Takashi Shimizu aims to build on past success with 'Sana'

For legendary director Takashi Shimizu of the Ju-On franchise, horror films are not just a way to shock and entertain audiences but to reflect on the innocence of childhood. His latest film, “Sana,” is entirely separate from the Ju-On franchise...

Japanese director Takashi Shimizu [BUCHEON INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL]

For legendary director Takashi Shimizu of the Ju-On franchise, horror films are not just a way to shock and entertain audiences but to reflect on the innocence of childhood. His latest film, “Sana,” is entirely separate from the Ju-On franchise and was also the closing film at this year's Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (Bifan).

“My films are inspired by my childhood memories,” Shimizu said during an online interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily on Friday. “Usually, your imagination is ripe when you are young. Through my films, I like to look back at that time and the innocence I had as a child, imagining these dark stories.”

“Sana” centers around a young woman named Sana who haunts people who play a cured cassette tape that she left behind. Members of a boy band named Generations find the cassette tape and consequently must face Sana's ghost.

Main poster for ″Sana,″ directed by Takashi Shimizu, the closing film of this year's Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival [BUCHEON INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL]

Shimizu got the inspiration for this plotline from his own time at school. “It was almost 30 years ago when I was in high school,” said Shimizu. “A band came to perform a concert at my school, and someone recorded that performance. When they played the recording afterward, they heard a young woman’s voice and there were rumors that it was a ghost. That was where I got the inspiration for ‘Sana.’”

Although “Sana” has no direct correlation or continuation from the Ju-On franchise, Shimizu did include an homage to his own series by naming a character in “Sana” after one of the characters in the Ju-On franchise, Toshio. The last movie in the Ju-On franchise, “Ju-On: The Final Curse” (2015), was the most successful foreign horror film in Korea to date.

“I do think that I am weighed down by my success with the Ju-On series,” Shimizu said. “Wherever I go, all people talk about is the Ju-On series. I hope that with ‘Sana,’ I can break away from the series and move on to other themes. I want to make something even more successful and famous than the Ju-On series.”

Japanese director Takashi Shimizu [BUCHEON INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL]

Regarding what makes a good horror film, Shimizu laid out that stories that fit into our everyday lives and make us relate to the plotline end up being the ones that really scare us.

“I think when the film does a good job at depicting everyday life, we feel more scared when we come out of the theater and go back home,” said Shimizu. “Like when you are alone taking a shower or in the bathroom and it suddenly comes back to you – the horror from the film – and scares you. It should not just end in the theater if it is a good horror film. It should follow you home.”

Shimizu also expressed admiration for Korean directors and actors and said he wants to work with director Na Hong-jin and actor Jin Ki-joo.

“I really enjoyed Na’s ‘The Medium,’ and also Jin’s performance in the Tving original ‘Midnight,’” said Shimizu. “I know that more Korean and Japanese creators are collaborating nowadays. I would also like to work with Korean directors and actors if I can.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]