Hair becomes her: Presenting the ‘monstrous’ feminine in Japanese horror

Barbara Creed’s concept of the ‘monstrous feminine’ illustrates a natural ‘affinity’ between woman and monster within horror, recognizing both for the potential dangers they are seen to pose to patriarchal society. Although when writing, Creed was referring to western horror cinema, the same theories can be extended to Japanese films. Today, no Japanese horror film is considered complete without its haunting woman spectre, the female onryō or ‘vengeful ghost’ archetype, a trend which dates back from the time of Shindō Kaneto (1912–2012) to the latest film of the Ringu franchise released in 2022. Despite changes in Japanese sociocultural norms over time, the way these vengeful female characters are presented remains arguably consistent, positioning them as more ‘monsters’ and ‘freaks’ rather than women with whom the audience can sympathize. More significant is the trend of visually associating the female onryō with feminine physical traits or behaviour and transforming her into something grotesque. While she is typically depicted as ‘monstrous’ through physical disfigurement or distortion of her body or face, her hair is often shown to be what fully embodies her vengeful spirit. Not only is this association of ‘horror’ with hair distinctly feminine and rarely if ever attributed to similarly ‘monstrous’ male characters, but in recent Japanese horror films, the female onryō ’s hair is also seen disembodied, sometimes even moving of its own accord. Lacking the presence of an explicit female body, this hair of the female onryō can arguably be seen as belonging to any woman, thereby extending the association of horror to the Japanese woman herself.