Howling Village Trailer Promises a Chilling J-Horror Throwback

If you’re a fan of old school J-horror like Ringu and Ju-On: The Grudge, then I’ve got just the movie for you. From Takashi Shimizu, the man behind the Ju-On franchise, comes a new horror film called Howling Village, and the trailer promises a throwback genre adventure in the vein of the movies that put him on the map. Here’s what the film is about:

“After her brother goes missing, Kanade, a young psychologist, visits his last known location, an infamous haunted and cursed site known as ‘Howling Village’ to investigate his disappearance. Her investigation reveals that the village’s mysteries are connected to her family and works to uncover her family’s dark history.”

It’s a good thing we have that plot synopsis because the trailer doesn’t really tell us what Howling Village is actually about. It mainly just gives us a taste of the tone and the terrifying imagery we can expect from the movie, and in my opinion, that’s the way it should be.

I don’t need to know much about a film’s plot before I go see it. All I need is a good reason to put it on my to-watch list, and this trailer gives us exactly that. It showcases some really creepy scares that look like they could’ve come straight out of Shimizu’s older horror hits, and it gives us a glimpse into the mystery that’s set to drive the plot. Both of those elements look really intriguing, so I’m completely sold on Howling Village.

The only real criticism I can see someone leveling against this trailer is that it shows so many scares it might ruin the actual film, but I would disagree. Sure, it shows us a lot, but most of the scares are without any context, and the majority of them are blink-and-you’ll-miss-them shots. When they hit us in the actual movie, we probably won’t even realize we’ve already seen them until after they come and go, so they’re by no means ruined. In fact, I actually feel like I’m going into Howling Village almost completely blind even though I’ve seen the trailer multiple times.

Admittedly, we won’t know for sure if the trailer spoils the movie until we actually see it, but there is one thing we can be sure about: Howling Village looks like a chilling ghost story that’ll transport us back to the J-horror glory days of the 1990s and 2000s. It hits VOD on August 17 and Blu-ray on September 14, so thankfully we won’t have to wait too long to take that ride.

So what do you think of the trailer for Howling Village? Do you agree with JP that it looks like a chilling J-horror throwback? Let us know in the comments! And if you’re looking for more trailers we’ve got you covered!