Paper short abstract:

This paper examines director Miike Takashi's visual depiction of the home as a symbolic space rather than domestic architecture in his 2014 horror film Kuime (known in English as Over Your Dead Body), where the collapsing of structural boundaries reflects the dissolution of a woman's sense of self.

Paper long abstract:

The concept of distinct boundaries is central to the construction of the “monstrous” in horror, separating the human from the non-human and bringing about a conflict between the self and that which threatens its integrity. While horror often emerges with the collapsing of those boundaries within the physical human body itself, the same can be extended to the utilization of the home as a site for “horror,” where the very walls of the architectural space are made almost immaterial, extending beyond the limits of structural form. This paper examines the Miike Takashi’s 2014 film Kuime (“Eater Woman”), known in English by the title Over Your Dead Body, and its use of the home as more of a symbolic space for the dissolution of boundaries within a woman’s mind. As the characters within the film enter the rehearsal process for a stage production of the classic ghost story kabuki narrative Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan (“Ghost Story of Yotsuya in Tōkaidō”), leading actress Miyuki prepares for her role as the vengeful female ghost Oiwa. Gradually, the boundaries of her very self begin to blend with that of the character she is meant to play, exacerbated by the actress’ own personal anxieties as a Japanese woman struggling with traditional values of motherhood and marriage. Visually this is reflected in her “home,” which is transformed into a surreal space with walls that blur with the living spaces of others, even the set of the Yotsuya Kaidan production itself. In the end, virtually all distinction dissolves as the boundaries collapse between Miyuki’s and Oiwa’s respective homes, the actor and the enacted, and between stage and reality.