Movie Review: GODZILLA MINUS ONE (2023) Written and Directed by Takashi Yamazaki
Godzilla Minus One is exceptional, a movie worth seeing even if you haven’t seen Godzilla or aren’t a general fan of the countless sequels. Writer and director Takashi Yamazaki does the best job imaginable in balancing art and entertainment in his movie, infusing it with both thematic depth and relatable emotion.
Korean Drama Review: Kingdom (Season 1)
Zombie stories are, for many reasons, a mess. Despite the fact that zombie lore originated with enslaved Haitians who feared that they would be forced to labor even after they died, many contemporary zombie stories focus on white people and their desire to run amok in a world disturbingly devoid of people of color. Not so, however, with the subject of this month’s Korean drama review: Kingdom. The Netflix original series, which released its entire first season in January of this year, transports zombies to medieval Joseon Korea and adds its own twists to the lore, utilizing it to deliver a commentary on the horrific consequences of poverty and inequality. (Warning for minor spoilers ahead.)
SEA Quest: Southeast Asian Horror Fiction
Southeast Asia is a hot-bed of horror. The region is saturated with dark histories and even darker mythologies. From the krasue from Thailand to hantu tetek from Malaysia and Singapore, legends and stories are rife with things that not only go bump in the night, but are more blood-thirsty than your average Northern Hemisphere ghosts. Centuries of years of trade, migration and settlement brought in more scary spirits and monsters. The Southern Chinese diaspora celebrate Hungry Ghosts Festival for an entire month. Don’t go out at night. Don’t swim in the sea. Don’t kick offerings on the floor. People often breathe a sigh of relief once the month is over. Similarly, the bloodshed and trauma of many wars have left the imprint of haunted memories and hauntings by restless spirits displaced by massacre, starvation and pain. Southeast Asians love horror. Horror movies are extremely popular. Horror and ghost stories are consumed avidly by fans of this genre. In Singapore, a series of ghost stories is still on-going, fueled by the popularity of ghost stories and our obsession with the paranormal. The stories are ghost-written (pun intended, as claimed by the author who collects personal accounts from fans of the series) and range from poignantly sweet to downright horrific. Some remind me of the composition writing I received when I was teaching. Some are real and make me shiver at the sheer terror they evoke in me. We all grow up listening to stories about the pontianak, the penanggalan and the manananggal. The region shares similar stories about female ghosts who would detach their heads from their bodies. Their heads fly in the night, organs and entrails dangling beneath. the organs apparently glisten or shimmer. My relatives would talk about planting cactii around the house as protection. In the morning, so they say, they would find the penanggalan with her entrails snared and tangled by the cactii. For this SEA horror special, I will focus on two Southeast Asian horror writers.
