Watch: Why did wailing ghosts from two horror films open a baseball game in Japan?
Horror stars Sadako and Kayako faced off against each other in a Japanese baseball game. What were they promoting?
This is not how your usual baseball game begins. When was the last time a match in the US, the home of baseball, began with ghostly characters from horror films?
Never, right? Not in Japan. The game between the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and the Yakult Swallows started with a face-off, with bat and ball, between a characters from Ringu (The Ring) and Ju-On (The Grudge).
Things begin calmly. The audience is settling into their seats. The audience screen is showing the cheerleaders dancing. But suddenly it turns to static. And, to the horror of the cheerleaders, out walk Sadako, Kayako and Toshio, all characters from two of the most acclaimed films from the J-Horror craze of the early 2000s.
With blood streaking down their faces, long hair flowing everywhere and covering their eyes, the two characters get into position. Their being supernatural creatures who kill human beings doesn't mean they can't be good at sports.
Sadako pitches a zinger that clocks in at 96 km/hour and Kayako knocks it into the distance. Both collapse to the ground writhing in pain, but Toshio, wearing a T-shirt that reads "I Love Kayako" runs to first base for his mother. All this, of course, is a promotion for a movie, Sadako Vs Kayako – a crossover between the two horror films that hits theatres in Japan on June 18 (trailer below).
The film is on a blitzkrieg marketing campaign, and has even set up positively terrifying Instagram and Twitter accounts for Kayako, Toshio and Sadako.