Horror is a universal language. Fans of this enduring genre know fear has no bounds or limits. One country that has always been producing top-quality horror movies is Japan. The average person might think Japanese horror, or "J-horror," began with Hideo Nakata's 1998 movie The Ring, but that only kick-started the modern-day boom.
Like every place and country's , there are Japanese movies that have never found an audience beyond the Land of the Rising Sun.
Here are ten Japanese horror movies that are waiting to be discovered.
The Ghost of the Hunchback (1965)
Hajime Satō's The Ghost of the Hunchback (Kaidan semushi otoko) also goes by House of Terrors internationally. This 1965 black-and-white film was produced by Toei Company, who is best known these days for anime like Dragon Ball Z and the Super Sentai franchise.
In The Ghost of the Hunchback, the widow of a recently deceased man goes to the departed's secluded mansion along with other guests. There at the house, which is nicknamed "Satan's Pit," the group is besieged by a sinister force tied to the hunchbacked caretaker of the estate.
The original Japanese-language version of the foggy, eldritch film, which has yet to be released on home video, is considered to be a 'lost' treasure.
The Drifting Classroom (1987)
Based on the manga by Kazuo Umezu, The Drifting Classroom (Hyōryū Kyōshitsu) is a 1987 film adaptation that changes elements from the source material. For instance, the setting is now modern (for the time), and it takes place at an international school in Kobe, Japan.
In the film, a class of young students is mysteriously transported to a desert in another world. As they struggle to return home, they each suffer from psychological or physical harm.
Twilight Syndrome: Dead-Go-Round (2008)
Fans of horror video games might be aware of the Twilight Syndrome series, which is exclusively released in Japan. The games came to be in the late '90s, and they were produced by Human Entertainment before the now-defunct Spike Co., Ltd. took over.
The games spawned three direct-to-video movies. The first is called Graduation (Sotsugyō), and it was released in 2000. It is connected to the Twilight Syndrome: Saikai game. The other two, both shot on digital video, are Dead-Go-Round and Dead Cruise. They came out in 2008 around the same time as the game Twilight Syndrome: Forbidden Urban Legends (Kinjirareta Toshi Densetsu).
In Dead-Go-Round, a group of people is trapped inside a supernatural amusement park with demonic clowns.
Yellow Fangs (1990)
Supposedly based on events that happened in Hokkaido, Japan in 1915, Yellow Fangs, or Remains: Beautiful Heroes (Remeinzu: Utsukushiki yūsha-tachi), concerns a mountain village being attacked by a man-eating bear. Or, in this case, a woman-eating bear. The beast kills the men while abducting the women.
When one woman's father becomes a casualty, she teams up with a hunter to take revenge on the beast dubbed Red Spot. The hunter is played by Hiroyuki Sanada, who is known for his role in the 1998 version of The Ring.
The Booth (2005)
An arrogant playboy and shock jock is forced to relocate his late-night radio show to a creepy, old studio. As the night goes on, he begins to think the place is as haunted as rumors say it is. However, there is more to the story.
With each call the host receives, his mental state starts to come apart. He's unraveling, live on the air, and his co-workers have no idea what dark secret he's hiding from them.
Zoo (2005)
Zoo is a Japanese horror anthology based on the works of Otsuichi, which is the pen name for author Hirotaka Adachi. He is also known for the 2008 light novel (novels targeting youth) called Goth. In this 2005 adaptation of his short stories, both live-action film and animation are used.
The stories include: "Zoo," where a photographer goes to great and dangerous lengths to take pictures of his girlfriend; "So Far" has a boy's deceased parents returning to him; a pair of siblings wake up locked inside a cell along with strangers in "Seven Rooms;" "Kazari and Yoko" has sisters competing for their mother's love; and, finally, a survivor learns the truth about life and death in the animated segment "When the Sun Shines."
Occult (2009)
From Kōji Shiraishi, the director of found-footage-style horror movie. In Occult, a documentary crew interviews the survivor of a sudden massacre that took place in broad daylight three years ago. They follow the eccentric man around in hopes of capturing what he believes he sees. This includes UFOs in the sky and strange miracles that have occurred before him since that tragic day.
Of course, the documentary's director and his peers all think their subject is mad. In time, they learn that is not the case and there's truth to what he says and sees.
Haunted School (1995-1999)
Haunted School (Gakkō no kaidan) is the first in a quadrilogy of family horror movies. The inaugural film, released in 1995, has children investigating the disappearance of their classmate. They think it has to do with rumors about their school being haunted.
The films are produced by Toho, who is known for the Godzilla films. Although these movies are directed towards kids, they are notable for their special effects.
Organ (1996)
Two undercover detectives make a grisly discovery when they come across an organ smuggling ring. The organs are being sold on the black market. The officers are split up when one is captured and the other escapes, but only after being injected with an unknown serum. Now, it's up to the captured detective's twin to find him before it's too late.
This unusual horror movie and crime thriller is directed by actress Kei Fujiwara, who is best known for Tetsuo: The Iron Man, a 1989 cult film.
The Demon (1978)
The lives of three children are directly put in harm's way in Yoshitarō Nomura's 1978 movie based on the 1958 novel by Seichō Matsumoto. In The Demon (Kichiku), a man's mistress shows up at his home, demanding money. When he doesn't give in, she leaves their three children with him as a form of punishment.
This is a haunting and disturbing thriller about abandonment and abuse.
