[Introduction]
This paperwork was made to Movie Analysis in 2010. Together with a colleague we tried to find some of the characteristics that differentiates Japanese Horror from the commercial American Horror. I had the pleasure to analyse Siren. This paperwork was originally written in portuguese and I apologize about my english...
[Siren]
Siren is a japanese movie from the director Yukihiko Tsutsumi, also known as Forbidden Siren. Premiered at 11 February 2006, the movie was made using as premise a video game really popular in Japan and all over the world. Some of the themes you can find here are: Urban Legends, the loss of a family member, psychological diseases, religious sects, and others.
[Synopsis *Spoiler*]
Siren, a story based on a video game with the same name, starts with reports about some disappearances. 1590, America, 117 citizens from the Roano Secretary Island suddenly disappear, leaving only a mysterious letter. 1872, Atlantic Ocean, Mary Sylas is found flouting in the middle of the ocean completely empty, you could read on the boat "4 December: My wife Mary". 1976, Yame in Japan, mysteriously, the population disappears without leaving trace, with the exception of a man. When questioned by the firemen about the whereabouts of the other citizens, he could only talk about a siren, whose third ring meant that no one could leave home.
The story then passes to Yuki, her father Shinichi, her little brother Hideo and their dog Osnan, arriving to Yame (coming from Tokio). As they arrive another character is introduced, doctor Minamida, who shows his island to the family. Now in their new house, their neighbor Satomi helps Yuki with the home cleaning and during her visit she talks about the village's legend, a legend really respected by the villagers about a siren. This siren was on a steal tower and when it rings, people shouldn't leave their homes, and even during the day no one ever tried to reach the tower.
While Yuki is finishing cleaning the new house, Shinichi goes to explore the island. During his investigation he meets some of the villagers who explain to him that the wind there had a specific sound, created by the steal tower in the forest (adding that only a few people tried to reach it, once the place was really dangerous).
Returning to Yuki, she gets out of Minamida's Clininc where Hideo was examined. When she's outside she realizes that her brother was gone and tries to find him. During her search she doesn't find any villagers (something weird because the radios were on, the food was at the table, everything indicating that they had disappeared out of nowhere). Some time later, she follows Hideo to an old house where a man surprises her, a man that can't stop repeating "don't go out when the siren sounds".
At night, Shinichi gets out to photograph the island and leaves Yuki and Hideo alone at home. Some time later, the lights go down and the girl receives a weird phonecall from a man that says that "they" are going to surround her. Seconds later, the siren rings and with Hideo missing again, she has to leave home. Though nothing happens to her, her father disappears.
In the next day, together with Minamida, Yuki goes to the forest looking for Shinichi but the doctor disappears out of nowhere and Yuki gets chased by something strange. Afraid she runs to a sacred place where she finds her dead father. Suddenly we return to the forest where Yuki runs into Minamida again. Together with a policeman they go to that sacred place but her father is nowhere to be found.
Returning home, Yuki finds her father. He explains his disappearance but something is wrong... Shinichi's behavior has changed and even Osnan notices it.
The movie walks to and end when the protagonist finds Hideo during the night in the forest, accompanied by a mysterious girl who looks exactly like a demon from the island's urban legends. The siren rings, Hideo faints with fever and Yuki takes him to the old house from the beginning of the movie. Some seconds later the crazy man appears and suddenly the trio is surrounded by the villagers (now some kind of zombie creatures). Before they get attacked the man tells Yuki to run away and destroy the siren.
She manages to run away to her house, packs some stuff and finds some old photographs from the villagers who where killed back in 1976 in an hidden room. The problem is that the villagers in the photographs are the same Yuki and her family met in the island.
Before going to the siren, Yuki finds her father behaving in a strange way, like he has become a zombie himself. He tries to kill her and Hideo, and Yuki runs back to the forest. She starts climbing the stairs to the siren while being followed by the zombies. With some effort she manages to get to the top, destroys the siren, but it continues to ring.
Confused and scared Yuki re-encounters Minamida, in human form, who tells her that the siren doesn't stop ringing because it doesn't exist, it's all in her head, only she can hear the siren and her brother Hideo died a long time ago. The chock of her brother's death made her have some psychological imbalances (making her able to see and touch Hideo). In chock, Yuki remembers about Hideo's death but coming back to reality she still sees the zombies (and now Minamida is one of them). Seeing only one way out she jumps from the tower.
Forbidden Siren ends with Yuki in Minamida's clinic. Outside the room, the doctor tells Shinichi about a man that 26 years ago could also hear the siren, ending up killing all the villagers (the truth behind the disappearance of all Yame's villagers in 1976). Since then when the siren rings no one goes out.
After the conversation, Shinichi returns home and Minamida goes to his office to join his part of the mad man's journal with Yuki's part, revealing the last entrance "(...) at the third ring I can't get out, at the fourth ring I must kill all of them (...)".
In the last scene, Yuki wakes up and the siren starts ringing again. Getting a knife the protagonist goes to Minamida's office and kills him. The island is invaded by a red fog and the story ends.
[Movie Analysis]
After watching and rewatching Yukihiko Tsutsumi's movie, I found some elements that make Siren a horror movie. Those elements where: The color red, the dog, the word "live", the Siren, the darkness (with shades, fog and bad weather), the monsters (animals and zombies), religion/sects, character psychological state and the buildings. Next I'll explain each one of them.
The Color Red...
The color red is frequently used during the movie, being present in most scenes. The color, revealing the most sanguinary side of the movie, it's introduced for example in the sheets being cleaned in the beginning of the movie, in the protagonist's purse, in the clothes of some characters, in the ironwork, in the mad man's journal, in the blood (obviously) and finally in the final fog (a metaphor about the killing of the villagers) as in the subjective perspective of the creature that follows Yuki in the woods (showing that it's probably deadly).
The Dog...
The dog appears in three or four forms, depending on the way you analyse it. You can find three main forms: the dog as a pet (Osnan, Yuki's dog), as a word (the word Hideo creates during the movie, connecting with the island myths) and as an element present in the religious chants (which can show a forth form, the dog as a beast that kills the villagers).
The word "live"...
The word "live" appears written in several places, for example, in a wall and in Hideo's game. In my opinion this word contains many meanings.
In one hand, it refers to the desire in living that the villagers have, trying to prepare themselves to the dangers of the island, knowing that they can die whenever the siren rings or whenever someone goes to the forest.
In other hand, Hideo makes this word when playing a table game, indicating he's dead or maybe that he wants to live again.
In a horror way, we have the life that the villagers gain whenever the siren rings, becoming zombies.
A final meaning could be that the word "live" makes the word "evil" when written backwards, something evil lives in that island with the villagers.
Siren...
The siren, is one of the essential horror elements. Becoming not a physical fear but a psychological one, the siren indicates that something horrible will happen... People will die... Maybe even the protagonist and her family... Making the spectator feel anxiety and fear for the characters.
Darkness...
The darkness is something that appears regularly in the movie. Being in form of shadows, someone in a dark corner, the lights going down, the bad weather or in form of fog that covers the island.
Monsters (animals and zombies)...
As the movie begins, the villagers quickly tell the new neighbors about the wild animals that live in the forest and that attack and kill people, especially when die go near the metal tower and the siren.
The zombies appear mainly in the end of the movie, when Yuki runs away to the metal tower followed by them. This zombies are the villagers of Yame, killed in 1976, that live now as normal people turning into zombies when the siren rings (showing its the true purpose).
Religion (sects)...
In a lot of horror movies religions are used to create an evil story, that also happens in Siren. When Yuki runs from the mad man she finds a small church where a religions ritual is happening. A sect created to protect the villagers from the evil creatures. When the spectator sees this ritual he's confronted with the confirmation that something really wrong is going to happen.
Character Psychological State...
Another important element is that some characters are psychologically ill.
First we meet the only survivor of the 1976's massacre at Yame. This man is really disturbed, crazy and in panic, killing himself sometime later.
A similar thing happens to Yuki when she's going to look for her brother in the old house and finds a mad man, in panic because of the siren and its effects.
This two cases make the spectator fear the siren. Because of it hundreds of people died and that helps creating the right environment to this horror movie.
Last, we have the main character, Yuki, that suffers from hallucinations since Hideo's death. This makes her see, hear and touch her dead brother, all the zombies and the siren, making her kill Minamida and probably all the villagers just like in '76.
Buildings...
The last element that I analysed are the buildings in the movie, especially the old ones. During the movie we see the old abandoned house in the forest (where the mad man lives) and the old building where the villagers made the church for the rituals.
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