Flowers From Hell

The Modern Japanese Horror Film

Jim Harper

Noir Publishing

Web: http://www.noirpublishing.co.uk

Noir Publishing, best known for the publication of the Necronomicon series, has branched out to release a range of interesting and challenging books and one of their first major releases is Flowers from Hell.

Flowers from Hell, the Modern Japanese Horror Film by Jim Harper is an impressive and erudite overview of Japanese Horror. Rather than a simple sequence of reviews linked together with commentary (so often what passes for movie books in the mass market), Harper offers an extremely insightful series of explorations of key motifs within Japanese Horror with extensive discussion of cultural, historical and cinematic characteristics. Each exploration includes extensive coverage of a wide range of Japanese cinema, reference to key Western influences, discussions of key directors and lots of coverage of genre films.

For example, he explores the development of the Zombie film in Japanese Horror with discussions of the influence of the West but how it was uniquely adapted in Japanese cinema since most bodies are cremated. This understanding of the relationship between Japanese cultural history and cinema makes this an extremely fascinating study.

Time and time again Harper offers unique insight into the cultural difference which makes Japanese horror so impressive and backs this up with a near encyclopaedic knowledge of Japanese film, anime and literature. Whether it be ghost stories and their relation to folklore, psycho killers and their resonance with Japanese fear of urban crime, Zombies and their adaptation for Japanese funerary practises Harper offers a context for these films and hence produces a book which is of the highest calibre.

Flowers from Hell is a very comprehensive volume, illustrated throughout with black and white images and with a colour segment of movies posters and still. This is certainly the most comprehensive book on Japanese Horror available on the market and covers everything from mainstream Japanese releases such as the Ring, Battle Royale or Versus through to rarely seen extreme films loved by cult collectors and with excellent focused coverage of key directors and filmmakers.

While many horror film devotees in Australia may find this volume hard to locate on the shelves, it is a must have book and I certainly recommend you either buy direct from Noir Publishing or via amazon.co.uk.