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Before Hollywood remade every cursed tape and long-haired ghost, Asia had already flipped horror into social commentary. In this deep-dive, Nick and Jan unpack how Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong turned fear into a mirror — reflecting guilt, grief, class, and control.

We break down Bong Joon-ho’s The Host (a creature feature that’s really about pollution, policy, and parenting), the anthology Three…Extremes (beauty, revenge, and trauma as literal body horror), and Takashi Miike’s Audition (the notorious slow-burn romance that mutates into pure nightmare). Along the way: the real “formaldehyde scandal” behind The Host, why Asian horror favors dread over jump scares, and how bodies become battlegrounds for public anxiety.

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