One of the most popular genres nowadays when we want to watch horror movies, is J-Horror or Japanese horror, since, it grabs the world’s attention. It may seem a bit out of the ordinary by Hollywood standards but we’d like you to check out these Japanese horror movies. J-Horror is gory, suspenseful, folkloric and focuses a lot on psychological horror (which is what’s really scary). That’s why we want to introduce you to Japanese horror movies.
Here you have a list of some of the Japanese horror movies, which you should not miss, you should know that they do not follow any particular order, neither from best to worst nor the other way around.
Synopsis Audition – オーディション, Ōdishon | Japanese horror movies
Audition: A widower partners with a director to find a life partner, to rebuild his love life. They hold an “audition” of women to be his wife. Then they find Asami. Asami is a raving lunatic and lives in an empty apartment with a scary looking sack.
Synopsis Noroi, the curse ノロイ | Japanese horror movies
Japanese horror film Noroi: A long and complex film, Noroi is made in a documentary-found-footage style. The film focuses on a paranormal phenomena expert who disappears during the filming of a very disturbing documentary, The Curse.
Synopsis Onibaba 鬼婆 | Japanese horror movies
Onibaba: This Japanese horror film is about survival, which is the essence of every horror film. Set in the 14th century against a backdrop of feudal wars, Onibaba features 2 women and a demonic mask. It is quite entertaining, with a handful of psychological horror that you feel adrenaline from, making it one of the best Japanese horror films.
Synopsis Ju On The curse – 呪怨 Juon | Japanese horror movies
This Japanese horror film is more popularly known as “The Grudge” or “The Curse”. It is perhaps one of the most watched and well-received horror films in the history of the world.
Synopsis Rinne or Reincarnation 輪廻 | Japanese horror movies
Rinne or Reincarnation has all the best of a great Japanese horror film. With the multiple murders from a decade ago, the killer committing suicide, the questionable movie making recreating all the events, the moments of shock and the nefarious location, Rinne is an absolute winner of the best Japanese horror or J-Horror movies!
Synopsis POV: Norowareta Firumu – ＰＯＶ～呪われたフィルム～ – Japanese horror movies
P.O.V: Norowareta Firumu is about ghosts. The origin of the ghost video is located in a high school in Japan. It investigates the supernatural happenings in this high school. It is a Japanese haunted horror movie.
Synopsis Kwaidan – 怪 談, Kaidan | Japanese horror movies
Kwaidan is one of the Japanese horror films, which has been critically acclaimed and bagged an Oscar nomination. It is probably the only one of its kind.
Synopsis Tomie 富江 | Japanese horror movies
The 1st scene of this Japanese horror movie is about a troubled woman trying to recover her memories. The only thing she remembers is a name: Tomie…
Synopsis Yotsuya Kaidan 四谷怪談 | Japanese horror movies
Yotsuya Kaidan is one of the film adaptations of what is probably the most popular ghost story in Japan. The ghost of the murdered wife haunts the adulterous husband and the result is stupefying, believe us.
Synopsis Ringu (the ring)リング | Japanese horror movies
The movie Ringu (the ring), is also terrifying and very popular. Like Ju On, Ringu keeps the audience petrified, there are very interesting things, not to look away from the screen. Although when Sadako coming out of the well and then out of the TV set will remain engraved forever in our brains, at least for me.
Synopsis Suicide Club – 自殺サークル Jisatsu Sākuru | Japanese horror movies
In Suicide Club, cases of mass suicide take over the nation and the police try to find the cause. This morbid film takes on a very different and real meaning when it is learned that 33,000 teenagers committed suicide the year before the film was made.
Synopsis Dark Water 仄暗い水の底から – J Horror | Japanese horror movies
Dark Water (仄暗い水の底から, in Japanese Honogurai Mizu No Soko a Kara), known as Agua turbia in Mexico, is a 2002 Japanese horror and mystery film. Set in a creepy apartment with a leak in the ceiling, it doesn’t sound like the scariest plot. But the film’s development is a master class in how to make a horror film terrifying and tragic.
Synopsis Kairo かいろ | Japanese horror movies
In Kairo, people are committing suicide and the world is depopulating. A couple of survivors must fight against all odds, along with their will to survive in a post-apocalyptic world infested with ghosts.
Synopsis Tales Of Terror From Tokyo And All Over Japan – Japanese horror movies
The name of the film is self-explanatory: Tales Of Terror From Tokyo And All Over Japan is one of the Japanese Scary Movies , with anthology horror tales, uneven in their horror quotient.
Synopsis Teke Teke テケテケ – Japanese horror movies
The movie Teke Teke, focuses on a legless woman who hangs around the train station. If anyone sees her, she dies in 3 days. A run-of-the-mill horror movie, but scary all the same.
Synopsis Kuime – Japanese horror movies
Kuime or Over Your Dead Body centers on a couple, both of whom are part of a play based on the popular Yotsuya Kaidan. Things get more and more convoluted and bloody when Kosuke starts cheating on Miyuki offstage, because it’s one of those Japanese horror movies to watch as a couple, will you distrust each other?
Synopsis Carved 口裂け女, Kuchisake Onna | Japanese horror movies
This Japanese horror movie, carved or kuchisake onna, has a woman with her mouth cut open. I repeat, a mouth cut open and horrifying. And she walks around with a pair of giant scissors cutting people up and making them suffer a lot. It’s the kind of movie that scares you even before the opening credits roll, believe me just seeing the woman’s face all of a sudden, you might faint if you’re very susceptible to these things. Points for gore, one of the best Japanese horror movies.
Synopsis Jigoku 天国と地獄, Tengoku to Jigoku | Japanese horror movies
Jigoku, or Tengoku to Jigoku, literally heaven and hell, is an extremely gory film that has nothing to do with realism. Death and misery everywhere with an unusual journey to hell.
Synopsis The Complex クロユリ団地 Kuroyuri Danchi | Japanese horror movies
The complex, or in Japanese Kuroyuri Danchi, is one of the best Japanese horror movies, and centers on a haunted complex where mysterious deaths occur. Also, there are added scratching noises coming from the apartment downstairs in the middle of the night, it can be scary sounding.
Synopsis Suicide Manual 自殺 マ ニ ュ ア ル, Jisatsu Manyuaru | Japanese horror movies
In suicide manual or jisatsu Manyuaru, the cameramen investigate the case of a group suicide in which 4 people commit suicide. They come across a girl who was part of the pact but backed out of fear and the twists and turns ensue.
We hope you’ve shivered with fear with this guide to the best horror movies j.
