The world of advertising has attracted many great filmmaking minds. The likes of David Lynch, David Fincher, and Darren Aronofsky have created short films for brands. However, when it comes to brief horror movies, this Japanese advert is one of the msot effective, at least in terms of scares.
The clip is simple: a car is driving down a country road, when suddenly a woman is caught in the headlights. The driver comes to a halt, discussing the person in the middle of the road with the passenger. Then suddenly: BANG, her face, partially scared on one side, lunges forward into the screen.
They start quickly reversing, and the advert ends, before we get the woman holding a laptop showing a question. These events, though scary, aren’t completely unexpected since the advertisement is frontloaded with a warning that this video is “not for the faint of heart”. However, nothing can quite prepare you for such an effective jump-scare, and one that doesn’t appear to have much context behind it.
What’s been advertised here, you ask? We’ll let you watch the clip first, then we’ll tell you.
Ready? Autoway Tires. No, seriously, it’s for a tire company. Look at how smooth the car arrives and backs up! Those are quality automobile supplements. Unfortunately, because it’s a commercial, there’s no more information on who made this, a characteristic typical of the industry.
The woman appears to derive from the legend of Kuchisake-onna, a Japanese myth about a woman who’s mouth is slit wider. If seen, she questions her victims about her beauty, and depending on how they answer, either she kills or mutilates them. Gnarly, eh? Luckily the guys in this quick ghost movie get away.
Have a look at the best vampire movies and best monster movies for more terrifying tales.