That Sounds Scary

Japanese horror (J-horror) began to haunt American audiences in the early 2000’s, and has continued since to be inspiration (along with other Asian horror) for remakes out of Hollywood. 1 7

 

Yet these remakes are not simply a direct translation of its’ original; differences arise in thematic elements, mise-en-scene, and interesting to me, sound design. Between the original and remake of these horror films, there are more changes regarding sound than a typical audience member might pick up on.

 

As I analyze a few film pairs’ sound design, my goal is to offer analysis over why one, certain sound elements were utilized in the Japanese production and two, why American remakes alter various elements from the original.  As my main example for analysis, I will focus on Kairo （回路）, and its American counterpart Pulse. Through these films, along with other popular J-horror-remake pairs, I have found that cultures- both nationalistic and film cultures- have a profound impact on horror films’ sound design.