Japanese Horror Culture is a surprising read that ties together a wide variety of fields. The 14 essays show how culture, history, religion, folklore, social anxieties, and expectations shape the Japanese horror genre and how, in return, Japanese horror influences film and art across the globe…. Each essay includes thorough references, and some essays have additional notes. Horror fans will appreciate the many references to horror films, literature, and video games, but the squeamish may find the occasional details of some film scenes uncomfortable—even though the contributors do an excellent job tying these scenes to outside factors and anxieties. This reviewer gained a much greater understanding of and appreciation for the complexities and influences of J-horror. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Choice Reviews

The editors of Japanese Horror: Critical Essays on Film, Literature, Anime, Video Games have assembled an incisive, wide-ranging, and politically informed collection on a topic as timely as it is fascinating. Delving into the complex interconnections among film, video, manga, and local cultures, this volume will be of tremendous interest to students of both horror cinema and modern Japanese history.

Andrew Grossman, author of Queer Asian Cinema: Shadows in the Shade

An indispensable anthology for Japanese/Film/Cultural studies courses, this book examines J-Horror's dominant political, cultural, aesthetic underpinnings and its place in Japanese folklore, religion and Japan's overall socio-cultural fabric.

Matthew Edwards, editor of The Atomic Bomb in Japanese Cinema

Japanese Horror Culture is a collection of essays which should become an essential reading for anyone interested in Japanese horror, society, history, and culture in general. It establishes the profound and pertinent nature of Japanese horror culture for the modern Western reader. The sudden pertinence of this genre, however, should lead us to ask: does Japanese horror feel relevant to us merely because it has become so commercially successful and popular, or is it because we too are about to be visited by the anger and vengeance of the repressed in our fool’s paradise?

VoegelinView