I’ve long been a fan of Asian horror films—not only the originals, but in certain cases, the American remakes too, if they do well with adapting for our culture yet preserve the story without going all too-much-cheesy-gore-and-CGI (part of what makes the Asian variety so scary is that you see very little, and what you do see is sparingly rendered and/or subtle).

Still, one of the best wins in a film is usually the atmosphere—it’s cold, stark, and unforgiving, and for some reason, lights are always flickering. I always used to think it was an affected set piece—come on, lights don’t really do that unless there are ghosts around, right?—until I went into a bathroom at a local office building. Read the rest of this entry →