Kōji Shiraishi

Kōji Shiraishi (白石 晃士, Shiraishi Kōji, born June 1, 1973) is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and occasional actor. He is primarily known for directing Japanese horror films, including Noroi: The Curse (2005), Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman (2007), Occult, Teketeke (both 2009), Cult (2013), and Sadako vs. Kayako (2016).

Kōji Shiraishi
Director Kōji Shiraishi at the Horror and Fantasy Film Festival, Donostia-San Sebastián, 2016
Born	(1973-06-01) June 1, 1973 (age 50) Fukuoka, Japan
Occupation(s)	Film director and screenwriter
Years active	1995–present

Background

Kōji Shiraishi was born and raised in Fukuoka, Japan. After making his first video film in his second year of high school, Shiraishi entered the Department of Fine Arts in the Faculty of Art and Design at Kyushu Sangyo University with the intention of pursuing a career in filmmaking. Although he was expelled from the university in his second year for non-payment of tuition, he continued to participate in the Film Studies Society and was involved in film production. Later, while working as a crew member on films such as August in the Water directed by Sōgo Ishii, he also made his own independent films: Violent Men (1997), co-directed with Akihiro Kasai, won the Screenplay Award and the Cinematography Award at the Hiroshima Film Exhibition '98, and The Wind Shall Blow (1998), co-directed with Futoshi Kondo, won the Runner-up Grand Prix at the Pia Film Festival '99.^[1]

In the early 2000s, he became involved in the production of horror films, and from 2002 to 2003, he directed several videos in the Honto ni Atta! Noroi no Video series. The following year, he made his feature film directorial debut with Jurei THE MOVIE Kuro-Jurei. From the mid-2010s, he began directing commercial films with decent budgets, such as Sadako vs. Kayako (2016), Funouhan (2018), and Hell Girl (2019), while he has directed a number of fake documentaries from the beginning of his career to the present, including Noroi (2005), Occult (2009), Cult (2013), A Record of Sweet Murder (2014), Welcome to the Occult Forest (2022), and Aishiteru! (2022), among others.

Shiraishi's domestic popularity, along with films such as Noroi, Occult, and Cult, was enhanced by the Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi! series, which began as a video project in 2012. This series, while taking the format of a psychic documentary like Honto ni Atta! Noroi no Video, is clearly made as fiction, characterized by strong characterization, physical violence, and SF horror like worldview (The series is said to have been influenced by the works of Daijiro Morohoshi),^[2] as opposed to the stereotypical characteristics of J-horror. The popularity of the series, and of Shiraishi himself, has grown especially on Niconico, which periodically broadcasts the series and his other works, and the fan base has expanded.^[3]

In 2016, he published a book Textbook of Fake Documentaries which details his own methods for creating fake documentary works.

Shiraishi cites Gakuryū Ishii as his favorite Japanese director, and Ishii's 1980 Crazy Thunder Road as his favorite film. Other directors he admires include John Carpenter, Brian De Palma, Abbas Kiarostami, and Sam Raimi, and films he enjoy include the original Dawn of the Dead (1978), The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987), The Thing (1982), and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).^[4]

Filmography

Film

• Honto ni Atta! Noroi no Video THE MOVIE (2003)
• Honto ni Atta! Noroi no Video THE MOVIE 2 (2003)
• Jurei THE MOVIE Kuro-Jurei (2004)
• Hideshi Hino's Theater of Horror (2004)
• Noroi: The Curse (2005)
• Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman (2007)
• Takada Wataru Teki Zero (2008)
• Grotesque (2009)
• Occult (2009)
• Teketeke (2009)
• Teketeke 2 (2009)
• Shirome (2010)
• Chō Akunin (2011)
• Cult (2013)
• Ada (2013)
• Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi! The Most Terrifying Movie in History (2014)
• A Record of Sweet Murder (2014)
• Murder Workshop (2014)
• Vauxhall Rideshow (2016)
• Mippei (in Kidan Hyakkei) (2016)
• Sadako vs. Kayako (2016)
• Funouhan (2018)
• Crazy Road of Love (2018)
• Hell Girl (2019)
• Zenaku No Kuzu (Cancelled)
• A Beast in Love (2020)
• Welcome to the Occult Forest: The Movie (2022)
• Aishiteru! (2022)
• Senritsu Kaiki World Kowasugi! (2023)
• Koji Shiraishi's Never Send Me, Please (2023)
• House of Sayuri (2024)^[5]

Video

• Onmyoji: Juso-Gaeshi (2001)
• Onmyoji 2: Jinma-Choubuku (2001)
• Nippon Onnen Chizu: Kensho!! Sugisawa-mura no Noroi (2001)
• Nippon Onnen Chizu 2: Kensho!! Jukai no Noroi (2002)
• Kaiki! Unbelievable (2002)
• Honto ni Atta! Noroi no Video Ver.X:3 (2002)
• Honto ni Atta! Noroi no Video Ver.X:4 (2002)
• Onmyoji: Jitsuroku! Hyakki-Fumetsu (2003)
• Shudan Jisatsu Net (2003)
• Shinrei Shashin Kitan (2006)
• Uwasa no Shinso! Kuchisake Onna (2007)
• Yurei Zombie (2007)
• Ura Horror (2008)
• Paranormal Phenomenon (2010)
• Bachiatari Boryoku Ningen (2010)
• Kami Idol Sosenkyo Battle (2011)
• Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 01: Operation Capture the Slit-Mouthed Woman (2012)
• Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 02: Shivering Ghost (2012)
• Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 03: Legend of a Human-Eating Kappa (2013)
• Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi File 04: The Truth! Hanako-san in the toilet (2013)
• Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi! Preface: True Theory, Yotsuya Kaidan, the Curse of Oiwa (2014)
• Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi!: Final Chapter (2015)
• Senritsu Kaiki File Cho-Kowasugi! Fear Adventure: Kokkuri-san (2015)
• Senritsu Kaiki File Cho-Kowasugi! Dark Mystery: Snake Woman (2015)

Television

• Oonamakubi in Nippon no Kowai Yoru (TBS, 2004)
• Jintai Mokei, Haikou no Satsuei, Kemono, and Kokkuri-san in Gakkou no Kaidan (BeeTV, 2012)
• Zekkyo Taikan Kimodameshi (d Video, 2014)
• Museum -Preface- (GYAO! / WOWOW, 2016)
• Welcome to the Occult Forest (WOWOW, 2022)

Web

• Mirai Seiki SHIBUYA (Hulu, 2021)

References

1. "44歳｢ホラー映画｣を極める男の並外れた執念". 東洋経済オンライン (in Japanese). 2018-01-11. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
2. 株式会社つみき. "恐怖が世界を巻き込むホラードキュメンタリー『戦慄怪奇ファイル コワすぎ！』特集 | FILMAGA（フィルマガ）". filmaga.filmarks.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-09-05.
3. "「ほぼ無名」の低予算ホラーが起こした奇跡 ネット騒然「コワすぎ！」人気の理由は". ねとらぼ (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-09-05.
4. 3:AM Magazine, "If You Want Blood (You've Got It): An Interview with Koji Shiraishi", by David F. Hoenigman (November 29, 2009 - retrieved on September 23, 2011).
5. "サユリ". eiga.com. Retrieved April 8, 2024.

External links

• Kōji Shiraishi at IMDb