Harker’s ‘Crimson Rules of Horror Anime’. If you are looking to indulge in some Blossoms, Butterflies and Breasts I highly recommend ‘Hell Girl’, ‘XXX Holic’ and for those of you who do not cringe away from a little vagina dentata ‘Wicked City’.
Sayonara,
Ms Harker.
Tags: Asian Horror, Horror Animation
Daughter of Dracula, the glamourous fiend in enchanting frocks!
Posted by Ms Harker | Filed under Uncategorized
Now that we are all on the come down from Comic Con, returning to a life bereft of news flashes, Tweens screaming, Twilight haters booing out Kevin Smith and sexy chicks dressed up in a plethora of well placed lycra. I found myself in somewhat of funk today. So what better to remedy my morose mood than to treat myself to some old Hollywood glamour, with some blood sucking thrown in for good measure. So I cued up the moving picture machine and grabbed some popcorn and had my vestal viewing of the classic horror film ‘Dracula’s Daughter‘.
The film stars the stunningly statuesque Gloria Holden as the Countess Marya Zaleska aka Dracula’s Daughter. The film is set in 1930’s London and we pick up our story at the point where Professor Van Helsing has slain Count Dracula. However he is being investigated by Scotland Yard, a troupe of key stone cop like British toffs who don’t believe his story that the Count was in fact vampyre, the undead, Nosferatu! Enter psychiatrist Jeffrey Garth who is called in by Van Helsing to assist in his defence however who has also been approached by the Countess to assist with her urges to feed on the London populace, both male and female.
The Countess, controversially for the time when the film was made, feeds on both male and female victims. We are confronted with a decadent scene where she entices a vulnerable young blonde into her studio under the guise of posing to paint for her, feeding her wine and asking her to disrobe down to her slip… For the time quite risque I would imagine! However Holden carries of the manipulation with grace and a pending desperation as she tries to rally against the hunger within. The hunger which has led to her loneliness which will eventually be her ultimate undoing.
The film has some haunting scenes, set against the backdrop of a foggy, gothic London. Contrasted with the art deco homes and gowns, creating a dichotomy of which Gloria Holden embodies in all her splendour!
Ms Harker
The stunning Gloria Holden
Tags: Classic Horror, Horror, Horror Films, Vampire
Sorority Row, one sheet, a pile of chicks?
Posted by Ms Harker | Filed under Horror Films, Uncategorized
I may be a little behind the news flow with this post, but I feel the need to express my thoughts about the one sheet/poster for the upcoming slasher flick ‘Sorority Row‘. The trailer came out in March and introduced the viewing public to one of MANY remakes hitting our theaters this year (the original film being ‘The House on Sorority Row‘).
The story is your typical teen prank gone wrong, whoops we killed out friend, friend comes back to haunt and kill us all off one by one… or does she? The only thing of interest to me in this film is the role of Carrie Fisher as you will see from the trailer she goes down fighting Leia style, woman has got her stuff sorted and is a living legend, bring it Carrie, bring it!
Obviously the poster means to emulate a pile of good looking corpses yes? However I have an issue… I used to work with this guy who told me about an act, at lets call it an Erotic Dance establishment, where all the women in the show would pile on top of each other and they named this show stopper the ‘Block of flaps’, you know like a block of flats… but made of chicks.
Now I try not to be too crass for my readers but I honestly cannot take this poster seriously… I keep thinking of those girls, working hard for the money, so hard for it honey, piled on top of each other, creating what could be the eight wonder of the world. Its something I think I need to see in my lifetime and am yet to do so, however the image is fixed in my brain as I laughed hysterically about it for a week, so you can understand why I struggle with this poster.
Ms Harker
Tags: Horror, Horror Films, Life imitates Horror
