Best J-Horror Movies
by KellekBaldwin | created - 05 Mar 2018 | updated - 22 Jan 2019 | PublicIntroduction to Contemporary Japanese Horror Movies
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1. Battle Royale (2000)
Not Rated | 114 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill one another under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
Director: Kinji Fukasaku | Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarô Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama
Votes: 194,535
2. Audition (1999)
R | 115 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, Jun Kunimura
Votes: 89,308
3. Ringu (1998)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Mystery
A reporter and her ex-husband investigate a cursed video tape that is rumored to kill the viewer seven days after watching it.
Director: Hideo Nakata | Stars: Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani, Yûko Takeuchi, Hitomi Satô
Votes: 77,549
4. Cure (1997)
Not Rated | 111 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they've done.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Masato Hagiwara, Koji Yakusho, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa
Votes: 23,136 | Gross: $0.09M
5. Dark Water (2002)
PG-13 | 101 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A mother and her 6-year-old daughter move into a creepy apartment whose every surface is permeated by water.
Director: Hideo Nakata | Stars: Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi, Asami Mizukawa
Votes: 34,951
6. Pulse (2001)
R | 119 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Two groups of people discover evidence that suggests spirits may be trying to invade the human world through the Internet.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Haruhiko Katô, Kumiko Asô, Koyuki, Kurume Arisaka
Votes: 25,626 | Gross: $0.05M
7. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
Not Rated | 67 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A businessman accidentally kills The Metal Fetishist, who gets his revenge by slowly turning the man into a grotesque hybrid of flesh and rusty metal.
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Tomorô Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka, Shin'ya Tsukamoto
Votes: 25,949
8. Gozu (2003)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A yakuza enforcer is ordered to secretly drive his beloved colleague to be assassinated. But when the colleague unceremoniously disappears en route, the trip that follows is a twisted, surreal and horrifying experience.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Yûta Sone, Kimika Yoshino, Shohei Hino, Keiko Tomita
Votes: 12,741 | Gross: $0.05M
9. Perfect Blue (1997)
R | 81 min | Animation, Crime, Drama
A pop singer gives up her career to become an actress, but she slowly goes insane when she starts being stalked by an obsessed fan and what seems to be a ghost of her past.
Director: Satoshi Kon | Stars: Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Masaaki Ôkura
Votes: 95,726 | Gross: $0.78M
10. Cold Fish (2010)
Not Rated | 146 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
The lives of a bored suburban couple are changed forever when a seemingly nice old man gives their daughter a job at his fish store, and soon his gruesome hobbies are brought to light.
Director: Sion Sono | Stars: Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Denden, Asuka Kurosawa, Megumi Kagurazaka
Votes: 14,538
11. Noroi (2005)
Not Rated | 115 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A documentary filmmaker explores seemingly unrelated paranormal incidents connected by the legend of an ancient demon called the "kagutaba."
Director: Kôji Shiraishi | Stars: Jin Muraki, Rio Kanno, Tomono Kuga, Marika Matsumoto
Votes: 15,351
12. Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)
R | 92 min | Horror
A mysterious and vengeful spirit marks and pursues anybody who dares enter the house in which it resides.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Megumi Okina, Misaki Itô, Misa Uehara, Yui Ichikawa
Votes: 48,114 | Gross: $0.33M
13. Strange Circus (2005)
Unrated | 108 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
The erotic novelist Taeko is writing a morbid story of a family destroyed by incest, murder and abuse. Her assistant, Yuji, sets on a mission to uncover the reality of this story, but the reality might be too much to bear.
Director: Sion Sono | Stars: Masumi Miyazaki, Issei Ishida, Rie Kuwana, Seiko Iwaidô
Votes: 6,260
14. Suicide Club (2001)
R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A detective is trying to find the cause of a string of suicides.
Director: Sion Sono | Stars: Ryo Ishibashi, Masatoshi Nagase, Mai Hosho, Tamao Satô
Votes: 22,233
15. Noriko's Dinner Table (2005)
Not Rated | 159 min | Drama, Horror
A teenager called Noriko Shimabara runs away from her family in Tokoyama, to meet Kumiko, the leader of an Internet BBS, Haikyo.com. She becomes involved with Kumiko's "family circle", ... See full summary »
Director: Sion Sono | Stars: Kazue Fukiishi, Tsugumi, Yuriko Yoshitaka, Shirô Namiki
Votes: 4,993
16. Three... Extremes (2004)
R | 125 min | Horror
An Asian cross-cultural trilogy of horror films from accomplished indie directors.
Directors: Fruit Chan, Park Chan-wook, Takashi Miike | Stars: Bai Ling, Lee Byung-hun, Kyoko Hasegawa, Pauline Lau
Votes: 20,880 | Gross: $0.08M
17. Dumplings (2004)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, Horror
Aunt Mei's famous homemade dumplings provide amazing age-defying qualities popular with middle-aged women. But her latest customer - a fading actress - is determined to find out what the secret ingredient is.
Director: Fruit Chan | Stars: Bai Ling, Miriam Chin-Wah Yeung, Sum-Yeung Wong, Wai-Ling Chan
Votes: 10,302
18. Retribution (2006)
R | 104 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
An experienced police detective has to investigate the murder of an unknown woman dressed in a scarlet dress.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Koji Yakusho, Manami Konishi, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Hiroyuki Hirayama
Votes: 3,265
19. Spiral (2000)
90 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
The inhabitants of a small Japanese town become increasingly obsessed with and tormented by spirals.
Director: Higuchinsky | Stars: Eriko Hatsune, Fhi Fan, Hinako Saeki, Shin Eun-kyung
Votes: 9,000
20. Exte: Hair Extensions (2007)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Horror
About hair extensions that attack the women that wear them.
Director: Sion Sono | Stars: Chiaki Kuriyama, Megumi Satô, Tsugumi, Eri Machimoto
Votes: 3,355
21. Reincarnation (2005)
R | 96 min | Horror, Mystery
A Japanese actress begins having strange visions and experiences after landing a role in a horror film about a real-life murder spree that took place over forty years ago.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Yûka, Karina, Kippei Shîna, Tetta Sugimoto
Votes: 6,766
22. Yogen (2004)
R | 95 min | Horror
A newspaper predicts the deaths of a man's (Hiroshi Mikami) family members and friends.
Director: Norio Tsuruta | Stars: Hiroshi Mikami, Noriko Sakai, Maki Horikita, Mayumi Ono
Votes: 4,604
23. One Missed Call (2003)
R | 112 min | Horror, Mystery
People mysteriously start receiving voicemail messages from their future selves, foretelling their deaths.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Kô Shibasaki, Shin'ichi Tsutsumi, Kazue Fukiishi, Anna Nagata
Votes: 19,325
24. Over Your Dead Body (2014)
Not Rated | 93 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Fiction begins to bleed into reality for actors (Ebizo Ichikawa, Ko Shibasaki, Hideaki Ito) as they rehearse a stage production of a classic Japanese ghost story.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Kô Shibasaki, Hideaki Itô, Ebizô Ichikawa, Toshie Negishi
Votes: 1,594
25. Marebito (2004)
R | 92 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A fear-obsessed freelance cameraman (Shinya Tsukamoto) investigates an urban legend involving mysterious spirits that haunt the subways of Tokyo.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Tomomi Miyashita, Kazuhiro Nakahara, Miho Ninagawa
Votes: 5,702 | Gross: $0.01M
26. Haze (2005)
Not Rated | 49 min | Horror, Mystery
A man wakes up to find himself locked in a cramped concrete maze of corridors, in which he can barely move. He doesn't remember why he is there or how he got there. He has a terrible stomach injury and is slowly bleeding to death.
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Takahiro Murase, Takahiro Kandaka, Masato Tsujioka
Votes: 3,103
27. Nightmare Detective (2006)
Unrated | 106 min | Action, Crime, Fantasy
Three people in Tokyo take a surreal voyage of self-discovery through memory and nightmares. "O" intends suicide while talking on a cell-phone with a stranger he meets on line who plans a ... See full summary »
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Ryûhei Matsuda, Hitomi, Masanobu Andô, Ren Ôsugi
Votes: 2,755
28. Akumu tantei 2 (2008)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Horror
Still haunted by his unwanted abilities, which allow him to enter other people's dreams, and memories of his mother dying when he was a child, Kyoichi Kagenuma (Ryuhei Matsuda) contemplates... See full summary »
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Ryûhei Matsuda, Yui Miura, Hanae Kan, Hatsune Matsushima
Votes: 742
29. Tag (2015)
85 min | Action, Drama, Fantasy
A girl's life cascades into chaos as everyone around her suffers a gruesome fate while she becomes less certain of who she is and her once-once normal.
Director: Sion Sono | Stars: Reina Triendl, Mariko Shinoda, Erina Mano, Yuki Sakurai
Votes: 8,104
30. Ranpo jigoku (2005)
134 min | Fantasy, Horror
This four-part anthology takes its cue from the short fiction of legendary horror writer Edogawa Rampo.
Directors: Akio Jissôji, Atsushi Kaneko, Hisayasu Satô, Suguru Takeuchi | Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Yûko Daike, Chisako Hara, Masami Horiuchi
Votes: 1,195
31. Lesson of the Evil (2012)
Unrated | 129 min | Horror, Thriller
A popular high school teacher concocts an extreme plan to deal with the rise of bullying and bad behavior among the student body.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Fumi Nikaidô, Takehiro Hira, Hideaki Itô, Shôta Sometani
Votes: 6,796
32. Tomie (1998)
95 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A traumatized young woman is trying to recover her memories with the help of a psychiatrist. During her hypnosis sessions, she repeats the name "Tomie" but is unable to recall where she knows it from.
Director: Ataru Oikawa | Stars: Miho Kanno, Mami Nakamura, Yoriko Dôguchi, Tomorô Taguchi
Votes: 1,973
33. The Ring Two (2005)
PG-13 | 110 min | Horror, Mystery
6 months after the incidents involving the lethal videotape, new clues prove that there is a new evil lurking in the darkness.
Director: Hideo Nakata | Stars: Naomi Watts, David Dorfman, Sissy Spacek, Simon Baker
Votes: 101,019 | Gross: $76.23M
34. Ring 2 (1999)
Not Rated | 95 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Reiko takes Yôichi into hiding when her son begins to display frightening powers. Meanwhile, Mai Takano and the authorities begin a desperate search for them, as the mysterious Ring curse spreads.
Director: Hideo Nakata | Stars: Miki Nakatani, Hitomi Satô, Kyôko Fukada, Fumiyo Kohinata
Votes: 14,734
35. Ring 0: Birthday (2000)
Not Rated | 99 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
In this prequel to Ring, a young Sadako becomes an actress in hopes of escaping her troubled past. But strange visions and terrifying powers begin to manifest...
Director: Norio Tsuruta | Stars: Yukie Nakama, Seiichi Tanabe, Kumiko Asô, Takeshi Wakamatsu
Votes: 9,923
36. Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (2003)
R | 92 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
As their curse spreads on, the ghosts find their chance to live once again through the pregnancy of a cursed woman.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Noriko Sakai, Chiharu Niiyama, Kei Horie, Yui Ichikawa
Votes: 10,889
37. The Grudge (2004)
PG-13 | 91 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
An American nurse living and working in Tokyo is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse, one that locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming their life and spreading to another victim.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, Clea DuVall, William Mapother
Votes: 150,912 | Gross: $110.36M
38. Ju-on: The Curse (2000 Video)
TV-PG | 70 min | Horror, Mystery
A teacher visits the house of one of his students after the boy goes missing, only to have a horrifying excuse for his absence from school.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Yûrei Yanagi, Yue, Ryôta Koyama, Hitomi Miwa
Votes: 8,985
39. The Grudge 2 (2006)
PG-13 | 102 min | Horror, Thriller
Three interwoven stories about a terrible curse. A young woman encounters a malevolent supernatural force while searching for her missing sister in Tokyo; a mean high school prank goes horribly wrong; a woman with a deadly secret moves into a Chicago apartment building.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Amber Tamblyn, Edison Chen, Arielle Kebbel, Sarah Michelle Gellar
Votes: 51,478 | Gross: $39.14M
40. Ju-on: The Curse 2 (2000)
Not Rated | 76 min | Horror, Mystery
On his request, the sensitive sister of a real estate agent visits a house he intends to sell, only to cross paths with its resident curse.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Yûrei Yanagi, Takako Fuji, Takashi Matsuyama, Ryôta Koyama
Votes: 4,064
41. Kansen (2004)
R | 98 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
INFECTION takes place in a dark, isolated hospital, where a doctor's mistake has led to dire consequences for a patient.
Director: Masayuki Ochiai | Stars: Michiko Hada, Mari Hoshino, Tae Kimura, Yôko Maki
Votes: 5,766
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