In this Halloween month, Asian horror is demanding a fair share of the spotlight.
Beginning this Sunday, HBO Asia will air its original horror series Folklore. An anthology of ghosts, the series has commissioned six Asian directors -- Joko Anwar from Indonesia, Takumi Saitoh from Japan, Lee Sang-Woo from South Korea, Ho Yuhang from Malaysia, Eric Khoo from Singapore, and Pen-ek Ratanaruang from Thailand -- to tell the myths and folk tales from their respective countries in six hour-long episodes (see schedule).
Asian horror has long held a special place in the trembling hearts of worldwide viewers. Several regional hits -- and even contemporary classics -- have enjoyed international recognition and even been remade in Hollywood (to mostly unenthusiastic reception and reviews). Over the past 20 years, the world shuddered at Ringu (from Japan), Shutter (Thailand), The Eye (Hong Kong-Thailand), A Tale Of Two Sisters (South Korea), Ju-On (Japan), Satan's Slave (Indonesia), and many more. The image of vengeful (female) ghosts crawling, croaking, creeping or even sitting on a man's shoulder are burnt into our retina and, in a way, deeply associates Asia of the 21st century with myth and the supernatural.
Folklore seeks to modernise the genre with its adaptations of local urban legends while also exploring our dysfunctional society. Ghosts of vengeful mothers, cannibalistic men and a single teenage boy are among those that will be making appearances on our screens.
At the series' press conference held in Singapore last month, Life met up with some of the cast and crew of Folklore: K-pop singer and actress Lee Chae-Yeon, director Lee Sang-Woo, Japanese actor Kazuki Kitamura, and Thai director Pen-ek; plus Jessica Kam, senior vice-president of HBO Asia Original Productions. The stars and directors took turns sharing their ideas, experiences on set and -- the most life-saving of all -- how to ward off ghosts in their countries.
In Thailand, we'll most likely search for holy water or enchanted amulets to chase away evil spirits. But in Japan and South Korea, two cast members revealed their secret weapons -- salt.
Kitamura shared with us that his set was filled with straw voodoo dolls, which connotes curses in Japan. He said it is a Japanese tradition to sprinkle salt around "to purify the air".
"Every day after the shoot, I actually sprinkled myself with salt," said the actor via an interpreter.
Lee Chae-Yeon also opted for a similar trick, plus something extra.
"If I feel something is gonna follow me back [home after shooting], then I'll make a stop at another place before I go home to drop off the ghost," she said. It's probably economical to carpool with ghosts, too.
In Folklore's Japanese story titled Tatami, Kitamura (who co-wrote the script with director Saitoh) plays a deaf and mute writer who returns to his childhood home and uncovers his family's dark secret. Tatami -- a straw mat which is used as flooring material in traditional rooms -- is said to retain positive and negative sentiments of its users, and that a grudge held within the tatami may manifest itself into a haunting spirit.
"It is one of the most straightforward items that portrays the eeriness of Japanese culture," said Kitamura. "For us Japanese people, just by being in a tatami room at night, we can already feel spooky feelings or vibes from the room."
Over to the Koreans, a ghost found in Mongdal by Lee Sang-Woo is perhaps not quite a conventional one. The ghost mongdal, as explained by the director, is a bachelor. A man who doesn't get married and dies leaves his spirit unsettled. He needs to marry the spirit of a virgin to find peace.
"This story was inspired by my mum, because I'm still single and my mum would always tell me, 'You'd end up being a mongdal'," said Lee to the laughing crowd. "Your life is not complete if you don't get married."
While this may look to be the making of a comedy, it's not. The director said he was combining elements of classical Korean horrors from the 80s and 90s, which he dubbed "the heyday", with his own unique version of filmmaking. Lee is known as the indie provocateur, with recurring themes of sex, violence and all around controversy. A man pimping out his own mother? Sons with a paedophile father? A monk raping and killing a girl? Lee's narratives have them all.
"I'm not as crazy as you think. I'm very normal," he added.
In Mongdal, Lee Chae-Yeon plays a school principal and mother to a psychotic son who is obsessed with a new girl in town, and she is ready to indulge his darkest whims and desires out of love.
"Her intense love and attention for the son actually originates from the lack of love she received from her husband," said the actress. She prepared for the role by reflecting on the love and attention she received from her own parents.
Lee Chae-Yeon also shared what it was like to work with her director.
"He follows emotions in every scene that he shoots very closely," she said. "Whenever the character is angry, he'll be equally upset. And whenever the character is sad, he'll be even sadder than the character. It kind of scared me sometimes during the shoot but it did help me a lot to get into the role."
Next, we met with Thailand's own indie maestro Pen-ek, who shared his experience wandering into the television scene for the first time.
His past works such as Last Life In The Universe and, most recently, Samui Song have all been feature films. His Pob story is in black and white. He said it allows the audience to focus solely on the story and characters, without colours distracting them.
Pob, a well-known Thai cannibalistic ghost, finds new life in Pen-ek's story when the undead somehow get tangled up with an obnoxious American and a news reporter. The director used no CGI and opted instead for a classic mirror trick like the one performed in 1920s for Nosferatu to portray his pob.
Previous portrayals of pob onscreen would usually see the story in rural areas, with a familiar image of an old auntie -- also a pob -- chasing everyone around comically.
Pen-ek's Pob instead carries his signature sardonic humour, while also serving as a commentary on Western dominance, Thai feelings of inferiority, and reflecting on the changing landscape of cities like Bangkok becoming metropolitan.
"When a person becomes a ghost, it's like time doesn't exist for them. When they're dead they don't count the months, years and hours anymore. And then when the ghost encounters a foreigner, he's shocked. The world has changed a lot since he's died."
Everything may change, but ghosts are timeless. And now a Thai ghost crashes into a farang. It is indeed a new generation. HBO Asia's Jessica Kam believes the themes -- from mothers to social commentary -- being showcased and reflected in the series will find their resonance across the region, despite certain cultural differences specific to each country.
"I was surprised to see, out of six episodes, four to five of them have a very powerful mother. That maybe telling us something about Asian tiger moms, right? Things like that, things that we could relate to, but at the same time we are fascinated by seeing what's happening in other countries," she said.
Folklore will begin its weekly airing this Sunday at 9pm on HBO. Thai audiences can also watch it on HBO GO on AIS Play and AIS Playbox.
