Southeast Asian horror experienced a massive popularity boom in the United States in the late 1990s and early 2000s as films like “Ringu” and “Ju-On: The Grudge” were remade for American audiences. In 2003, two of the best horror ghost stories ever made into visual media were released: The Korean horror film “A Tale of Two Sisters,” and the Japanese video game “Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly.” Both follow a pair of young sisters as they try to unravel the mysteries inside an old, haunted house, leading to horrible revelations about their families and personal histories. In “A Tale of Two Sisters,” a teenage girl is having problems related to shock after the death of her mother. She moves into a secluded countryside estate with her younger sister, father, and stepmother, but soon she begins seeing the ghost of her dead mother (and worse).
The PlayStation 2 game “Fatal Frame II” follows twin sisters who visit their favorite childhood place to play in an abandoned village before it’s washed away by the construction of a new dam. The twins discover spirits throughout the village, including the mysterious Twin Shrine Maiden who was sacrificed in vain many years before. Unlike many horror games, the player doesn’t have any weapons and cannot really fight the ghosts — they can only use the “Camera Obscura,” a special camera, to capture images of the ghosts and eventually contain them. It’s often impossible to even see the ghosts without the camera, which makes the game that much more terrifying. The first “Fatal Frame” had a meandering story that lost many of its players, but the second took hints from the films of the time to make a much more compelling mystery. If you like “The Ring,” “The Grudge,” “A Tale of Two Sisters,” “The Eye,” or just about any other Southeast Asian ghost story from the early aughts, make sure to check out “Fatal Frame II.”
Source: https://www.slashfilm.com/901537/10-horror-video-games-movie-fans-need-to-play/
