Kairo | Anatomy Of The Scariest Scene Ever

[Music] if someone asked me how I got into films without any hesitation i' would say it's because of horror films the rush of adrenaline I felt with masterclass works like Toby Hooper's Poltergeist David cronenberg's the fly or John Carpenter's 1982 classic the thing was more than enough to pull me into the world of cinematic horror and I watched hundreds if not thousands of horror films over the years of course the more you watch the less you get affected by the repetitive formula horror films tend to have and I myself don't get scared as much as I did before the recent addition of directors like Ari Aster Robert Edgars and Jennifer Kent to name a few has without a doubt revamped the horror genre to a certain degree but as someone who has grown up with Asian horror I always felt like something is missing in these recent films then one night while going through my old watch list I stumbled upon a film I had watched as a young kid so haunting that I had refused to watch it again for years the film itself is far from being perfect but there's a scene that is so well done that even now it blows my mind this scene is from a 2001 Japanese horror film directed by kioshi Cawa called kaido and it goes like this a man finds an apartment unit sealed with bread tapes on his way back home ATT TR Ed by its odd energy he decides to take the tapes off and have a look inside the place is Dark Hollow and cold he carefully walks around examining the empty space surrounding him until he reaches a dead end with red markings all over and a couch in front something feels off he's too far in a vulnerable state what if there's something behind him as we hold our breath in an ominous piece of music enters the scene [Music] and we see a woman standing still barely visible of course you might say but what's interesting is that this woman is framed as a part of the background off from the center away from the lights and far from the camera like the walls the stairs the column not only is this a brilliant way to force the audiences to discover the unknown woman but it also makes her that much more threatening because she stands as if she has always been but this isn't the climax of the scene it's what she does next that's truly terrifying she walks and she walks like this now of course this scene works better within the context of the film given that you are invested in the plot leading up to this moment and everyone is different but for me this was one of the most terrifying scenes of all time but why is this so scary everything from the framing to the coordination of the ghost movements are all counterintuitive Define the conventions of a horror movie there are no jump scares no jump cuts and no over dramatization it's locked in quiet and truthful it shouldn't scare us or should it many would think that this way of showing a ghost would result in its appearance feeling dull and boring but understand that being frightened by a loud noise or a sudden appearance is a temporary sense of surprise not fear fear comes from ambiguity the uncertainty of the opponent's motivation its identity unsure of our safety perplexed by its entrance take a look at the way she is portrayed on screen she's not wearing a white gown with long hair she's not transparent she doesn't create any Statics she's just a woman in a dress openly human in her appearance where she's different is in her presentation now she could have instantly transported across the room or crawled extremely fast toward the camera but we've seen that a million times and more importantly that would be so inhuman that it would overpower and nullify her human characteristics taking the tension out of the scene so what kosava did instead is to expose the audience to the perfect uncanny valley that creepiness when we encounter an entity that is almost but not quite human so again instead of a teleportation she walks in slow motion the horror augmented by its inhuman gestures flowing like water but in the form of a person that's creepy enough but the peak of the scene in my opinion is when she wobbles and almost falls down there are a number of things happening here first the lighting this exact moment is the only time we see the ghost's face as she ducks at a precise angle that sinks her face with the only source of light in the scene and what's beautiful is that her face doesn't have to look scary at this point to create suspense it's the unexpected reveal itself paired with her bizarre movement that shocks the audience and on that note the second thing is the movement there are stories that Kurosawa actually casted a ballet dancer for this scene carefully crafting each movement so that it would look as unnatural as possible the logic behind the peculiar motion of the ghost is impossible to grasp and we are left with a sense of dread is it trying to mimic the human walk or is it trying to see us better last but not least what adds to the overall EXP experience is the sound design and the camera work the subbase sound effect that accompanies the ghostly melodies deafens the environment demanding us to focus on the figure in front almost as if we are in a nightmare locked in position like the camera that stays s through the course of the Walk refusing to let the viewers escape the frame everything is freed only when the men finally makes a move and anxiously hides behind the couch but not without the ghost itself being freed now invisible to the eyes this time is the freedom we have that causes Panic we can move Look Away and even scream but we don't know where the ghost is vulnerability and therefore we are ready for a jump scare prepared to forgive the cliche if it means the end to this haunting dream but the film inhibits any form of a breakout not from the scene and certainly not from the fear we face when we see the ghost's pale hands over the couch we accept that there is no hope no running away it reveals its blank face the same way it stood the same way it walked as the man screams in Terror a ghost thank you everyone as always for watching my video I hope you are all staying healthy and safe during this pandemic Koshi kurasawa is an amazing director he's got this restrained despairing atmosphere to his films that are unique to him and is an incredible Storyteller I'll be dissecting other scary scenes from this film on my behind the scene booklet that'll be exclusive to my supporters on patreon so go check that out if you want to hear more and as you know I have an Instagram account where I post updates and receive questions and suggestions and that's also where you'll be able to find links to any videos not available on my YouTube channel so follow me there if you want all that anyways thanks again for watching my video and until next time that's it for me

Channel: Spikima Movies

Views: 7,598,395

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Id: HfoU_Z1uVfc

Length: 8min 12sec (492 seconds)

Published: Tue May 26 2020