[The STE]

ok, this might have been done before, but I found nothing on the search thing (*cough cough*), so I'll do it again

In the mid-late 90's, two movies were released in two different countries that had major short-term effects on the horror movie genres of the respective countries, and long-term effects that, while not as major as the immediate effects, are still palpable.

The United States got a little movie called Scream in '96. It started a trend in horror movies in the US of 'cute', self-refferential dialogue, casting popular actors and actresses in the major roles, and (sometimes successful) tries at being witty. Being scary was replaced with individual "scares" (what was once referred to as a "jump"). This didn't necessarily make the movie bad, but it certainly didn't help. The trend produced movies ranging from pretty good (Scream 2, Wrong Turn a while later, etc) from damn awful (IKWYDLS, Urban Legends). Scream its self was very good (IMO), but was bogged down by the movies that used it as a template.

2 years later, Japan got Ringu. Ringu was nigh the pollar opposite of Scream. Scream went for humor and jumps, whereas Ringu went for drama and long drawn out periods of dread or out-and-out fright. It started a trend in Japan of supernatural-type horror, deliberately creepy children (as opposed to the Haley Joel Osment type where it's unintentional), and scariness built on atmosphere. The last one is a bad idea. Atmosphere is impossible to obtain on purpose, a movie just has it. It's like charisma, either a person has it or not. The trend produced one of the greatest movies of all time, Kaïro, and some other notably good ones (Dark Water, from the same director) but also produced some pretty bad ones (Phone and A Frightful School Horror). Ringu its self is in general thought of as a classic, and usually isn't lumped in with similar movies that have come after it, though those are usually compared to Ringu.

The two movies came out around the same time ('bout two years apart), and, for better or worse, revolutionized the individual countries' horror movie industries. The style of the movies shaped the way horror movies were made, if only for a short period of time. The movies had basically the same effect for their respective countries. But their legacies will probably be very different. Scream is constantly lumped in with similar movies, whereas Ringu, as previoiusly stated, is its own movie, and has more or less become the measuring stick.

But you already know all this. So what's the point? Well, what if it was the other way around? What if Ringu was The Ring first? Not the "The Ring" we got that was a remake, but the original. And don't give me that "well, a movie like that would never be made in the states" or "Hollywood would ruin it" because that's not what I mean. It would obviously have different actors and crews and all that, but if it were exactly the same other than that, and was an American movie? Same with Scream. Change who had written it, change the director and actors and all that, but keep it the same and have it be a Japanese movie. We didn't get Scream, we got Ringu/The Ring. They didn't get Ringu, they got Scream (Screamu?) What kind of long-term effects would they have THEN? Would the US have gotten a horror renaissance? Would Japan's horror industry be in the same kind of slump ours has gotten? Or were there more variables in the respective direction they took?



And even if this idea did suck, it's better than the parade-o-shit this folders been getting lately




EDIT: Yeah, put this in Modern Movies if you want