Yogen: Haunted by the Future

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

I’ve always loved Japanese horror: These movies tend to rely more on emotional trauma and psychological torment than the jump-scare-filled, shock factor films that invade Western cinema. Don’t get me wrong, I love movies like House of 1000 Corpses, but there is just something special about having your emotions toyed with during a horror movie that makes them stick.

I watched Yogen (Premonition, Newspaper of Terror) back in 2007 and while I couldn’t remember many of the details of this movie, I remember the feeling of dread it inspired with its repetitive imagery and psychological torture methods. If you are looking for the thrills that come from movies that go bump in the night, Yogen isn’t the film for you. Like so many of my favorite Japanese horror films, Yogen isn’t so much horror as it is a supernatural psychological thriller that relies on emotional responses to drive their point home. Naturally, I had to re-watch this film.

Yogen, much like its predecessor in the “J-Horror Theater” collection (Infection, or Kansen), can have moments of seemingly campy terrors. The newspaper moves, with haunting music playing behind as it does so. It’s almost humorous in its absurdity, as papers stalk and torment our protagonist throughout the film. However, the bizarre scares do not separate the audience from the films true intentions.

There are several ways you could determine the meaning of this film: our father, Hideki, is first introduced working hard in the car on the family’s way home from grandma’s house. It is his need to work that forced the family to pull over on the side of the road, where his daughter was killed in an accident. I would argue that one of the first points the film makes is to never take family for granted. His obsession with this strange phenomenon drove Hideki and his wife, Ayaka, apart.

Beyond that, the film puts some intense emphasis on the fact that the past can’t be changed. When he attempts to save his student, she is still killed despite his efforts, giving the clear message that he shouldn’t interfere. But when he attempts to save his wife, the film take a turn and Hideki is forced to relive his worst nightmare.

In many ways, the film is about fate, and what happens when fate is tempted. Hideki attempts to defy fate, and he suffers deeply for it. But beyond that, the film shows a man slowly driven mad by the knowledge he is given. To know a tragedy will happen, and to be powerless to stop it, would drive anyone mad. But to know and fail over and over again, tormented by this knowledge every day, fearing the mostly mundane of all household items, it’s difficult to fathom the effect that might have on one’s mental health.

Yogen is a film that bends time and space, reality and fiction, fate and destiny. Despite it’s often silly portrayal of its villainous newspaper, the film delivers the emotional strain that is expected of a solid Japanese horror film. After giving this film a second watch, I would continue to recommend it, along with the other two films in the “J-Horror Theater” collection I have seen this far, Kansen and Rinne (Reincarnation). All three films give strong messages and twist the world around us, causing viewers to question reality.