Jinnistan wrote:
I mentioned this is my earlier review, but aside from the already annoying plagiarism of TCM's style, I really am pretty much done with this recycled 'scary old woman' meme, which I suppose is now like the tired J-horror 'wet faceless girl', but in X it still feels plagiaristic as well to the examples below, which I believe are, like, 8 and 12 years old by now respectively.
Though of course scary old women are always in–style, I take it you are referring to that particular style of scary old woman, with that recognizable "Gollum on chemotherapy" look going on; am I right?
Hollywood. They'll flog anything that moves. I lament the day it was suddenly decreed that all ghosts in film would, theneceforth, be portrayed as capable of that "Momentary Undercrank Teleport Maneuver," particularly whenever seen on closed–circuit tv monitors. Where did that originate? Dark Water?
Those girls form the J–horror flicks sport a look that is actually quite traditional by Japanese ghost standards. The mortally–wronged ghost–girl is a fixture in the pantheon of Japanese spooks, characterized by long disheveled black hair, face often partially or fully obscured and/or disfigured, white dress, arms limp, feet bare or missing entirely...

The Ghost of Oyuki by Maruyama Ōkyo, 1750, the painting widely believed to have become the template for the classic Japanese ghost–girl look.
Ringu's Sadako is largely said to be based on the most famous of traditional female ghost characters, Yotsuya Oiwa from Yotsuya Kaidan. However, all that "haunting the well" business is pure Okiku, the wronged ghost–girl of another traditional Japanese story, Banchō Sarayashiki.
Ghost of Oiwa by Shunkōsai Hokushū, 1826
Sara Yashiki by Katsushika Hokusai, 1831
Portrait of Oiwa by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 1836
From Scrolls to Prints to Moving Pictures: Iconographic Ghost Imagery from Pre–Modern Japan to the Contemporary Horror Film
[url=https://kokoro-jp.com/culture/1489/#:~:text=The%20Yotsuya%20Kaidan%20Ghost%20Story,masterless%20samurai%20called%20Tamiya%20Iemon.]The Japanese Ghost Story "Yostuya Kaidan" and its Shrine[/url]
Japanese Folklore: Maruyama Ōkyo and the ghost of Oyuki
TV Tropes: Stringy–Haired Ghost Girl
Onryō
Last edited by Rampop II (9/20/2022 4:59 am)