Shutter: American one. Unless you're one of these punk kids with your digital camerometers who've never seen a Polaroid and get all scared because there's a picture comin' right atcha!
The Grudge; Japanese one, by a mile. Eerie little kids are creepy to being with, and dead-eyed ghost kids are effing terrifying.
The Grudge 2 Korean one. Spooky ghost trumps oddball contact lens (I know, it's Photoshop). I think the American one might have been more effective without the numeral-in-the-eye gimmick.
The Ring: What, are you kidding?! 日本!
The Ring 2: U.S. one. For all the talk of Polish-poster awesomeness, this one does zippo for me.
Pulse: American one. The formless wave of limbs pulling the woman(?) down is like a vision of Hell. The fact that it's a face silhouette? Eh. Still scarier than the Haunted Computer Desk.
Dark Water #1: USA! USA! USA!
Dark Water #2: Tie. (Thai! Get it?! I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip Stacie.) Thee U.S. one is gives you a great sensation of dread, but the Thai one has a terrified drowning face semi-obscured by floating hair. That's nightmare fuel, right there.
The Eye #1: American one. Hand crawling out of eyelid…so, so wrong.
The Eye #2: Chinese one, by a lot. Zombie Jessica Alba is creepy, but decomposing-green ghost Alba with evil red eye? That's some crazy.
One Missed Call: Don't love either, but the dehumanized screaming-mouth-eyes face trumps startle-girl. U.S.
yay! i just got the original shutter today. i'm meant to be watching it tomorrow with friends, but seeing the poster, i think i might need to sneakily watch it right now!
the ju-on posters are excellent. look at the blue faced boy! he gives me the fear! the creepy eye on the ring poster always gives me the chills, and that first dark water poster is great, really gets the tone of the film, makes me sad in a ghosty way.
brilliant choice, i think this has been one of my favourite movie poster fridays!
I'm very curious as to what the U.S. *A Tale of Two Sisters* poster will look like.
The original Korean sheet is great, but it seems improbable that a U.S. distributor would go for something similar. It's a little too twisted for the American market.
The American version of the "One Missed Call" poster reminds me of that Madonna video "Bedtime Stories" where her eyes and mouth are switched...and it looks FREAKY.
I think the American posters are all better, except for the first Dark Water one.
ReplyDeleteI feel the exact opposite way.
ReplyDeleteNo offense, john barleycorn.
am i the only one who think shutter looks good? i'm not sure if you've been talking about it on here or not
ReplyDeleteOk, let's compare!
ReplyDeleteShutter: American one. Unless you're one of these punk kids with your digital camerometers who've never seen a Polaroid and get all scared because there's a picture comin' right atcha!
The Grudge; Japanese one, by a mile. Eerie little kids are creepy to being with, and dead-eyed ghost kids are effing terrifying.
The Grudge 2 Korean one. Spooky ghost trumps oddball contact lens (I know, it's Photoshop). I think the American one might have been more effective without the numeral-in-the-eye gimmick.
The Ring: What, are you kidding?! 日本!
The Ring 2: U.S. one. For all the talk of Polish-poster awesomeness, this one does zippo for me.
Pulse: American one. The formless wave of limbs pulling the woman(?) down is like a vision of Hell. The fact that it's a face silhouette? Eh. Still scarier than the Haunted Computer Desk.
Dark Water #1: USA! USA! USA!
Dark Water #2: Tie. (Thai! Get it?! I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip Stacie.) Thee U.S. one is gives you a great sensation of dread, but the Thai one has a terrified drowning face semi-obscured by floating hair. That's nightmare fuel, right there.
The Eye #1: American one. Hand crawling out of eyelid…so, so wrong.
The Eye #2: Chinese one, by a lot. Zombie Jessica Alba is creepy, but decomposing-green ghost Alba with evil red eye? That's some crazy.
One Missed Call: Don't love either, but the dehumanized screaming-mouth-eyes face trumps startle-girl. U.S.
So, final score: U.S. wins 6-4-1. : )
yay! i just got the original shutter today. i'm meant to be watching it tomorrow with friends, but seeing the poster, i think i might need to sneakily watch it right now!
ReplyDeletethe ju-on posters are excellent. look at the blue faced boy! he gives me the fear! the creepy eye on the ring poster always gives me the chills, and that first dark water poster is great, really gets the tone of the film, makes me sad in a ghosty way.
brilliant choice, i think this has been one of my favourite movie poster fridays!
I'm very curious as to what the U.S. *A Tale of Two Sisters* poster will look like.
ReplyDeleteThe original Korean sheet is great, but it seems improbable that a U.S. distributor would go for something similar. It's a little too twisted for the American market.
The U.S. Pulse poster is horrendous!
I'm with barleycorn on this one...
ReplyDeleteI find most Japanese posters too "silly"-looking, with the One Missed Call poster typifying this.
I thought Tale of Two Sisters was incredibly slow....I thought it would have been much better as a "masters of horror" one-hour feature...
I think Shutter and both Ring films the US ones looks scarier, but the rest I think the originals rock.
ReplyDeleteThe American poster for THE EYE with the hand crawling out of the corner of the eye makes me think of conjunctivitis.
ReplyDeleteThe American poster for Shutter sucks hard. Hard enough to get one-upped by a Polaroid.
ReplyDeleteJu-On/The Grudge is a toss-up, but Ju-On 2 beats The Grudge 2, hands down.
The Ring vs. Ringu: Push
Sequels: US
Pulse: US. Even if it obscures Kristen Bell's hotness. That is just one creepy-ass image.
Dark Water, Round 1: Push
Dark Water, Round 2: Japan, or wherever that poster is from.
The Eye, Round 1: US
The Eye, Round 2: Japan
One Missed Call: Push. They're both kinda 'meh'.
The American version of the "One Missed Call" poster reminds me of that Madonna video "Bedtime Stories" where her eyes and mouth are switched...and it looks FREAKY.
ReplyDeletewhich country is the Shutter poster from? I mean the non-USA one??
ReplyDelete@ Chris Cooke,
ReplyDeleteBest guess: Spain. The language is Spanish and the URL at the bottom looks like it ends in .es.
I would say American versions of The Eye and The Ring might eek out as the better versions. But everything else goes to Japan.
ReplyDelete