"Up until the late 1960s, yurei (ghost) films were released in the summer in Japan to tie in with traditional Buddhist Obon celebrations, or the Festival of Spirits. Religion, literature, military history, folklore, kabuki theatre and oral storytelling are all hugely influential on the Japanese ghost movie, as is the belief in animism, the idea that literally everything on earth possesses a spiritual essence. Black cats, cursed VHS tapes, apartments and even the internet haunt the protagonists of these stories, with female onryo (vengeful spectres) a predominant force in the genre."
