It all started with a VHS tape, more on that in a minute.

I have been in somewhat of an Asian Cinema, especially Asian Horror, resurgence. Once upon a time, when I was a college student at the University at Buffalo, I was introduced to Asian Horror. It was October 31st, Halloween, 2000 and something when a bunch of us guys and gals were hanging out in someone’s dorm room looking for something “scary” to watch. Being the “horror guy,” they turned to me for suggestions, especially being that I had somewhat of a small horror library in my room. Of course, I brought with me the usual classics: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween 1 and 2, Friday the 13th, The Evil Dead, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Boom! I got this in the bag. It was sure to freak out the ladies, right?! And, for the most part, it did – almost. See, there was this one girl, Flo, who was not from the states. No, Flo helmed from the distant land of Malaysia, and she scoffed at the movie options, especially the movie of choice for that night, A Nightmare on Elm Street. She laughed, boasting about how the film was not scary in the least! I kind of agreed, but still – blasphemy! How dare she!? She was talking about the beloved Freddy Krueger. So, I challenged her and asked her what she thought was a scary movie. That was when she recommended to me what I now consider one of my favorite horror movies of all time, the Japanese classic, Ringu (Ring).

I scoured the internet for more information on this movie. Thankfully, eBay, still in its infancy, had a few VHS copies on the market, and I managed to snag a copy. I had it shipped to my home address and could not see it until I made it back home for the holiday break. Halloween came and went, as did Thanksgiving, and then came the big winter break. Gifts were opened, fun times were shared with the family, and then came bedtime.

By the time all the shenanigans concluded, and the eggnog ran out, everyone went to bed. ‘Twas the night of Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring except for the symphony of snoring emanating from my parent’s bedroom. The moment was perfect! I was all by lonesome, in the dead middle of a wintery, snowy night. It was time to see what all the hoopla was about with this film called Ringu. Much like Flo, I scoffed at the notion of this foreign film scaring me. Besides, what the hell was a “Ringu“? I’ve seen it all before, so this was sure not to impress. To say that I was wrong would be one of the greatest understatements that I have ever made. This film from Japan would be the first film to literally scare the crap out of me and made me view the television slightly differently. I would forever be in Flo’s debt for introducing this gem of a film to me and the countless J-horror movies that followed. As I said, it all started with a VHS tape. Thankfully, this one wasn’t cursed.

After Ringu, I searched eBay for other films reminiscent of Ring that culminated in a small collection of other films of the genre like Dark Water, Junk, Versus, and Audition. After mounting to what I considered a semi-substantial collection of Asian horror movies, the fire dwindled after watching more than a handful of bad films and thought the magic that was Ringu was a fluke. Then, there was Ju-On and a few others that kept me salivating at the mouth, but it seemed that there were far and few in between that kept my interest. Acquiring movies appeared to be a hit or miss mostly because they were blind buys which really stung (especially my wallet) when they were misses. And so, I got rid of (sold) my collection and never looked back… until now.

Arrow‘s Blu-ray release of Ring was not what relit the fire for my love of Asian horror. There were a few takers before that where I got my toes wet with The Wailing, Mother, and Train to Busan – all films from South Korea, of which I am a big fan of cinema from said country, and not just their horror, but their drama, comedy and even Rom-Coms. What can I say? They know how to make movies. The movies mentioned above momentarily quenched my thirst, and I was in full addicted mode – the hunger was back and wanted, nay, needed more. Youtuber, Eric, The Asian Movie Enthusiast, was a starting point and resource to get more insight into different Asian horror films that I missed out on throughout the years as he painstakingly discusses the good and bad horror films by year and by country. He introduced me to a ton of movies that were way below my radar. Sure, I was familiar with a bunch but nothing like the wealth of knowledge and expertise that he had to offer. So where do I look? EBay, of course, the source of my first Asian horror purchase. Still, it was not enough, and I scoured the internet for websites that sold Asian horror films. And then there was The Archive.

The Archive is a record, video store, and arcade melded into one in Connecticut specializing in cult, horror, and underground oddities. Definitely give these guys a visit if you’re in the area. You won’t regret it, I promise you! I have meant to visit this place for so long, but I never got around to making the hour-ish commute. That is, until my birthday weekend, where my family and I ended up making it a long weekend getaway. At The Archive, I found a few Asian Horror DVDs, most notably Ju-On 1 & 2: The Curse. The films preceding The Grudge series and the ones after the short films Katasumi (In a Corner)and 4444444444 that started it all from director Takashi Shimizu. I was looking for these films online for quite some time but had no luck when, lo-and-behold, after perusing hundreds, maybe even thousands of DVDs at The Archive, on the very last shelf, and I do mean the last, all the way to the bottom, there they were! My eyes widened, and I gasped as they were indeed the two movies I have been searching for! I couldn’t believe it. I turned to my wife, who was playing arcades with my eldest, and I mouthed, “Holy shit!” as I held up the two DVDs. 

My trip to The Archive was just the tip of the iceberg and, although, my collection is modest, at best, I have amassed a somewhat decent amount of both DVDs and Blu-rays to deem said collection a mini-library of sorts, which I may feature in a future post with some of my favorites. This library will continue to grow until my infatuation attention turns elsewhere!