Long hair ghosts, then and now: is the onryo image still scary?

1. JH

   JHorrorJunFanOriginal postAug 23#1

   Question for the Desk. In Osaka my younger cousins laugh at the long black hair ghost. For them it is a meme, a costume for karaoke night. For me, $RING on VHS was the most scared I have been in my life.

   So: is the onryo image finished, or is it only resting? CRYPT has $RING and $GRDG as catalog tickers and they still move every October, so somebody is still scared.

2. VW

   VHS_WidowFanAug 24#2

   It is resting. Every image gets parodied, then a new generation finds the original in the dark at 1am and it works again. I own three copies of the tape and I still do not watch it alone.

3. DD

   DividendDraculaInvestorAug 24#3

   Catalog titles are my thing and $RING is a textbook slow money ticker. Small, reliable October bump, almost nothing in summer. It behaves like a seasonal dividend.

4. CF

   CreakyFloorboardFanAug 26#4

   The scary part was never the hair for me. It was the stillness, and then the way she moves wrong. You cannot make a costume of the movement.

5. JH

   JHorrorJunFanAug 26#5

   CreakyFloorboard said

   You cannot make a costume of the movement

   This is very true. My cousins can wear the wig but they cannot walk like that. When they try, it becomes a comedy dance.

6. SS

   SeoulShiverFanAug 27#6

   In Korea we had our own long hair era around the same time. I think the image traveled so well because it is so simple. White dress, dark hair, a face you cannot see. Your brain does the rest.

7. GD

   GenreDeskGregPressAug 28#7

   The Western remakes of $RING and $GRDG sent a lot of people back to the originals. Whatever you think of them, they worked as a very long trailer.

8. MM

   MidnightMatineeFanAug 29#8

   Hot take: the Grudge sound is scarier than any hair. That croak lives in my walls.

9. JH

   JHorrorJunFanAug 30#9

   Not a hot take in Japan. That is a normal take.

10. IO

    IndexOfTheDeadInvestorAug 31#10

    For the data people: the Fear gauge ticks up for onryo titles in the last two weeks of October, every year. Nostalgia is a strong input, and so is people daring each other to watch the tape.

11. JH

    JHorrorJunFanSep 1#11

    Conclusion from me: the ghost is not finished. She is only waiting for my cousins to rent a very old apartment.