J-Horror is a term used to refer to Japanese contributions to horror fiction in popular culture. J-Horror is noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre in light of western treatments. J-Horror tends to focus on psychological horror and tension building (anticipation), particularly involving ghosts and poltergeists, while many contain themes of folk religion. Here are the top 10 J-Horror movies that make us scream like little school girls.
10. Tales from the Dead Dir. Jason Cuadrado, 2007
The film is an anthology of four ghost stories as told by Tamika, a strange young girl with the ability to communicate with the dead. Each tale deals with loss, pain and vengeance as the spirits who tell them attempt to put things right in the world of the living. The film is notable for being a J-Horror film shot entirely in Los Angeles, in Japanese with local Japanese talent.
9. Kairo US: Pulse; Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2001
After one of their friends commits suicide, strange things begin happening to a group of young Tokyo residents. One of them sees visions of his dead friend in the shadows on the wall, while another’s computer keeps showing strange, ghostly images.
8. Koroshiya Ichi US: Ichi the Killer; Dir. Takashi Miike, 2001
A Yakuza boss, Anjo, disappears with three hundred million yen. His loyal gang members, led by the masochist Kakihara, start a search, but their aggressive and gory methods worry the other Yakuza gangs. Kakihara’s most frightening counterpart is the mysterious Ichi, a psychopathic killer with a dark childhood secret, who is controlled by a retired cop.
7. Ōdishon US: Audition; Dir. Takashi Miike, 1999
A lonely Japanese widower whose son is planning to move out of the house soon expresses his sadness to a friend and fellow film producer, who becomes inspired to hold an audition for a non-existent film so that the widower can select a new potential bride from the resulting audition pool. The widower ultimately becomes enamored with and fascinated by one particular young woman, but his first impressions become wrong.
6. Chakushin Ari US: One Missed Call; Dir. Takashi Miike, 2004
In Japan, people mysteriously start receiving voicemail messages from their future selves, in the form of the sound of them reacting to their own violent deaths, along with the exact date and time of their future death, listed on the message log. The plot thickens as the surviving characters pursue the answers to this mystery which could save their lives.
5. Jisatsu Sākuru US: Suicide Club; Dir. Sion Sono, 2002
In Tokyo, when fifty-four high-school students commit a collective suicide, jumping from a platform in Shinjuku Station, the police force led by Detective Kuroda have no clue to follow. Then he receives an e-mail from a young woman, The Bat, advising that there is a site where red dots mean the number of persons that died. Kuroda and his team investigate the deaths going nowhere.
4. Akira dir. Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988
Although it is not technically a J-Horror film, Akira is notable scary movie. Kaneda is a bike gang leader whose close friend, Tetsuo, gets involved in a government secret project known as Akira. On his way to save Tetsuo, Kaneda runs into a group of anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader. The confrontation sparks off Tetsuo’s supernatural power leading to bloody death, a coup attempt and the final battle in Tokyo Olympiad where Akira’s secrets were buried 30 years ago.
3. Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara US: Dark Water; Dir. Hideo Nakata, 2002
After winning a custody battle for her daughter, Yoshimi tries to make a new start. The apartment she moves into seems perfect at first. Soon though, strange things begin happening. Huge water stains appear on the ceiling and drip constantly, more liquid oozing into the rooms every day. She calls the landlord in but he refuses to do anything about it. A child’s red bag shows up in odd places and soon the child herself starts appearing. Yoshimi then discovers the origin of the ghost.
2. Ju-on: The Grudge Dir. Takashi Shimizu, 2003
In Japan, when the volunteer social assistant Rika Nishina is assigned to visit a family, she is cursed and chased by two revengeful fiends: Kayako, a woman brutally murdered by her husband and her son Toshio. The various supernatural experiences undergone by the different owners of the house, unaware of the horrible events that have taken place here, mingle across time, and the true form of the terrifying, invisible “Ju-On” that nests in this house becomes clear.
1. Ringu US: The Ring; Dir. Hideo Nakata, 1998
After the death of her cousin Tomoko, reporter Reiko hears stories of a videotape that kills everyone who sees it exactly one week after viewing. At first she discounts the rumors, but when she learns that Tomoko’s friend (who watched the video with her) died at exactly the same time, she begins to investigate. After viewing the tape herself, strange things start happening, and so she teams up with her ex-husband, Ryuji, to try to stop the death clock that has once again begun ticking. Reiko and Ryuji race to save their lives from impending doom and discover what the tape has to do with a tragedy-stricken volcanic island and a very strange little girl named Sadako.
Contributor: Jackie Huff
wow.. hollywood rips off a lot of J horrors…ringu, one missed call, and the grudge….yea american horror movies suck.
Don't forget "The Eye". That should be at least three.
The Eye was a Hong Kong Horror Film by the Pang Brothers. Not J-Horror (J for Japan.)
First comment! Onlt trouble is I haven’t got one – this list is just really not my thing.
sorry only not onit – wheres the edit when you want it.
Too bad Hollywood ruined the majority of these flicks with crappy remakes.
I love j-horror movies. And I agree that Hollywood has ruined many in their remakes.
I love Japanese horror films. But I agree, Hollywood remakes all suck in comparison. Plus, I didn’t know One Missed Call and Pulse were J-Horror movies first!
@amoondoo
American horror movies suck?
Since when.
Sure, there are plenty of stinkers (and I mean plenty). But did you ever realize that the J-Horror movies we see are the “good” ones? They release just as many crappy horror movies (if not more) as we do, they just never hit American shores (or at least w/o fanfare).
By the way, I didn’t mean to imply that J-Horror films were bad when I put good into quotations.
I enjoy J-Horror films a lot, but I’ve seen plenty of bad ones.
By the way, I think Chakushin Ari is too generic to be that high on the list. Miike has done better
I wouldn’t put Ichi in the horror genre, it is kinda like Akira (as stated above) that it has scary/horrible things in it, but it isn’t scary.
I’ve been looking for some of those boots Ichi wears, but I haven’t been lucky yet.
akira is J horror?
The American remakes did often blow and the Japanese versions were suitable, but almost all of these films were much, much better in the original Klingon.
I would’ve put Ju-On at number one and Ringu at two.
I left the same wee wee stains on my couch that the old woman at the beginning of the movie left on her futon!…
Is “Death Note” considered J-Horror?
Eek that Grudge kid freaks me out!
i have seen audition and akira, they were pretty good movies. i would have put audition at the top of this list, very original.
Oh pshaw, Americans make fine horror movies, but no-one can make consistently great ones. The remake of Ringu was actually okay since it fleshed out the story a little, but then crucially dropped the ball by allowing Sadako/Samara to speak, thus ‘humanising’ her. Also, the ‘TV’ scene was fudged, a ghastly mistake since the entire Ringu movie hung upon it (I initially watched alone it really late at night and recklessly yelled ‘F*** yeah!’ when it happened). The japanese horror originals tend to favour long build-ups to one incredible scene, whereas we in the West like to be ‘goosed’ every so often throughout. Incidentally, sorry to say but they’re a patchy lot these 10. For instance, Ju-on had a mere sliver of a plot, and one was more inclined to feel compassion towards the mother in Dark Water than horror at her predicament (mind you, the ending was so movingly sweet and sad it got successfully filched for the Silent Hill movie). Also, Audition was more about shock and sadism than horror, and Pulse was more of a parable about people ‘disappearing’ into the Internet than a potent horror story. Still, Sadako’s physical manifestation is one of the all-time great horror moments.
I saw the english version of The Grudge and i’m not ashamed to admit i was scared out of my pants. As far as Ringu was concerned, it was not so much the horror part as the concept that was so unique and scary. The entire ambience in the movie was kinda weird too..classic stuff really, not something you can easily replicate in Hollywood.
As for the others in this list, gotta check them out..
The jap version of The Ring is epic!
The Ring remake was not that impressive in comparison to the Japanese version. I would have to admit that both the remake and the Original of the grudge was pretty good. I love J-horror!!! So addictive too! Love this site good job!!!!!
now technally its a korean film nd not really a horror but contains horrible scary scenes as akira did but oldboy was a brilliant film
i mean come on the scene with him eating the live octopuss
and whats more scary than having ***** with a girl then finding out it was ur daughter
#me: Oldboy has its moment i agree, but it gets rather weird towards the end, what with that father/daughter angle….but then..we shouldn’t even be talking about it here..this is a J-Horror forum man!!
I love Akira but it does not belong on the list. If you’re going to to have it you might as well have Vampire Hunter D which is also great but they are just not J-horror.
After watching a couple of Takashi Miike movies, I’ve determined there’s something seriously wrong with the dude. When I say wrong, I mean Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Speck wrong.
Ichi the Killer made me want to tear my eyes out, ***** my pants and drive my car over a bridge. What does it say when after watching a film you question the decency of all humanity?
Seriously, that dude has issues. He’s a good candidate for a tranq dart takedown.
Takashi Miike is a great film director and if you think he has problems you no nothing of j horror go see mermaid in a manhole, naked blood, and flower of fleash and blood and come talk to me about problems peole like you ***** me off when you say that artists who depict violence should be reported Miike has also made beautifle films that don't have violence like Ley Lines
Does “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” count as J-Horror?
Yeah Tetsuo was a strange one. It turns your stomach. It really turned me off the arthouse section of the local video store when it came out.
I believe much the same others do about Akira. Sure, it’s an apocalyptic look at a horrific future, but if you’re going to add it to this list it really ought to follow along with the same style of ‘wet, long-hair, ghost’ narrative that the rest do. To that end, Ichi isn’t really one either, his fall along the line of a revenge movie in the vein of (though done long before) Tarrantino. The rest though, spot on. Miike is one of the finest J-Horror folks working today. Incidentally, I actually kind of liked the Ring (US) as well. The Grudge was garbage though.
Akira has a really wierd kind of tone to it. It sets up as one kind of tech sci-fi movie and it then takes a different direction with the antagonist’s body undergoing a pretty horrific transformation. The horror element comes through as you see all this expansion of flesh which is just incomprehensible, a body or a lifeform out of control.
you also forgot
“The Eye”
they are doing a Hollywood remake at the moment, the jap original is so awesome!
not japanese
This would be an ok list if you would replace Akira with Shutter.
shutter isn't japanese either, its thai
Agreed, Shutter is a fun, scary pic, one of my favs – Juon would top my list though, not Ringu
me: regardless of how you feel about a movie, are you really going to divulge the plot twist of the movie without giving any sort warning? i loved this movie. i feel bad for anyone who planned on seeing it and read your comment.
i had never heard of oldboy before i started reading this site. the ONLY reason i bought it was that it was admired by several members on different lists. be more careful with what you reveal.
#DiscHuker: Very true man…there are so many movies i have watched after reading about them here and giving away the plot is like plain spoilsport..
I had pretty much given up on the Horror genre; lots of shlock and gore, stupid plots and stupid victims. It appears I was just looking on the wrong continent. Great list, I can’t wait to see some of these.
(notable exception: The 1st Saw was great, suspenseful, gory, and clever)
I liked Ju-Wei better than Ju-On; Ju-Wei was the made for tv version of Ju-On. It is more sublte and muted than the movie, but the toned down colors and soundtrack and dialogue is what I like about Japanese movies. They do not need gore and scary music to create suspense and fear.
you mean ju-rei?
Not a fan of this list. I’ve seen most of the movies here; the order is all wrong and the movie at spot #4 isn’t even a real horror film! Why would you put a non-horror movie on a horror movie list, in the top 5 no less!
This list was written by someone well-meaning, no doubt, but perhaps another rewrite or two may have done the trick.
I realize it’s not exactly a horror movie per se, but what about Battle Royale?
i’m not much for horror films in any form. they always make me laugh, and i try to figure out how they film the scenes (clever editing usually).
i didnt know so many popular US horror were remakes. i wonder if Japan remakes any of our originals.
wow, most of those were remain into american movies recently, which goes to show the unoriginality of the american film industry :[
also akira is more sci-fi, it’s not horror at all
Mick:
The original “The Eye” (“Gin Gwai”) is Chinese, not Japanese, that’s why it didn’t make the list.
But it’s still one of my favorites as well! I just hope they don’t ruin it.
i usually think horror movies are pretty pointless…
but i think i’ll try some of these only because they’re japanese. i think they’ll seem less cheesy in a different language.
Oh man Audition…that was one seriously disturbed film. If you want a really messed up j-horror film though, check out Urotsu Kidoji (sp?), the film that brought tentacle rape to the masses.
J-Horror sucks. The Japanese don’t know how to make horror movies. The Ring? Maybe they should have called it “Well Opening” because it’s not a ring. At least my sucky title would fit an equally sucky story about a video tape that kills people after watching it. Oooooh, scaaaary. The Grudge was a suckfest too. It’s hard to take The Grudge seriously when it features a ghost-boy that meows like a cat.
clearly you didn't read the book, there is a point to the whole "ring" thing
If you honestly think the American versions are better, then you are a moron. First off, American directors are lazy, and must think Japan has good ideas, since they have been stealing most of their ideas, and second off, the Japanese movies have MUCH better plots and are a lot scarier. American directors just throw in special effects and say they’re finished, while Japanese ones actually put time, effort, and good acting into it.
This is the kind of comment that is painted in such broad strokes that it has absolutely no substance to it. Try to be more specific next time. It makes your point more sound and it makes youre comment more interesting to read.
Is #5 called Suicide Club or Suicide Circle in the US?
Great List! I really love J horror and agree that most US remakes don’t quite get it. Dark water is one of my faves – lots of pshycological twists.
Not bad a list, especially if it’s helping people discover new films. I would say it’d be better to extend this to Asian horrors to reiterate the fact that Japan is not the only perpetrator of source material for all these dreadful remakes – Korean horrors (A Tale Of Two Sisters, for example) bear more than a mention.
And Maxx_the_Slash, I’d like to hear what “real horror” is to you.
omg… chersey: battle royale gave me some insane nightmares. probably the scariest movie i have ever seen – that and the ring.
No word of a lie – we went and saw the american ring opening weekend and had no idea it was a japanese remake or anything but just thought it was some silly horror movie. i literally tried to leave halfway through because my heart was beating so fast and i was crying. AND i am not a wimp! This is coming from someone who has seen dawn of the dead so many times i can quote it in my sleep. The Ring lost a lot of its appeal because it got so much popularity and when i finally braved the japanese version i was pretty much underwhelmed.
Just in case people don’t know, the Akira manga is a million times better than the anime.
I agree with Heiko @ comment 28. The list is perfect but Akira is no J-Horror. It’s an amazing SF-anime, with some gruesome scenes, but stands out too much to be in this list. Shutter on the other hand is a very original story and very, very scary. A third place for Shutter!
Hey guys, I’m the author and I just wanted to respond to some of the responses on this.
I agree that Akira isn’t techinically a J-horror film, but it’s scary, none the less.
Mick – The Eye is a C-Horror (Chinese horror) movie, which originated in Hong Kong, which is why it isn’t on the list.
Heiko – Shutter originated in Thailand, not Japan.
Vampire Hunter D would’ve been a good one for the list. I’m going to admit that I actually wrote this at 1 am in the morning, so I wasn’t really thinking and plus I’ve never really seen VHD and I looked for ones that where the most popular in the United States and worked from there, so I went with what I knew in my knowledge, so I tried to judge best I could.
I had a big conflict with which one I had to put on #1, but I felt my choice was clear when it came down to Ju-On or Ringu.
Most of the movies on this list comes from this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:J-Horror
The one Takashi Miike film that I really think should have made this list: “Visitor Q”. If you have not seen it, please don’t, if you have we will be crying ourselves to sleep together. If you have see Kevin Smith films… a similar compair is his “Vulgar” to “Mallrats” as is Miike’s “Ichi” to “Visitor Q”
(Don’t watch it)
The Ring was an outstanding J-horror film. Good number 1.
You should just change it to Asian Horror and take out Akira and Ichi and replace with “Tale of Two Sisters” and “Three…Extremes”. Love both of those. And yea, Oldboy is insanely good and shame on whoever posted the spoiler above!!
Although I am not an expert on Japanese culture, horror evokes the same emotion throughout the world. Kurosawa has lended as much to the psychological aspects of cinema as any other filmmaker, and he did it before and after a *****ing atom bomb. That said, Japanese cinema has always been a bright beacon in the furthering of the art. BUT, besides classic ghost stories and fairy tales, J-horror is a one trick pony played over and over. Some stand out as art, most do not. Best “J- horror” movie I’ve ever seen is The Shining by Kubrick.
The Japanese know how to make some really freaking scary *****. Not that I’ve ever seen any of it, I don’t really do horror movies. I just don’t really enjoy being scared so badly I can’t sleep for weeks, which is usually what happens.
Kelsi: then how do you know they make “some really freaking scary *****”?
I would like to check some of these out, that is if i can sit through one…
yeah that is right, i am the ultimate wuss when it comes to horrot movies.
im going to be honest… i hate the ring and i really hated the grudge. other than that im not going to make much more of a judgment b/c i haven’t seen any of the other films
or horror movies for those who keeping track.
i meant to put who are keeping track…
today isn’t really my day…
You don’t want to confuse Korean Horror (K-Horror) with Japanese Horror (J-Horror). They’re only a letter apart but it’s still a culture of difference!
I saw Ringu when it came out here in Denmark. I wish i had never seen it. It must be the scariest movie ever.
Ichi the Killer is a comedy, not horror.