Skip to main content
Palgrave Macmillan
Book cover

Japanese Horror and the Transnational Cinema of Sensations

  • Book
  • © 2018

Overview

  • Offers transnational analysis of selected J-horror films from new angles that shed light on previously ignored aspects of the genre
  • Provides insightful analysis of the formal aspects of Japanese horror cinema that go well beyond previous studies, including in-depth discussion of sound design, framing, cinematographic techniques, color, and lighting
  • Details topics relevant to students and scholars of Asian Cinema and Popular Culture, as well as Transnational Media and Cultural Studies

Part of the book series: East Asian Popular Culture (EAPC)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

eBook USD 34.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (6 chapters)

Keywords

About this book

Japanese Horror and the Transnational Cinema of Sensations undertakes a critical reassessment of Japanese horror cinema by attending to its intermediality and transnational hybridity in relation to world horror cinema. Neither a conventional film history nor a thematic survey of Japanese horror cinema, this study offers a transnational analysis of selected films from new angles that shed light on previously ignored aspects of the genre, including sound design, framing techniques, and lighting, as well as the slow attack and long release times of J-horror’s slow-burn style, which have contributed significantly to the development of its dread-filled cinema of sensations.

Reviews

In Japanese Horror and the Transnational Cinema of Sensations, Steven T. Brown provides an invaluable reflection on the subterranean cult phenomenon of Japanese horror film, or ‘J-horror.’ Unafraid to enter the underground passages that define the J-horror genre, Brown shows the complexity of this cinema, its brilliance as well as the dark auteurism it has engendered. Brown links this J-horror to phenomenologies and paraphenomenologies of perception, to the uncanny, to Surrealism and cruelty, and ultimately to an epistemology of fear. This book opens a genuine dialogue with the other side of cinema.” (Akira Lippit, Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, University of Southern California, USA, and author of Atomic Light, Shadow Optics)

“Treating Japanese horror cinema squarely as a transnational phenomenon and as an issue for cinema studies, Brown’s approach to filmic works as ‘assemblages’ takes apart, like in a sequence of exploded views, the films under his discussion. By placing J-Horror in its transnational and transdisciplinary context, Brown creates a vivid, pulsating interconnectedness with works of literature, fine art, and music, with concepts of philosophy, and with phenomena of folklore and mythology. In so doing, Brown sets new standards and guidelines for other scholars to follow—or to ignore at their own peril.” (Tom Mes, Lecturer in Japanese Film, Leiden University, The Netherlands, and author of Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Comparative Literature, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA

    Steven T. Brown

About the author

Steven T. Brown is Professor of Japanese Film, Transnational Cinema, and Sound Studies in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Oregon, USA. He is author of Tokyo Cyberpunk (2010) and Theatricalities of Power (2001), editor of Cinema Anime (2006), and co-editor of Performing Japanese Women (2002).

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us