‘Ghostroads’: the strangest rock and roll movie of all time?
You might think you know the drill by now when it comes to Japanese horror movies.
The stereotype is a good one on the surface. Icy, brutally scary ghost stories like The Ring, Dark Water, and Pulse, to name but a few. J-horror exploded into the public conscience in the early 2000s off the back of those films, building a devoted cult following, before Gore Verbinski’s 2004 American remake of The Ring made a box office sensation out of Sadako and co. J-horror became a response to the trends of Western horror films of the time, cheesy teen slasher flicks and pointlessly gory torture-porn slogs.
However, to paint all Japanese horror pictures with the same po-faced brush does them a disservice. Sure, the majority of the more famous ones are the ghost stories that have captivated the world for decades, but look a little closer, and you’ll find a world of different kinds of horror pictures to immerse yourself in. Films like the intense body horror of Tetsuo: The Iron Man or the absolutely spectacular tone whiplash of Audition. If you’re looking for something a little more fun, though, there’s only one option.
Coming a good decade and a half after the glory days of J-horror, one of the most unique, surreal and outright fun examples of Japanese horror filmmaking comes from, of all people, a radio host. One who spent his whole career working in music, whether promoting or making it, before deciding to give the old filmmaking hustle a try in 2017, at the young age of 60. What’s more, the man wasn’t even Japanese!
So, who made Ghostroads?
Mike Rogers was a Los Angeles native who relocated from his native city to Tokyo in 1983. By that time, music had already been a passion of his, fronting the punk band The Rotters in his teen years. After realising that making music wasn’t his calling, he moved to a different kind of microphone.
Rather than sing into one in front of walls of thunderous guitars, he found his calling speaking into one behind a mixing desk, before pressing play on records containing said thunderous guitars. They were the non-negotiable apparently.
Rogers made a big name for himself on Japanese radio. In 2006, he became the first foreigner to ever secure a senior position at a major Japanese broadcast house. However, his creative drive never left him, and in the mid-2010s, he cashed in his blank cheque to make one of the most bonkers Japanese horror pictures since House. Ghostroads – A Japanese Rock ‘n’ Roll Ghost Story is everything it says on the tin. A frantic, stylish mix of everything that Rogers holds dear.
Built around a re-telling of the myth of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil at the crossroads to gain mastery of the guitar, Ghostroads is an absolute riot. One made for the late-night showing at a grindhouse theatre or, even better, a raucous evening in with some close mates.
However, it’s also something more important than a knockabout horror flick. It’s a pretty inspiring message that it’s never too late to pursue your dreams. One that seems to be needed more than ever.