Page 199 - Nightmare Japan Contemporary Japanese Horror Cinema
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186                                           Nightmare Japan

                              Marebito’s amalgamation  of  cyberpunk  and  gothic  tropologies.  Copious
                              scenes  of  industrial  culture  and  technological  mediation  permeate
                              Shimizu’s  film,  as  do  explicitly  sanguine  images  of  vampirism  and
                              Lovecraftian references to seductive yet monstrous (or seductive because
                              they  are  monstrous)  dimensions  abutting  our  own.  Marebito’s  dominant
                              mise-en-scène,  then, repeatedly gothicises  technology  even  as it  exploits
                              technology’s  mediation  of  the  gothic.  Stalking  through  a  postindustrial
                              urban  environment  with  his  camera  poised  to  capture  images  of  fear,
                              Masuoka is a variation upon such gothic  figures as the ‘mad scientist’ or
                              the  ‘psychotic  voyeur’.  References  to  Victor  Frankenstein,  the  horror
                              genre’s prototypical irresponsible father-figure, abound. Similarly, horror
                              film  fans  will  likely  notice  the  parallels  between  Shimizu’s  obsessed
                              documentarian  and  the  Mark  Lewis  character  of  Michael  Powell’s
                              Peeping  Tom (1960).  What’s  more,  Shimizu  filters  many  of  the  film’s
                              traditionally  gothic  moments  through  a  myriad  of  technological
                              apparatuses, from the miniaturised screen of Masuoka’s cell phone to his
                              wall  of  high-definition  computer  monitors.  By  linking  these  high-tech
                              items  with  gothic  horror,  Shimizu  echoes  post-industrial  anxieties
                              articulated in earlier Japanese horror films like Tsukamoto’s own Tetsuo:
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                              The Iron Man and Sono Shion’s Suicide Club.
                                     Shimizu’s  direction  likewise  foregrounds  digital  video  as  an
                              emerging  medium  through  which  directors  and  cinematographers  may
                              graft  new  aesthetic  criteria  onto  established  genres,  including  horror.
                              Noticeably  distinct  from  35mm  film  stock  in  its  current  inability  to
                              replicate the ‘graininess’ and variable focal lengths generally attributed to
                              celluloid’s  visual  ‘texture’,  digital  video  nevertheless  allows  for  vast
                              flexibility  in  terms  of  image  rendering.  Thus,  the  image  clarity  digital
                              video  affords  ranges  from  expressionistic  colour  and  light  saturation  to
                              higher-definition, deep-focus photography. In addition, Shimizu carefully
                              staggers  his  digital  video  camera’s  varying  resolutions  for  dramatic
                              effect.  In  the  process,  he  creates  a  documentary  feel  that  heightens  the
                              action’s immediacy while contributing to a meta-discourse on the politics


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                                 Marebito  similarly  glosses:  Luis  Buñuel  and  Salvador  Dali’s  Un  Chien  Andalou  (1929),
                               Fukui Shozin’s 964 Pinnochio (1991) and Roger Corman’s Little Shop of Horrors (1960).
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