Sometimes, the search for the biggest scare possible may take you overseas and into an exploration of Japanese horror movies. There are many great Asian horror movies originating from the “Land of the Rising Sun” that are so unique in tone and in shock value, that they have become a subgenre all their own, identified by the shorthand term, J-horror. If this piques your interest, take a look at the following guide to some of the best horror movies to come from Japan.
Cure (1997)
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Starring: Masato Hagiwara, Kôji Yakusho
What it’s about: A detective investigates a series of murders committed by people unable to remember their own brutal crimes.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: As recalled by Far Out, Martin Scorsese believes that Cure is Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s most terrifying film, and given the gruesomeness of the crimes and the story’s psychological intensity, he is not alone.
How to watch Cure
One Cut Of The Dead (2017)
Director: Shin'ichirô Ueda
Starring: Takayuki Hamatsu, Yuzuki Akiyama
What it’s about: A low-budget zombie movie production is interrupted when real reanimated corpses attack.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: One of the most acclaimed zombie movies made in a mockumentary style is One Cut of the Dead, which is also available with a Shudder subscription.
How to watch One Cut Of The Dead
- Stream One Cut Of The Dead on AMC+
- Rent or buy One Cut Of The Dead on Amazon
- Buy One Cut Of The Dead on Blu-ray on Amazon
Throne Of Blood (1957)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Minoru Chiaki
What it’s about: By his wife’s suggestion, a hardened war general aspires to assume leadership of his kingdom, as part of a prophecy.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: Inspired by William Shakespeare’s seminal tragedy, Macbeth, Throne of Blood is a brutal and – as the title suggests – bloody drama from one of Japanese cinema’s most influential legends.
How to watch Throne of Blood
- Stream Throne of Blood on Max
- Rent or buy Throne of Blood on Amazon
- Buy Throne of Blood on Blu-ray on Amazon
Godzilla MInus One (2023)
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Starring: Minami Hamabe, Munetaka Aoki
What it’s about: Already grieving their losses from World War II, the people of Japan are soon burdened by a new disaster in the form of a large, destructive creature.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: By reimagining the eponymous kaiju’s lore and making the human characters just as – if not more – important, the Academy Award-winning Godzilla Minus One might be the best Godzilla movie since the original, if not better.
How to watch Godzilla MInus One
- Stream Godzilla MInus One on Netflix
- Rent or buy Godzilla MInus One on Amazon
- Buy Godzilla MInus One on Blu-ray on Amazon
Godzilla (1954)
Director: Ishirô Honda
Starring: Takashi Shimura, Akihiko Hirata
What it’s about: Experimentation with nuclear weapons leads to the development of a gargantuan, reptilian beast that wreaks havoc on Tokyo.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: Of course, for any fan of disaster flicks and monster movies, the classic that started it all, Godzilla (originally released in Japan as Gojira) is required viewing.
Noroi: The Curse (2005)
Director: Kōji Shiraishi
Starring: Jin Muraki, Rio Kanno
What it’s about: A documentary film crew follows a paranormal researcher (Jin Muraki) as he investigates a series of disturbing instances in Japan that lead him to wonder if it is the work of an ancient demon.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: Noroi: The Curse has earned a reputation as one of the scariest found footage thrillers of its time by the subgenre’s biggest fans.
How to watch Noroi: The Curse
Pulse (2001)
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Starring: Haruhiko Katô, Kumiko Asô
What it’s about: Two groups of people begin to suspect that the dead may be trying to communicate with them through the Internet.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: While it was later remade for American audiences into a thriller starring Kristen Bell, most fans still prefer the viscerally frightening original Pulse from iconic writer and director Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Kwaidan (1964)
Director: Mayasaki Kobayashi
Starring: Various
What it’s about: This collection of Japanese folktales tells the story of a poor man’s regrettable decision to leave his wife, a woodcutter’s strange encounter in a winter storm, a blind musician enlisted by a ghostly court, and a man who sees a face in his tea.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Feature, Kwaidan is a beautifully shot, exquisitely eerie anthology horror movie classic.
Ju-On: The Grudge (2002)
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Starring: Megumi Okina, Misaki Itô
What it’s about: A disparate group of people each become tormented by a vengeful spirit, and all for the same reason: each of them entered a house which was the site of a brutal crime.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: The third in an ongoing series about the past catching up with you, Ju-On: The Grudge is arguably the scariest installment but undeniably the most recognizable, thanks to the popularity of the 2004 English-language remake starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.
How to watch Ju-On: The Grudge
- Stream Ju-On: The Grudge on AMC+
- Stream Ju-On: The Grudge on Tubi
- Rent or buy Ju-On: The Grudge on Amazon
Ringu (1998)
Director: Hideo Nakata
Starring: Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani
What it’s about: A reporter investigating the strange deaths of teenagers supposedly linked to a “cursed” videotape races to uncover its secrets after she watches the footage herself.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: The terrifying hit Ringu is what essentially sparked Hollywood’s obsession with Americanizing J-horror, following the success of Gore Verbinski’s 2002 remake.
Dark Water (2002)
Director: Hideo Nakata
Starring: Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno
What it’s about: A newly divorced mother struggling to rebuild her life is forced to move herself and her 6-year-old daughter into an apartment building plagued by severe water damage and something deadly lurking beneath.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: The same year the English-language remake of his own Ringu came out, Hideo Nakata released Dark Water – another creepy, emotionally distressing instant classic that was inevitably reimagined for American audiences with Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly in the lead.
Audition (1999)
Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina
What it’s about: A widower receives help from his film producer friend to find love again by hosting a fake movie casting session.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: One J-horror masterpiece that has yet to inspire an American remake (and hopefully it stays that way) is Audition – slow-burn horror movie that is more satisfying the less you know about it going in.
Ichi The Killer (2001)
Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Nao Ômori, Tadanobu Asano
What it’s about: While searching for his missing boss, a Yakuza enforcer crosses paths with a repressed psychopath whose inventive methods of murder inspire much awe and admiration in the sadomasochistic criminal.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: While not quite as subtle and suspenseful as Audition, the visually unique Ichi the Killer proves Takashi Miike is also a master of balancing relentless brutality with cheekily macabre humor.
- Stream Ichi The Killer on Peacock
- Stream Ichi The Killer on Tubi
- Buy Ichi the Killer on Blu-ray on Amazon
Three... Extremes (2004)
Director: Fruit Chan, Park Chan-wook, Takashi Miike
Starring: Various
What it’s about: This unholy trinity lives up to its title with stories involving a groundbreaking aging cure, an attention-seeking actor forcing a successful filmmaker to play a deadly game, and an author tormented by traumatic childhood memories.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: Takashi Miike also put his stamp on one segment from the anthology horror movie Three… Extremes, which makes a damn good case for being the most viscerally unnerving and emotionally distressing.
- Stream Three… Extremes on Amazon Prime
- Stream Three… Extremes on Tubi
- Buy Three… Extremes on Blu-ray on Amazon
Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto
Starring: Tomorô Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara
What it’s about: An ordinary business executive suddenly begins to transform into a grotesque, mangled hybrid of man and machine.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: Not to be confused with the blockbuster that would kick off the Marvel movies, Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a profoundly bizarre and dream-like body horror movie unlike anything you have ever seen.
How to watch Tetsuo: The Iron Man
- Stream Tetsuo: The Iron Man on The Criterion Channel
- Rent or buy Tetsuo: The Iron Man on Amazon
- Buy Tetsuo: The Iron Man on Blu-ray on Amazon
House (1977)
Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi
Starring: Kimiko Ikegami, Miki Jinbo
What it’s about: A teenage girl tries to figure out why her friends have suddenly begun to disappear while visiting her aunt in her seemingly idyllic country house for summer vacation.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: This cult favorite (originally titled Hausu) is a thoroughly captivating and irresistibly ludicrous fever dream unlike any haunted house movie you have ever seen.
Uzumaki (2000)
Director: Higuchinsky
Starring: Eriko Hatsune, Fhi Fan
What it’s about: The citizens of a small town slowly become tormented by a deadly obsession with snails and other objects bearing similar imagery.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: The English translation of Uzumaki actually is “spiral,” which describes the image that the cursed characters of this unforgettable adaptation of Junji Ito’s twisted manga (which later inspired one of the best horror TV shows on Max) cannot seem to get out of their heads.
Tag (2015)
Director: Sion Sono
Starring: Reina Triendl, Mariko Shinoda
What it’s about: As every single person around her suffers an increasingly brutal and inhumane death one by one, a meek schoolgirl desperately struggles to avoid becoming the next victim.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: Tag sees someone take a once wholesome backyard game way too far in an unapologetically gory adaptation of Yûsuke Yamada’s wild ride of a novel.
Suicide Club (2002)
Director: Sion Sono
Starring: Ryo Ishibashi
What it’s about: After a horrifying tragedy seems to spark a string of more self-inflicted deaths all across the country, a detective races to figure out the cause.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: Suicide Club is another film from writer and director Sion Sono in which school girls suffer grisly fates, but in a comparatively more tasteful and grounded way that also offers up some thought-provoking social commentary.
- Stream Suicide Club on Midnight Pulp
- Rent or buy Suicide Club on Amazon
- Buy Suicide Club on Blu-ray on Amazon
Tokyo Gore Police (2008)
Director: Yoshihiro Nishimura
Starring: Eihi Shiina
What it’s about: A young, vengeful cop slices her way through armies of rebellious mutants while in search of her father’s killer in a futuristic society in which the police force has become a privatized, reckless entity.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: Tokyo Gore Police is a dizzying display of pretty much everything you could ask for from a satirical, dystopian J-horror splatterfest fantasy.
How to watch Tokyo Gore Police
- Stream Tokyo Gore Police on AMC+
- Stream Tokyo Gore Police on Tubi
- Buy Tokyo Gore Police on Blu-ray on Amazon
Battle Royale (2000)
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda
What it’s about: As punishment, a group of minors are kidnapped and forced to participate in a fight to the death as part of a recently passed government law in a dystopian society.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: Battle Royale may sound familiar but actually came out years before the Hunger Games movies, is based on a book written before author Suzanne Collins conceived her hit series, and is widely considered the more clever and thrilling film about a juvenile death match.
- Stream Battle Royale on Amazon Prime
- Stream Battle Royale on Tubi
- Buy Battle Royale on Blu-ray on Amazon
Onibaba (1964)
Director: Kaneto Shindô
Starring: Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura
What it’s about: Two women who make a living off of killing samurai experience a bizarre change in their lives as one indulges in an affair and the other crosses paths with one warrior wearing a horrifying demon mask in the 14th Century.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: Onibaba – a supremely creepy tale inspired by Japanese folklore, boasting one of the most indelible mask designs in the history of the genre.
Jigoku (1960)
Director: Nobuo Nakagawa
Starring: Shigeru Amachi, Utako Mitsuya
What it’s about: A series of sinful decisions leads a group of people closer and closer to damnation.
Why it is one of the best Japanese horror movies: The surreal, grim descent into Hell that is Jigoku would earn Nobuo Nakagawa the honor of being referred to as the father of the Japanese horror movie.
When was the last time you saw such a diverse assortment of styles and concepts that all exist in the same genre? That, indeed, is what makes Japanese horror such a rich and essential entity and we just showed you the best of the bunch.
