11 Japanese Horror Movies You Need To See

A new installment of The Grudge hits theaters this week, and it’s got us thinking about that period of time back in the early 00s when Japanese horror was the hot new trend and American remakes abounded. That was fun, even if the English versions were, on the whole, not as good as the originals. Our only complaint is that it didn’t go far enough. Sure, we got a few big franchises like The Ring over here, but the world of J-horror is way bigger and freakier. If you dig the genre, here are 11 deep cuts and big hits to dig up as we freak you with 11 Japanese horror movies you need to see.

Dark Water

If there’s one thing that Japanese horror is known for in the West, it’s their creepy ghosts. Hideo Nakata’s brilliant 2002 film actually did see a U.S. remake, but nobody saw it and it sucked so we think the original needs a minute in the spotlight again. When a young mother and her daughter move into a crappy apartment, what at first seems like just a bad landlord grows into a deeply chilling tale of loss and loneliness, as the apparition of a dead child reaches out to have a family once more. Some of the most terrifying scenes in Japanese horror can be found right here, using water, hair, and darkness to incredible effect.

Uzumaki

Japanese manga master Junji Ito’s star has risen in the West considerably over the last decade or so, as more people dig in to his curious world of comely schoolgirls and supernatural nightmares. But back in 2000, when the film adaptation of his masterpiece Uzumaki was released, he was barely known here. That’s a shame, because this is a tale that packs some deep squick. When a small town begins to be haunted by recurring spiral shapes, the denizens are driven into madness in a variety of unusual ways. Like many of Ito’s works, there’s no happy ending to be found here as an apocalyptic vortex twists up the cast.

Tag

One of the more recent films on this list, Tag is a great illustration of the highkey extra school of J-horror filmmaking, where wild ideas and breakneck plotting combine to create something truly unique. The movie hooks you instantly with a blood-soaked bit where an entire school bus load of teenage girls get cut in half by a gust of wind, leaving just one survivor – Mitsuko, who finds herself in a surreal fight for survival that takes her to some very strange places before her journey comes to an end.

Marebito

This lesser-known flick from Grudge creator Takashi Shimizu is a disturbing slither deep below the streets of Tokyo. When amateur photographer Masuoka becomes obsessed with taking pictures of people feeling fear, it leads him to a terrifying underground civilization and a captive, mute girl. He brings her back to his apartment, which is exactly the bad move you think it is. Soon discovering that she will only consume blood, preferably human, our man tests the limits of his own depravity to keep her alive – but is the whole situation a figment of his imagination, caused by going off his meds? Marebito doesn’t have any easy answers, but it’ll sure keep you up at night wondering.

Suicide Club

Sion Sono’s 2001 flick has one of the most unsettling opening sequences in film history, as a group of 54 uniformed schoolgirls kill themselves en masse by jumping in front of an oncoming train. That eruption of gore is just the beginning, though, as the viewer quickly gets pulled into a hallucinatory world of interlocking conspiracies and theories as to what’s causing a wave of mass suicides. Sure, it doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense, but Suicide Club chugs along under its own logic and definitely keeps you glued to the screen every single minute. Its audacity and visual inventiveness definitely earn it a place on this list.

House

One of the most influential, singular and terrifying horror movies to come from any country, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 1977 cult classic is like nothing you’ve ever seen. When seven schoolgirls travel to the country to visit an aunt, they unwittingly stumble into a nightmarish curse as the aunt, who died waiting for her fiance to come back from the war, has turned into a malevolent spirit that devours all who enter her abode. Despite the incredibly dated effects, House still packs a potent punch. Obayashi got many of the ideas for the scare scenes from his daughter Chigumi, and they seethe with surreal, unsettling imagination.

Versus

Japanese action cinema is justifiably famous the world over, and Ryuhei Kitamura’s bizarre 2000 Versus is a grisly fusion of Yakuza violence and horror that will thrill fans of flicks like Evil Dead. When a pair of escaped convicts stumble upon a crew of gangsters in the Forest of Resurrection, things quickly spiral out of control. You see, it’s not just a name, and all of the victims the Yakuza guys killed and buried there are back and out for vengeance. Wild splatter, grotesque gore, and one of the funniest, most bizarre endings in horror history make this a must-see.

Tetsuo: The Iron Man

One of the first Japanese horror movies to really make an impact in the United States, Shinya Tsukamoto’s 1989 film Tetsuo drew inspiration from the body horror of David Cronenberg to create a deeply unsettling story about man, technology, and what happens when they become too close. When a salaryman finds his body infected with a strange parasitic metal that transforms his body, we embark together on a grimy journey of sexuality, violence, and revenge that was unlike anything we’d ever seen. Even thirty years later, Tetsuo packs a real punch due to its claustrophobic, low-budget vibe.

Confessions

You’d be forgiven for thinking that most Japanese horror revolves around the supernatural, but Tetsuya Nakashima’s award-winning Confessions shows that directors are just as good at teasing out the evil in a normal human’s heart. When a middle school teacher’s daughter drowns in the school pool, she launches into a dark, convoluted plan to murder the two students she believes responsible. But this isn’t just a simple revenge plot – instead, through a series of flashbacks, we learn that far more was going on behind the scenes, culminating in a final act twist that is impeccably disquieting.

Onibaba

Post-war Japan was a nation reckoning with the real horror of having two cities annihilated and their place in the world forever changed. That atmosphere made itself felt in all kinds of art, and one of the most compelling is Kaneto Shindo’s brilliant Onibaba from 1962. An incredibly influential film, it tells the story of two 14th century women who survive by murdering soldiers and looting their corpses. When a neighbor comes home from war, he becomes embroiled in their twisted relationship. The older woman becomes jealous and hatches a scheme to keep the others apart, only to be subjected to twisted supernatural vengeance in this striking classic.

Audition

Takashi Miike is one of Japan’s most prolific and audacious filmmakers, with a massive catalog that ranges wildly from black comedy to grisly horror. His 1999 movie Audition might be the hardest film to watch on this list, and that’s saying something. When a widowed man tries to get back into the dating world, things quickly spiral wildly out of control after a mysterious woman named Asami captures his heart but turns out to be an insanely jealous, amputation-obsessed psychopath. The final act of this film, where Asami brutally tortures the protagonist, is one of the most unrelenting sequences we’ve ever watched and will challenge even the strongest stomach.

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