Asian Horror/Thriller/Exploitation/Fantasy
by vaakanainen-noora | created - 24 Oct 2020 | updated - 08 Aug 2022 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Not Rated | 147 min | Drama, Thriller
An entomologist on vacation is trapped by local villagers into living with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara | Stars: Eiji Okada, Kyôko Kishida, Kôji Mitsui, Hiroko Itô
Votes: 22,661
2. In the Realm of the Senses (1976)
NC-17 | 109 min | Drama, Romance
A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda, Aoi Nakajima, Yasuko Matsui
Votes: 22,775
3. Onibaba (1964)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Two women kill samurai and sell their belongings for a living. While one of them is having an affair with their neighbor, the other woman meets a mysterious samurai wearing a bizarre mask.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Satô, Jûkichi Uno
Votes: 21,822
4. 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: 48,019 | Gross: $0.33M
5. 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: 10,865
6. Kwaidan (1964)
Not Rated | 183 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Rentarô Mikuni, Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe, Kenjirô Ishiyama
Votes: 19,965
7. The Handmaiden (2016)
Not Rated | 145 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong, Moon So-ri
Votes: 172,217 | Gross: $2.01M
8. 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: 77,397
9. 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: 89,116
10. Empire of Passion (1978)
R | 105 min | Drama, Horror, Romance
A married woman and her lover murder her husband and dump his body into a well. After a while, his ghost comes to haunt them while the local gossip grows stronger.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima | Stars: Tatsuya Fuji, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Takahiro Tamura, Takuzô Kawatani
Votes: 4,924
11. Dream Home (2010)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror
Cheng Li-sheung is a young, upwardly mobile professional finally ready to invest in her first home. But when the deal falls through, she is forced to keep her dream alive - even if it means keeping her would-be neighbors dead.
Director: Ho-Cheung Pang | Stars: Josie Ho, Ching Wong, Helen To, Man Jan San
Votes: 5,888
12. Black Cat (1968)
Not Rated | 99 min | Drama, Horror
Two women are raped and killed by samurai soldiers. Soon they reappear as vengeful ghosts who seduce and brutally murder the passing samurai.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Kichiemon Nakamura, Nobuko Otowa, Kei Satô, Rokkô Toura
Votes: 8,559
13. Thirst (2009)
R | 134 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Through a failed medical experiment, a priest is stricken with vampirism and is forced to abandon his ascetic ways.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Choi Hee-jin, Seo Dong-soo
Votes: 51,364 | Gross: $0.30M
14. Wishing Stairs (2003)
R | 100 min | Horror, Drama
A staircase leading to the dormitory of a remote boarding school usually has 28 stairs, but every so often there appears to be 29. When someone steps on the mysterious extra stair, the horror begins.
Director: Jae-yeon Yun | Stars: Song Ji-Hyo, Park Han-byeol, Jo An, Park Ji-yeon
Votes: 3,308
15. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
R | 114 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
After being institutionalized in a mental hospital, Su-mi reunites with her sister, Su-yeon, and they return to live at their country home. But strange events plague the house, leading to surprising revelations and a shocking conclusion.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Lim Soo-jung, Yum Jung-ah, Kim Kap-su, Moon Geun-young
Votes: 68,218
16. The Housemaid (2016)
Not Rated | 105 min | Horror, Romance
When an orphaned Vietnamese girl is hired to be a housemaid at a haunted rubber plantation in 1953 French Indochina, she unexpectedly falls in love with the French landowner and awakens the... See full summary »
Director: Derek Nguyen | Stars: Nhung Kate, Jean-Michel Richaud, Kim Xuan, Svitlana Kovalenko
Votes: 897
17. 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: 25,544 | Gross: $0.05M
18. 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: 194,286
19. Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972)
Not Rated | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After being used and betrayed by the detective she had fallen in love with, young Matsu is sent to a female prison full of sadistic guards and disobedient prisoners.
Director: Shun'ya Itô | Stars: Meiko Kaji, Rie Yokoyama, Yayoi Watanabe, Yôko Mihara
Votes: 4,857
20. Lady Snowblood (1973)
Not Rated | 97 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A strikingly beautiful young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.
Director: Toshiya Fujita | Stars: Meiko Kaji, Toshio Kurosawa, Masaaki Daimon, Miyoko Akaza
Votes: 16,277
21. Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance (1974)
Not Rated | 89 min | Drama, Thriller
To avoid a death sentence for her prior acts of bloodshed, the vengeful swordswoman Lady Snowblood is conscripted by the Japanese Secret Police to assassinate political dissidents.
Director: Toshiya Fujita | Stars: Meiko Kaji, Jûzô Itami, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Yoshio Harada
Votes: 4,206
22. 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: 94,956 | Gross: $0.78M
23. Bad Guy (2001)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama, Romance
An unfeeling gangster seeks to ruin the life of a young girl who rejected him. He forces her into prostitution and spies on her regularly, then he soon begins to fall for her.
Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Cho Jae-hyun, Won Seo, Kim Yun-tae, Choi Deok-moon
Votes: 10,589
24. The Isle (2000)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Thriller
Working at a fishing resort in an idyllic location, but surrounded by various facets of human unpleasantness, a young mute woman falls in love with a man on the run from the law for committing murder.
Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Jung Suh, Kim Yu-seok, Cho Jae-hyun, Jang Hang-seon
Votes: 14,702 | Gross: $0.02M
25. Moebius (2013)
Unrated | 89 min | Drama, Thriller
A father driven into desire, a son coveting that of his father's and the sorrowful maternity that hovers them into tragedy.
Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Cho Jae-hyun, Seo Yeong-ju, Lee Na-ra, Na Chul
Votes: 6,551
26. Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972)
Not Rated | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After spending a year in solitary confinement, Matsu escapes from prison with six more convicts, followed by the guards led by the vengeful warden who wants her dead at all costs.
Director: Shun'ya Itô | Stars: Meiko Kaji, Fumio Watanabe, Yukie Kagawa, Kayoko Shiraishi
Votes: 3,369
27. Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701's Grudge Song (1973)
Not Rated | 89 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Once again on the lam, Matsu is helped by a strip club worker who holds a grudge against the detective who's trying to find her.
Director: Yasuharu Hasebe | Stars: Meiko Kaji, Masakazu Tamura, Yumi Kanei, Hiroshi Tsukata
Votes: 1,599
28. Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (1973)
Not Rated | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Matsu is sheltered by an incestuous prostitute on her run from the police, her ex-prison mate and a cop whose arm she hacked off.
Director: Shun'ya Itô | Stars: Meiko Kaji, Mikio Narita, Reisen Ri, Yayoi Watanabe
Votes: 2,102
29. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
PG-13 | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A young Chinese warrior steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man in the frontier of the nation.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang, Chang Chen
Votes: 281,498 | Gross: $128.08M
30. Blind Beast (1969)
86 min | Drama, Horror
A blind sculpter and his mother kidnap a young model.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Eiji Funakoshi, Mako Midori, Noriko Sengoku
Votes: 3,900
31. House (1977)
Not Rated | 88 min | Comedy, Horror
A schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted.
Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi | Stars: Kimiko Ikegami, Miki Jinbo, Kumiko Ôba, Ai Matsubara
Votes: 33,664
32. Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss (1970)
Not Rated | 80 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A wandering tough biker girl aids a female delinquent gang in their battles against an all-male Seiyu group over a fixed boxing match.
Director: Yasuharu Hasebe | Stars: Akiko Wada, Meiko Kaji, Kôji Wada, Tatsuya Fuji
Votes: 835
33. 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: 25,887
34. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992)
R | 83 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
When metal-worshipping fanatics abduct his son, a father unleashes his dormant destructive power, as his naked rage transforms the once-feeble flesh into a grisly symbiosis of metal and tissue. Who dares to defy the ultimate body-hammer?
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Tomorô Taguchi, Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Nobu Kanaoka, Sujin Kim
Votes: 5,089 | Gross: $0.00M
35. The Wailing (2016)
TV-MA | 156 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Soon after a stranger arrives in a little village, a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman, drawn into the incident, is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.
Director: Na Hong-jin | Stars: Jun Kunimura, Hwang Jung-min, Kwak Do-won, Chun Woo-hee
Votes: 81,768
36. Shutter (II) (2004)
Not Rated | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young photographer and his girlfriend discover mysterious shadows in their photographs after a tragic accident. They soon learn that you can not escape your past.
Directors: Banjong Pisanthanakun, Parkpoom Wongpoom | Stars: Ananda Everingham, Natthaweeranuch Thongmee, Achita Sikamana, Unnop Chanpaibool
Votes: 49,109
37. Memento Mori (1999)
R | 97 min | Horror, Romance, Drama
In this second installment of the Whispering Corridors series, a young girl finds a strange diary, capable of arousing hallucinations, kept by two of her senior fellow-students who seem to have an unusually close bond.
Directors: Kyu-dong Min, Kim Tae-yong | Stars: Kim Gyu-ri, Park Yejin, Lee Yeong-jin, Jong-hak Baek
Votes: 3,604
38. The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)
R | 113 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A family moves to the country to run a rustic mountain inn when, to their horror, the customers begin befalling sudden and unlikely fates.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Kenji Sawada, Keiko Matsuzaka, Shinji Takeda, Naomi Nishida
Votes: 10,016
39. Irezumi (1966)
86 min | Drama
A seductive woman gets kidnapped into prostitution. After getting a spider tattoo made on her back, she grows vengeful, leaving several men in her path.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Akio Hasegawa, Gaku Yamamoto, Kei Satô
Votes: 1,347
40. The Eye (2002)
R | 99 min | Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
A blind girl gets a cornea transplant so that she will be able to see again. She gets more than she bargained for upon realizing she can also see ghosts.
Directors: Danny Pang, Oxide Chun Pang | Stars: Angelica Lee, Chutcha Rujinanon, Lawrence Chou, Jinda Duangtoy
Votes: 30,063 | Gross: $0.51M
41. Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo (1970)
Not Rated | 84 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Five freewheeling friends conjure up a plan to rob 30 million yen from a religious movement.
Director: Toshiya Fujita | Stars: Meiko Kaji, Bunjaku Han, Takeo Chii, Tatsuya Fuji
Votes: 523
42. Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter (1970)
Not Rated | 85 min | Crime, Thriller
A street girl gang clashes with racist local gangsters after one of the girls starts dating an Afro-Japanese man.
Director: Yasuharu Hasebe | Stars: Meiko Kaji, Rikiya Yasuoka, Tatsuya Fuji, Jirô Okazaki
Votes: 883
43. The Warrior (2001)
R | 158 min | Action, Drama, History
1375. Nine Koryo warriors, envoys exiled by Imperial China, battle to protect a Chinese Ming Princess from Mongolian troops.
Director: Kim Sung-su | Stars: Jung Woo-sung, Ahn Sung-ki, Ju Jin-mo, Ziyi Zhang
Votes: 11,256
44. 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: 3,347
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