When it involves horror, few rolls in the hay also as Japan, giving us such chilling and horror classics just like The Ring and The Grudge, the horror scene in Japan is consistently finding new ways to boost the bar. We’ve collected the very best of the bunch into a must-see list of the biggest and best titles that are essential to your cinematic experience.
1. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 1989
This 1989 low-budget horror movie still screams to the present day. Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto involves leading a cyberpunk horror film that's so mechanical altogether ways, the grease of this movie will persist with you for days. The movie features a unique storytelling approach with hardly any dialogues adds tension and a dark ambience throughout the film. The story is of an entrepreneur who fortuitously kills the metal fetishist, who gets his vengeance by slowly turning the person into a grotesque amalgam of rusty metal. Honestly, it is a divisive film. You’ll either get it 100% or despise it completely, but it is a must-see for that very reason.
2. Reincarnation 2005
A worthy Japanese psychological thriller. The lead actress of a Japanese horror movie panics when the film’s crew members begin dying all around her.
3. Dark Water 2002
These Japanese writers have a thing with horror stories involving mothers, daughters, and water; this movie ticks all these basics. So, it definitely won’t surprise you to seek out that it’s directed by Hideo Nakata, the brain behind the scares of Ring. And it probably won’t surprise you to have your wits scared out of you by little ghost-like children. I personally liked this movie a lot, so one should definitely watch it.
4. Pulse 2001
We begin this movie with a Japanese university student that commits suicide thanks to such manipulations from the ever malicious internet. He’s not the only one, however, and strangely hosts friends and family of the Dead begin to die or fade away, meaning that not only is a busy Japanese city quickly depopulated but the whole world in turn. Its scares don’t come from the outward gore or jumpscares but the continuous build of dread and fear in society.
5. Confessions 2010
A psychological horror movie of a grieving mother who became a cold-blooded avenger with a twist decides to pay back those liable for her daughter’s death.
6. Marebito 2004
A freelance cameraman becomes obsessed with fear and turns to the subway station, where a man commits suicide to find women who may not be completely human. This is a marvellous movie. More than a psychological abyss than straight horror, this tiny cutlass stabs deeper than most of the ostentatious psycho thrillers will ever.
7. Cure 1997
A fantastic psychological horror that disturbs with its restraint and quietness.
A wave of gruesome murders is sweeping Tokyo. The only connection may be a bloody X carved into the neck of the victims. In each case, the murderer is found near the victim and remembers the crime. In this movie, the detective and his partner try to investigate, but it’s of no use.
8. Infection 2004
It’s an incredibly eerie production set in one of the foremost run-down and depressing locations ever: a dark and dingy hospital filled with dirt and tired medical staff who wish they were somewhere else. The plotting begins when an unknown patient suffering from infection is brought in, stretching the already stressed staff to breaking point.
9. Uzumaki 2000
In a small quiet town, young Kirie wonders why a number of community members are starting to behave extremely strangely. Her life partner’s father becomes obsessed with anything spiral, a ‘disorder’ that culminates in his climbing into a washing machine to spiral himself. At school, an educator falls from the spiral staircase. A student at Kirie's school who is infatuated with her mutates into a ‘human’ snail. The entire town gradually suffers from these bizarre events connected to a whirling cloud – and therefore the local pond.
10. Noroi: The Curse 2005
Noroi stands to be a very different kind of film, inherently composition. This film revolves around the Paranormal journalist Musafumi’s quest to ‘find the truth at any cost.’ As the story progresses, the suspense builds up when the protagonist Masafumi Kobayashi connects the blocks as he digs deeper to find the truth, much like a puzzle. The ‘documentary style’ seems ingenious as Kobayashi captures activities that normally wouldn’t be seen by him in person. This technological dimension and the role of psychic characters are a combination never seen before in this genre. You’ll definitely enjoy this one for sure.
