Recently, Silent Hill f producer Motoi Okamoto and Fatal Frame director Makoto Shibata were interviewed, discussing methods for creating Japanese-style horror. Starting from residential layouts and female characters, they explained how each creates fear. This discussion is related to the collaboration that adds Fatal Frame costumes to Silent Hill f.
Makoto Shibata said that the Japanese houses in the Fatal Frame series were inspired by relatives' homes he encountered during his childhood. His grandfather was a carpenter who constantly added extensions to the house, creating strange layouts and connections within. Motoi Okamoto agreed that this familiar yet unsettling sense of space enhances fear; both also believe that traditional Japanese house layouts have an eerie quality different from Western architecture.
Dreams also influenced the scene design in Fatal Frame. Makoto Shibata recalls a colleague asking him what was on the left side of a road in his dream, but he couldn't answer immediately because he always turned right in his dreams and never saw the left side.
Regarding character design, Motoi Okamoto believes that having women as protagonists or sources of horror has become a tradition in Japanese horror, citing characters from Silent Hill 3 as an example. Makoto Shibata stated that he made women both playable characters and enemies to have these two experiences reflect each other; in his view, female characters can convey a richer expression of horror.
The two also discussed works set in Japan or featuring unique concepts, such as Silent Hill f and The Exit 8, expressing their hope that Japanese horror will once again become mainstream.