Top 360 Asian Horror, Grindhouse/Exploitation, Mystery/Thriller Films
This is my starter list for those that are new, or just getting into the art of Asian cinema and Anime. Sort of an intro to my other list. You'll come to find out that these people have a natural gift when it comes to making these sorts of movies! Not to mention the originals are a HELL of a lot better than the subpar American remakes. Here are in my honest opinion, what I would consider to be the top 250 films for beginners that are DEFINITELY worth checking out! Lol please try to keep an open mind, and prepare to be SCARED as well as SCARRED!
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- DirectorNobuo NakagawaStarsShigeru AmachiUtako MitsuyaYôichi NumataA group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the Gates of Hell.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsRentarô MikuniMichiyo AratamaMisako WatanabeA collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsNobuko OtowaJitsuko YoshimuraKei SatôTwo 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.
- DirectorKim Ki-youngStarsJin Kyu KimJeung-nyeo JuEun-shim LeeA composer and his wife are thrown into turmoil when a housemaid becomes more than they bargained for.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsKichiemon NakamuraNobuko OtowaKei SatôTwo women are raped and killed by samurai soldiers. Soon they reappear as vengeful ghosts who seduce and brutally murder the passing samurai.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsMasayuki MoriMachiko KyôKinuyo TanakaA tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.
- DirectorTeinosuke KinugasaStarsMasuo InoueAyako IijimaYoshie NakagawaA man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.
- DirectorHiroshi TeshigaharaStarsTatsuya NakadaiMikijirô HiraKyôko KishidaA businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality.
- DirectorMasahiro ShinodaStarsTomisaburô WakayamaShima IwashitaHiroko IsayamaA mountain man captures a beautiful, but a manipulative city woman and goes to excessive lengths to please her every whim.
- DirectorNobuo NakagawaStarsShigeru AmachiNoriko KitazawaKatsuko WakasugiThe ghost of a samurai's wife takes revenge on her husband.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsAkira KuboKumi MizunoHiroshi KoizumiShipwrecked survivors slowly transform into mushrooms.
- DirectorHajime SatôStarsTeruo YoshidaTomomi SatôHideo KôThe survivors of a plane crash in a remote area are attacked by blob-like alien creatures that turn their victims into blood-thirsty vampires.
- DirectorYasuzô MasumuraStarsEiji FunakoshiMako MidoriNoriko SengokuA blind sculpter and his mother kidnap a young model.
- DirectorTeruo IshiiStarsTeruo YoshidaYukie KagawaTeruko YumiAfter 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.
- DirectorTeruo IshiiStarsMeiko KajiHoki TokudaMakoto SatôThe head of a yakuza gang is being trailed by a mysterious, vengeful blind woman.
- DirectorMichio YamamotoStarsKayo MatsuoAkira NakaoYukiko KobayashiKeiko and her friend are trying to find her missing brother after he disappeared visiting his girlfriend Yuko.
- DirectorTokuzô TanakaStarsShiho FujimuraAkira IshihamaMachiko HasegawaThe lives of a master sculptor and his young apprentice are changed forever when they meet an evil witch during a snow storm.
- DirectorNoriaki YuasaStarsYûko HamadaSachiko MeguroYachie MatsuiExtremely fun Daiei adaptation of two shojo horror manga into a single, crazily FX-laden story about two rival, shape-shifting sisters who are on less than good terms. However, when an evil creature makes an appearance they have to overlook their differences and join forces to battle it.
- DirectorMichio YamamotoStarsChôei TakahashiSanae EmiMidori FujitaA doctor investigates the murders of several women at a lakeside resort. His investigation leads him to believe that a vampire is responsible for the murders. He sets out to track the vampire down.
- DirectorMichio YamamotoStarsToshio KurosawaKunie TanakaKatsuhiko SasakiA teacher assumes a position at a school that's run by a vampire.
- DirectorToshio MatsumotoStarsKatsuo NakamuraJûrô KaraYasuko SanjoAfter being robbed by a geisha, a ronin warrior carves a bloody path to seek revenge.
- DirectorMeng-Hua HoStarsLung TiLieh LoNi TienAn evil magician makes a living by casting deadly spells on people's objects of desire. He gets overly ambitious, and start to go out of control.
- DirectorMeng-Hua HoStarsLung TiNi TienLieh LoAn evil magician and his zombie minions are up against a trio of doctors who are on a mission to find the cause of an outbreak of unknown diseases caused by his spells.
- DirectorNorifumi SuzukiStarsYumi TakigawaEmiko YamauchiYayoi WatanabeIn order to investigate her mother's strange death, a woman enters a sacred convent run by hypocritical, perverse nuns.
- DirectorKazuhiko YamaguchiStarsShin'ichi ChibaKyôsuke MachidaYuriko AzumaA man with a special power attempts to help a cursed woman.
- DirectorChih-Hung KueiStarsKwok-Leung KamLin-Lin LiChun ChenA young man who has been beaten, abused, humiliated and laughed at all his life finds that he has an unusual empathy with snakes. He can talk to them and they understand him, and eventually he finds that he can get them to do his bidding. He decides to use his newfound friends to take his revenge on everyone who ever did him wrong.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsTatsuya FujiEiko MatsudaAoi NakajimaA passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsTatsuya FujiKazuko YoshiyukiTakahiro TamuraA 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.
- DirectorMeng-Hua HoStarsDanny LeePing ChenLily LiA cripple takes revenge on criminals by using a magic spell that transforms him into an oily monster/superhero.
- DirectorHark TsuiStarsSiu-Ming LauMichelle YimShu-Tong WongA journalist attempting to solve a mystery in "Martial World" enlists the aid of a master fighter and a woman named Green Breeze. They go to a mysterious castle where they come across poisonous butterflies and a black-leather-clad killer.
- DirectorHark TsuiStarsNorman ChuEddy KoMelvin WongA secret agent investigates a village that is populated by crazed, inbred cannibals.
- DirectorChih-Hung KueiStarsNi TienJung WangSzu-Chia ChenA man who believes that he has murdered his wife, sees her return as a vengeful ghost.
- DirectorHark TsuiStarsLieh LoChen-Chi LinAlbert AuThree lazybones friends manufacture a firebomb and place it in a cinema. Pearl, a sadistic young girl, has observed the scene, follows the bombers and starts to manipulate them. The four criminals plan more and more daring acts.
- DirectorDennis YuStarsEddie ChanSing ChenKent ChengA father seeks revenge from a gang of thugs who raped his daughter and murdered his son.
- DirectorTun-Fei MouStarsHung YenFeng ChiMing ChenIllegal immigrants from mainland China are smuggled into Hong Kong. They are captured by a gang, then raped, tortured, and murdered.
- DirectorSammo Kam-Bo HungStarsSammo Kam-Bo HungFat ChungLung ChanA rickshaw driver's wife and his rich client are secret lovers, and they decide to get rid of him without being implicated, so they hire a powerful sorcerer to kill him, but the sorcerer's colleague intervenes to protect him.
- DirectorYasuharu HasebeStarsTamaki KatsuraYuri YamashinaNatsuko YashiroTwo restaurant employees begin a torturous and sexual killing spree after they accidentally kill a hitch hiker and find that murder and mutilation is their mutual aphrodisiac.
- DirectorRoy Ward BakerCheh ChangStarsPeter CushingDavid ChiangJulie EgeIn China, Professor Van Helsing helps eight kung fu-trained siblings reclaim their ancestral mountain village, now the domain of seven powerful vampires and their army of undead slaves.
- DirectorNobuo NakagawaStarsKatsuko WakasugiTakashi WadaNoriko KitazawaA blind masseur visits a samurai to request the return of a loan. The samurai kills him in anger, then has his servant dump the body in the Kasane swamp. However, the ghost of the masseur returns to haunt the samurai, who kills his wife by mistake and then goes to the swamp and drowns himself. 20 years later, the masseur's daughter unknowingly falls in love with the samurai's son who has been brought up to be a servant. After she is horribly disfigured in an accident, he plots to run away with another woman, but the path of their escape lies by the Kasane swamp...
- DirectorYûji MakiguchiStarsYûsuke KazatoRena UchimuraAkira ShiojiTwo short stories set in Edo during the Shogun era. 1. During a time when Christians are persecuted vehemently, Iori falls in love with young Christian girl. When she and her family are captured during a raid, his sadistic master takes her as his personal slave to torment Iori, and tries breaking her spirit by means of rape, torture and pure sadism. After Iori refuses to participate any longer he is exiled, but vows to get her back no matter what it takes. 2. When Sutezo is forced to serve the barbarous master of a brothel in order to repay his debts, he becomes friends with a young girl named Sato in process. Together, they both escape and try to get by on scams and petty theft.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsKôji IshizakaYôko ShimadaTeruhiko AoiWhen a tycoon passes away, he unexpectedly leaves the family fortune to outsider Tamayo on the condition that she marries one of the grandsons, pitting blood against blood.
- DirectorYoshitarô NomuraStarsKen'ichi HagiwaraMayumi OgawaTsutomu YamazakiThe heir to a family fortune discovers that a curse has been placed on it, put there centuries before by a band of samurai warriors.
- DirectorNobuhiko ÔbayashiStarsKimiko IkegamiMiki JinboKumiko ÔbaA schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted.
- DirectorSeijun SuzukiStarsYoshio HaradaNaoko ÔtaniKisako MakishiA surreal period film following an university professor and his eerie nomad friend as they go through loose romantic triangles and face death in peculiar ways.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsShin'ichi ChibaKenji SawadaAkiko KanaCenturies ago, a samurai survives the massacre of 35,000 Christians and denounces God for ignoring the pleas of the believers. He sells his soul to the devil and receives the power to resurrect the dead to join him on a murderous rampage.
- DirectorYoung Nam KoStarsIl-bong YunKim Yeong-aeLee Ki-seonA wife starts to suspect her husband's infidelity after the arrival of their new, young housekeeper, who carries a mysterious wooden doll with herself.
- DirectorJen-Chieh ChangStarsShao-Tung ChouBao-Yu WangTi OuA hideously ugly witch casts spells on her victims which turns their insides into snakes and worms.
- DirectorH. Tjut DjalilStarsIlona Agathe BastianYos SantoSofia W.D.A woman researches a book that takes her to the black magic cult of Leák in Bali. She meets an evil witch who promises to train her dark arts. But she is tricked and turned into a flying vampire with internal organs hanging from her neck.
- DirectorChih-Hung KueiStarsNi TienJung WangTsui-Ling YuA necrophiliac killer is murdering the prostitutes at Madame Lan's brothel.
- DirectorLiliek SudjioStarsSuzzannaW.D. MochtarTeddy PurbaA woman is accused of being a witch and thrown to her death over a cliff. A strange man rescues her, nurses her back to health, and is told that she must master black magic in order to exact vengeance on her tormentors.
- DirectorChih-Hung KueiStarsFei AiMelvin WongFanny Fen-NiWhile possessed by an evil spirit, a man murders his daughter. A police detective investigating the case also becomes possessed. A good monk helps fight the evil spirit.
- DirectorChung SunStarsTony LiuKuan Tai ChenLieh LoA psychotic craftsman pits two rival Kung-Fu masters against each other while designing special lanterns from a disturbing source.
- DirectorGerardo de LeonEddie RomeroStarsJohn AshleyAngelique PettyjohnRonald RemyA man who loves to travel, travels to an island where a mad doctor is creating zombies.
- DirectorGerardo de LeonEddie RomeroStarsFrancis LedererGreta ThyssenRichard DerrA mad scientist transforms a panther into a man-like creature that escapes and goes on a murderous rampage.
- DirectorGerardo de LeonStarsRonald RemyAmalia FuentesEddie FernandezA mad nobleman and his vampiric helpers terrify a small town until the villagers turn against them. This intriguing Filipino fright film was shot in an eerie combination of color and sepia tones.
- DirectorEddie RomeroStarsJohn AshleyCeleste YarnallEddie GarciaA mad scientist creates a monster, but after its head is cut off, he keeps it alive in a serum he has invented.
- DirectorGerardo de LeonEddie RomeroStarsJohn AshleyKent TaylorMario MontenegroNatives of a tropical island have to contend with man-eating plants and animals, mutations caused by radioactivity. Virgin sacrifices become the norm. A small group of interlopers become caught up in the mayhem.
- DirectorKuen YeungStarsNorman ChuPhillip KoMaria JoA Hong Kong taxi driver's life horribly falls apart after accidentally hitting a sorcerer with his cab. He decides to seek the sorcerer's help to turn the curse on his enemies at the expense of his own life.
- DirectorChih-Hung KueiStarsPhillip KoShao-Yen LinKar-Man WaiWhile in Thailand to avenge his brother who was crippled in a fight with a corrupt Thai boxer, a man gets caught up in a web of fate, Buddhism and black magic.
- DirectorHung-Chuen LauStarsEddie ChanYung-Chang ChinPak-Kwong HoA woman becomes possessed and dies after a monster is released from an antique vase she had purchased. Twelve years later the monster is re-awakened. First he possesses the family's dog, before moving on to the woman's nephew.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsMasao KusakariTsunehiko WataseIsao NatsuyagiAfter a virus devastates the global human population, survivors in Antarctica desperately try to find a cure and save the human race.
- DirectorRicky LauStarsChing-Ying LamSiu-Ho ChinRicky HuiThe planned reburial of a town elder goes awry as the corpse resurrects into a hopping, bloodthirsty vampire, targeting everyone responsible for digging the grave. A Taoist Priest and his two disciples attempt to stop the terror.
- DirectorNgai Choi LamStarsChow Yun-FatSiu-Ho ChinMaggie CheungAn adventurer who's been inflicted with a deadly curse during a previous expedition in Thailand goes back to battle an evil sorcerer and his tribal army and deadly creatures.
- DirectorKing HuStarsChun ShihFeng HsuSylvia ChangA scholar, tasked to copy a sutra, meets with a mysterious old lady and her daughter in the mountains.
- DirectorEiichi YamamotoStarsAiko NagayamaChinatsu NakayamaMasaya TakahashiAfter being raped by an evil feudal lord and subsequently getting banished from her village, a peasant girl makes a pact with the Devil to gain magical powers and take her revenge.
- DirectorToyoo AshidaStarsKaneto ShiozawaMichie TomizawaSeizô KatôWhen Doris Lang is chosen as the next bride for the vampire Count Magnus Lee, she will hire a mysterious vampire hunter known only as D in an attempt to escape her ill-gotten fate.
- StarsIssei FutamataBob SessionsWilliam RobertsIn a hell-torn Japan, where motorcycle gangs and violence overrun the country; one man named Violence Jack stands up to it all. He fights violence with violence.
- CreatorGô NagaiStarsShow HayamiAlan MarriottYû MizushimaDevilman faces the tortoise demon Jinmen and birdwoman Shiranu.
- DirectorYoshiaki KawajiriStarsYûsaku YaraToshiko FujitaIchirô NagaiWhile protecting a signatory to a peace treaty between their peoples, a male human and a female demon discover that their mutual attraction may be the key to unifying their worlds.
- DirectorMori MasakiStarsIssei MiyazakiCatherine BattistoneYoshie ShimamuraA powerful statement against war, Barefoot Gen is a disturbing story about the effect of the atomic bomb on a boy's life and the lives of the Japanese people.
- DirectorHisayuki ToriumiStarsHiroyuki OkitaMasako KatsukiOsamu SakaThe expendable crew of a corporate space vessel must stop a murderous shape-shifting alien organism that somehow got on board.
- DirectorSiu-Tung ChingStarsLeslie CheungJoey WangWu MaAfter a string of bad luck, a debt collector has no other choice than to spend the night in a haunted temple, where he encounters a ravishing female ghost and later battles to save her soul from the control of a wicked tree demon.
- DirectorSisworo Gautama PutraStarsRuth PelupessiW.D. MochtarFachrul RozyAfter the death of his wife, a businessman and his two kids are plagued by visions of ghosts and demons, and soon, people around them start to die, which all started after the arrival of their new and mysterious housekeeper.
- DirectorNgai Choi LamStarsSiu-Fung WongChing-Ying LamElaine JinA woman seeks revenge against her attackers.
- DirectorKatsuhiro ÔtomoStarsMitsuo IwataNozomu SasakiMami KoyamaA secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who can only be stopped by a teenager, his gang of biker friends and a group of psychics.
- DirectorYoshiaki KawajiriStarsHideyuki HoriHiromi TsuruKiyoshi KobayashiA young swordsman and the daughter of a political Messiah enter a ravaged Shinjuku, Tokyo, to stop the man who killed the former's father from opening a portal to a world of demons.
- DirectorShyam RamsayTulsi RamsayStarsJasminHemant BirjeSahila ChaddhaA beautiful young girl, unfortunately possessed from her childhood by a vengeful spirit, wanders around lonely places to seduce and kill people, gradually becoming lost into a dark world of revenge and lust.
- DirectorShyam RamsayTulsi RamsayStarsMohnish BehlArti GuptaPuneet IssarAfter a rich young girl learns about a demon and it's terrible curse brought by her family for generations, she decides to go to her paternal village with her lover, and his friend, to find out the truth.
- DirectorRajkumar KohliStarsSunil DuttSanjeev KumarShatrughan SinhaA remote mountainous region is terrorized by a legendary monster that regularly abducts newlywed brides and kills them.
- DirectorTun-Fei MouStarsGang WangDai Yao WuRunshen WangJapanese troops round up Chinese and Russian prisoners of war and take them to unit 731, where they're horribly tortured and experimented on to test new biological weapons.
- DirectorToshiharu IkedaStarsMiyuki OnoAya KatsuragiHitomi KobayashiA 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.
- DirectorHideshi HinoStarsShigeru SaikiMari SomeiMasami HisamotoAn artist rescues a mermaid in a sewer who develops bleeding sores all over her body, paints a portrait with her oozes and eventually disjoints her.
- DirectorHideshi HinoStarsHiroshi TamuraKirara YûgaoAnja BlagojevicLate at night, a woman is kidnapped by an unknown assailant and taken back to his blood-spattered dungeon, where he turns her into a "flower of blood and flesh" through a series of dismemberment and evisceration.
- DirectorToshio MatsumotoStarsYôji MatsudaShijaku KatsuraHideo MurotaA young man kills his bride on the day of his marriage and goes insane. He wakes up in an asylum with no memory, left in the hands of two mysterious doctors who relate his condition with his biological identity.
- DirectorHideki TakayamaStarsChristopher CourageRebel JoySonny WeilThe relative coexistence of the human world, demon world and beast world is soon to be disrupted by The Overfiend, an immensely powerful demon who'll be reborn after 3000 years to remake the world to his own liking.
- DirectorYoshitarô NomuraStarsTsunehiko WataseYukiyo ToakeMayuko WakamoriA five-year-old girl gets a tiny scratch on her finger while playing with mud in a marsh. After that, she suffers all kinds of horrible spasms including biting her tongue.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsNobuko MiyamotoShingo YamashiroNokkoA TV production crew are making a documentary about the infamous painter Mamiya Ichiro. When they start filming at his old home, they come under attack from the ghost of the painter's wife.
- DirectorShin'ya TsukamotoStarsTomorô TaguchiKei FujiwaraNobu KanaokaA businessman accidentally kills The Metal Fetishist, who gets his revenge by slowly turning the man into a grotesque hybrid of flesh and rusty metal.
- DirectorNaoko OmiStarsIkuya SawakiShinobu AdachiNarumi AokiTwo stories about teen-aged girls who encounter supernatural horrors.
- DirectorShozin FukuiStarsHaji SuzukiOnn-chanKôji ÔtsuboPinocchio 964, lobotomised cyborg sex slave, is thrown out onto the street by his owners because of his inability to maintain an erection. He is befriended by a criminally insane, memory-wiped, homeless girl. Meanwhile, the corporate entity who manufactured and sold him plots to kill him because of his malfunction.
- DirectorWei TungStarsChing-Ying LamWilson LamMichael Kiu Wai MiuA former cop rejoins the police department to investigate a drug ring that employs ghosts and vampires.
- DirectorNgai Choi LamStarsSiu-Wong FanMei Sheng FanKa-Kui HoRiki-Oh, a young man who has superhuman strength, is incarcerated in a private prison, where inmates are treated like slaves. He is forced to use his unstoppable form of martial arts to destroy the corrupt officials and their lackeys.
- DirectorNgai Choi LamStarsGloria YipWaise LeeChristine NgAn adaptation of the novel Old Cat, by Ni Kuang. A cat from outer space teams up with a young alien girl and her knight, along with an adventure novelist named Wisely, to fight a murderous alien that possesses people.
- DirectorDanny LeeBilly Hin-Shing TangStarsDanny LeeSimon YamKent ChengAn abnormal taxi driver lusts for blood every rainy night, and several young women are killed as a result.
- DirectorKazuhisa TakenouchiStarsMasashi SugawaraYuka KoyamaTakeshi AonoFirst, a brutal terrorist attack on a NASA base takes place deep in the Arizona desert. Then ten days later, the corpse of a CIA man is found floating in the Seine in Paris. Are the two events connected? Monsieur Lassar of the French Secret Service thinks there is a connection, but he can't figure it out. He hires International terrorist, spy and master criminal Kousaburo Kuki to help. Kuki discovers film superstar Lamia Vindaw is the key to the mystery. She has become the focus of a CIA operative in Paris and more sinisterly, the target of a bizarre vampire cult. Can Kuki get to the bottom of the mystery and save the glamorous Miss Vindaw - or will he too become just another number in the bloody body count?
- DirectorShin'ya TsukamotoStarsKenji SawadaMasaki KudouHideo MurotaA goblin is sent to Earth to behead students and turn their bodies into demons.
- DirectorShin'ya TsukamotoStarsTomorô TaguchiShin'ya TsukamotoNobu KanaokaWhen 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?
- DirectorKatsuya MatsumuraStarsEisuke TsunodaRyôsuke SuzukiYôji IetomiThree Japanese youths descend into the violent realm of the Tokyo night life after witnessing a brutal murder.
- DirectorTai-Kit MakStarsLeon LaiJacky CheungMichelle ReisLung and his partner Ling is assigned to go after Daishu for selling a drug from the Rapters's world called 'Happiness' which causes people to evaporate, Lung, Ling and Wan-Gei join forces to fight the Rapters.
- DirectorHiroshi HaradaStarsMinako NakaNorihiko MorishitaKeinosuke OkamotoThe story based off of the controversial manga by Suehiro Maruo takes place where a little orphaned girl joins a freak-show circus troupe whose members rape and abuse her. She then finds a glimmer of hope in the enigmatic magician who joins the group.