words Anne lshii illustrationI MartinCendreda

DARK ENTRIES GR: You know,in Rlng-otaku. They Rmg, and the mol Suzuki Method think aboutthat, in some way,an o KS: Interruptsm lutelynot, Anne. that. I ride motorc Tn ra,all-t scare someone,you have to inspire lear, nol lorce it. at a gym,for cryinl anyotaku who woL You have to allude to the horror. not show it. of a fun timeis h: the opensky wear not stayingcoupe overa vioeotape. ive years ago, four teenagers watched a haunted videotape in a rented cabin lf you arrangefor an interviewwith Suzuki, his and made permanent horror-Iilm history. Since the little wet Japanese qirl managerwill stipulatethat you understandthe GR: Yeah,but mos with long black hair in a white nightgown lirst stepped out of the hidden followingthree points:1. KoliSuzuki is NOTa At least in the U.S weli to avenqe her death, there have been no less than six films made, and horrorwr ter,2. KoliSuzuki did NOTwrite Jl-On, in Japan? at least two more film projects in the pipeline based on the worlJapanese horror or tell him he's just tired of it. lt wil only be a matterof time before read Spiral and Lot Iike Stephen King ("I'm not a horror writer!"). Koji Suzuki is in fact more like Mickey he becomesa videotapehimself, which would the otakuall going Rourke or Hemingway. preventthe frustrationof his havingto repeat with RingJ theseanswers ad nauseam.So when the golden opportunityfor bothof us cameup throughGi- GR: I don't know, ant Robot, who wanted an interviewwith the works in Japan?H: one-rnanscary moviemachine that "isn'tbor- ing with you? rng,"but would bringup the moviesRingu, Ring, KS: Not really.Thr \a- and Dark Water, I decided to ask questions I trilogy with the fir oorotedaryone had asked ye1. tng Spiral and Lootr do say so myself. GR: Hi Suzuki-san.I'm goingto try to avoidask- You gotta underste ing you too manyquestions you've already been peopreto reaoup asked.but I hooethese ones don't sound weird. wholething. I want to start with some of the men in your stories: Rmg, Spiral, and Dark Vlater.There are GR: I'm sorryto asl a lot of, how do I put this... hentaiperverts. ask: Americanhon KS:ILaughs] What perverts? thoughts? KS: God, you'vehr GR: Well, like the ex-husbandof the mainchar- over, but it's the d 76 acter in your short-story Floating Water(yhich vrolenceand physic is the basis of the film Dark Water), and lhe and imaginedviole paranormal psychology professorin Ring. The know anythingabo ex-husbandis a total pervert,which is whythe It doesn't interestr coupfe divorces, and in Ring, the professoris don't write monstet accusedof rape.There are others,but whydo even somelrttle doll you like havinghentai pervertsin yourbooks? about, right?To real KS: Hmmm, I guessthey are kindof creepy,but to inspirefear, not fc I don't reallythink of them as perverts.They are the horror,not shov real peoplethat you deal with in real life.So- Koji SuzukiMethod. cie'y is a rn.xtu'eof propercitizens and filthy relects,right? Well, these filthy perverts are just GR: Another movir littlevil ains. In otherwords, it's not like they're more interesting:I/ killingpeople or stealingfrom the poor.They?e KS: I don't knowir lust kindacreepy nasty. Describing them in de- because both were tail makesa novelmore realistic.ln factwithout came to L.A.on the I them, the novelcannot be takenseriously. away oy the amoun The Xeri c Award-wi n n i ng graphicnovel: EUMPERB@Y

GR: **t*Ant You know, in the U.S., there are a lot of spent.t'm "hsr*-/r* Ring-otaku. They talkingmrllions of dollarsbeing are kind of obsessed with used right in front of my eyes! BYDEBBTE Ring, and the movies,and Between.trff,;;;.; HUEY all that. Whatdo you iechnology, think about the actors...it,s really that, and do you consideryourself rnn"li"uuni". In Japan,I was on In some way, an otaku? the set of Spiraland it was whatever. KS: Ilnterrupts Reallycasual. But lhe Rrngwas me guffawing.lHell nol Abso_ such lutely a nugeproduction. Last year got Bumperboy not, Anne. you know better I to spendtime LosesHis than to ask on the set that. I rjde motorcycles of Dark WaterwiihWalter Satfes, and go yachiinglI box tlJ Marblesis an all-ages at gym, director,and that was just story a for cryingout loud.I wonderful.He has , doubtif there are sucn a great eye, anyotaku who wouldknow and his work is absoiutely howto fighilMy idea beautjful of a fun tjme lwas reallyimpresseci wrth is hangingout on my boat howbeau_ [?5H?fl?,':TffH?,,iI under tiful ffr-.open he macJeDark Water. sky wearingshorts ancla wife_beater, missingmarbles before .*U,:t couped up in my room the i.?] obsessrng GR: In the overa vtdeotaDe. U.S., I think it,s fair to say people big MarbleTournament. see you as some kind of representativeof an Does Asian aesthetic and Bumperboy Veaf, but most of your the creator of Japanese !.n: Rrngfansare otaku. horror. At least In the film and book have in the U.S. What,syour readership industry, i think what it takes like you're thought in Japan? of as particularly Asian. What to win alf the do you think of that responsibility? KS: ls that reallythe case? marbfes? KS: Lots of otaku like Ring, Wellihat,s too bad, definitely.I guess bL,flgue,s its kind of neat lcsr'1 6e dnytnrngdboul that they like Rrng,but llhink tl. l.m Japanese.so it s hind rne truetest of a fan is whether ol unavoidabte.I fnink rI he willgo on to Americans read Spiral readmy otherwork_l and Loop (the sequelsio knowyou guys Ring). Are (Vertjcal)are going tuLrktdbV" p theotaku all gorng to follow to iranslate,V tot nJu"i ff ti SdtH ffi B me, or just hangout Paradise-Americans 0y. ruE T wtth Ringl will realjzewno KoliSuzuki reailyis. He,sglobal. GR: I don,t know. Who,s reading your other GR: Okay, last worksin Japan? question. I know you consider Haveyou seenthe otaku stick_ ing to be pretty togicat with you? I::r:,:'f and our there are ghosts "nti_o..rli, KS: Not really.The in most of your novels. Japaneseotaku leavethe So l. have to ask, do you tntogywjth the first book. believe in life after The peopie read- death? tng Spiral and Loop are older, and smarter, if I o0 KS: No. Youdie, and as soon say so myseif.They,re rrrore pnrtosophical. as tne brainbe- y0u comesash, your consciousness gotta understand,it,s is totallygone. reallyimportant for That's 0e0?le it. Nothingmore... bufl to redo Lrpro I oop in order And l,m aboutto to get ine say what I'm wnotethrng. about to say basedon scientjfic reasoning,are you iistening?

GR: I'm sorryto ask about movres, but I haveto GR: Yeah. ask: American horror vs. Japanesehorror, Any KS: thoughts? Scjentificreasoning, got it? KS: God, you've heard me say tnls over and over, GR: Yeah. but it's the difference between physical KS: Scjentjficreasoning violenceand physicalgore, is aDoutbeing able to ano rmagrnedfear prove and tmagined or disprovesomething absolutely. vjolence.But you know, I don,t One hundredpercent. I only uil*'nt about Japanese believethat the human In:y horror, reaily. conscjousness rt doesn'tinterest dieswjth the physicalbody, me. I'll tell you one thing. I 99 don'twrite Thereis a 1 percenrcnance monsterslike Frecoreor ?"r::nl; of post_ Jason or deathlife, because evensome ljiile doll we don,tscrentifically know likeChucky. What,s that aii about, whatactually happens after death. rjght?To reallyscare sofneoneJ you for.urrrpL, have peopleused to believe r0 Insplrefea; not force jt. you the Eannwas the center haveto alludeto of the you tnehorror, unjverse. werestupid rf you not show it. you could call beiieved that the otnerwtse.That KoliSuzuki Method. oelreIwas rorcedby rel,gior. Lifeafter death is the samerntng, but we just oon'tscientifically GR: Another movie know. question. What set was m-oreinteresting: The Ringor Dark Water? GR: (S: I Well, thanks for doing this interview don't know what was more interesting, with ask a tot morequestions, :ecauseboth were really different. T,":1 :::,0 but they,d When I first arr De things you've )amet0 L.A. on been asked before. the set of TheRrng, I was blown tway KS:Yeah, we canjust leavethe t1 by the amountof moneythat boringintervrew was being aboutmovies to NpR. $ i I I ;l -