Japanese Horror: A Retrospective
by PDZombie | created - 02 Aug 2013 | updated - 21 Aug 2020 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Ugetsu (1953)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
A tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyô, Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito
Votes: 25,781 | Gross: $0.01M
2. The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959)
76 min | Horror
The ghost of a samurai's wife takes revenge on her husband.
Director: Nobuo Nakagawa | Stars: Shigeru Amachi, Noriko Kitazawa, Katsuko Wakasugi, Shuntarô Emi
Votes: 1,815
3. The Sinners of Hell (1960)
Not Rated | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the Gates of Hell.
Director: Nobuo Nakagawa | Stars: Shigeru Amachi, Utako Mitsuya, Yôichi Numata, Hiroshi Hayashi
Votes: 4,564
4. 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: 19,963
5. 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: 21,821
6. Horrors of Malformed Men (1969)
Not Rated | 99 min | Horror
After escaping from an insane asylum, a medical student assumes the identity of a mysterious dead man, who appeared to be his doppelganger, and gets lured to a sinister island ruled by a mad scientist and his malformed men.
Director: Teruo Ishii | Stars: Teruo Yoshida, Yukie Kagawa, Teruko Yumi, Mitsuko Aoi
Votes: 1,877
7. 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: 33,660
8. 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
9. Evil Dead Trap (1988)
Unrated | 102 min | Horror
A late night TV presenter receives a snuff tape, in which a woman is brutally killed. She decides to take a crew out to a location indicated in the tape, but only death and despair await them.
Director: Toshiharu Ikeda | Stars: Miyuki Ono, Aya Katsuragi, Hitomi Kobayashi, Eriko Nakagawa
Votes: 3,785
10. 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: 25,884
11. Hiruko the Goblin (1991)
89 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A goblin is sent to Earth to behead students and turn their bodies into demons.
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Kenji Sawada, Masaki Kudou, Hideo Murota, Naoto Takenaka
Votes: 1,711
12. Scary True Stories: Ten Haunting Tales from the Japanese Underground (1991 Video)
50 min | Horror
I,want to know about true creepy stories from Japan.
Director: Norio Tsuruta | Stars: Junko Asanuma, Yumi Goto, Hiromi Hisano, Rie Kondoh
Votes: 185
13. 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: 22,931 | Gross: $0.09M
14. 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: 77,395
15. 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
16. Gemini (1999)
84 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A successful doctor, Yukio's picture perfect life is gradually wrecked, and taken over by his avenging twin brother, who bumps off his family members one by one and reclaims his lover who is now Yukio's wife.
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Masahiro Motoki, Ryô, Yasutaka Tsutsui, Masako Motai
Votes: 2,876
17. Charisma (1999)
104 min | Drama, Mystery
A seasoned detective is called in to rescue a politician held hostage by a lunatic. In a brief moment of uncertainty, he misses the chance for action. Leaving his job and family without ... See full summary »
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Koji Yakusho, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Ren Ôsugi, Yoriko Dôguchi
Votes: 2,048
18. Japanese Hell (1999)
Not Rated | 102 min | Horror
16 year old Rika wants to leave a murderous cult but she is sent to Hell where she meets demons and souls who have committed heinous and outrageous crimes.
Director: Teruo Ishii | Stars: Mutsumi Fujita, Hisayoshi Hirayama, Michiko Maeda, Yôko Satomi
Votes: 343
19. Freeze Me (2000)
101 min | Drama, Thriller
A woman is raped by 3 men. She moves south to Tokyo and 5 years later is about to marry a colleague, when one of the rapists enters her apartment. The other 2 come later.
Director: Takashi Ishii | Stars: Harumi Inoue, Shingo Tsurumi, Kazuki Kitamura, Shunsuke Matsuoka
Votes: 1,893
20. 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: 194,279
21. Séance (2000 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
A psychic housewife and her husband become burdened with a kidnapped girl who escaped her assailant. Junko will not let her husband call the hospital or the police for purely selfish ... See full summary »
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Koji Yakusho, Jun Fubuki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Hikari Ishida
Votes: 1,992
22. 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: 25,539 | Gross: $0.05M
23. 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: 22,184
24. 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: 48,018 | Gross: $0.33M
25. 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: 34,900
26. 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: 19,288
27. Bright Future (2002)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama
Two young guys work in a plant that manufactures oshibori (those moist hand-towels found in some Japanese restaurants). Their weird bond is based on uncontrollable rage--something neither ... See full summary »
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Joe Odagiri, Tadanobu Asano, Tatsuya Fuji, Sayuri Oyamada
Votes: 3,001 | Gross: $0.00M
28. 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: 4,602
29. 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: 5,695 | Gross: $0.01M
30. 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: 5,763
31. 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: 4,986
32. 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: 6,760
33. 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: 15,290
34. 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: 3,254
35. 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: 3,346
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