Welcome to another post of Blogtober my favorite ghosts and ghouls. In today’s episode we’re going to talk about some super scary Japanese horror films you need to watch like right MEOW. In this blog post, you’re going to get the best list of Japanese horror films and where to watch Japanese horror movies. Are you ready? Seto! Go!!!
Table of Contents
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1. Noroi (The Curse)
Noroi is such a hidden gem when it comes to Japanese horror films. It starts off with Kobayashi, a paranormal investigator who is looking into a series of unexplainable and seemingly unconnected events. These include a creepy house where neighbors always hear the sound of crying babies, a string of sudden and bizarre deaths, an adolescent girl with psychic powers, and a ghost-hunting reality TV show that goes very, very wrong. Chasing these stories leads Kobayashi to a demon named Kagutaba and a twist no one saw coming.
2. Ju On (The Grudge)
The Grudge is about a husband who murders his wife for having an affair with another man. He also murders his Toshio and their family cat. The murders create a curse which revives them as vengeful ghosts leading Kayako to murder Takeo. Since the curse is so potent, it consumes everyone who enters the home. As far as Japanese horror films go, this is definitely a classic!
3. Ringu (The Ring)
Arguably the most famous Japanese horror film, Ringu is what catapulted Japanese horror to the world stage and inspired a number of follow up films in the franchise. The Ring is a scary Japanese film that had an American remake. This film follows a reporter racing to solve a mystery about a mysterious tape that curses the viewers to die seven days after watching it.
Watch The Ring on Amazon Prime.
4. Suicide Circle (Suicide Club)
Suicide Club gained notoriety at several film festivals for controversial and shocking content. The film Suicide Circle takes place over six days. Japanese police cannot understand why there are mass suicides happening all over the country. The first day of the film, 54 teenage schoolgirls end their lives by throwing themselves in front of a train. Shortly after, two nurses commit suicide by jumping out a hospital window. This film is definitely not for the squeamish. In my opinion, Suicide Circle is a scary Japanese film because it really amplifies a lot of society’s problems today.
Watch Suicide Club on Amazon Prime.
5. Dark Water
The early 2000s were lit…especially when it comes to the best Japanese horror films. The inspiration for Dark Water comes from a short story collection by Koji Suzuki. In the film, a divorced mother moves into a rundown apartment with her daughter.Together, they have supernatural experiences including a mysterious water leak. I think this is one of the saddest Japanese horror movies that also shows how strong a mother’s love goes.
Watch Dark Water on Amazon Prime.
6. Hausu (House)
If you’re looking for something a bit lighter but still in the Japanese horror genre, definitely take a look at House. Hausu is a 1977 Japanese comedy horror film directed and produced by Nobuhiko Obayashi. The film is about a Japanese school girl who is traveling to her ailing aunt’s country home. Through a series of paranormal events, the girls are devoured by the home.
7. Rinne (Reincarnation)
Another great Takashi Shimizu film, Rinne is a 2005 Japanese horror film about a hopeful actress who won a role in a film that takes her, the cast, and the crew to a hotel where the present soon collides with the past. Thirsty five years before the film begins, a college professor commits mass murder. This unhinged individual believed in reincarnation and the body is just a vessel. The professor films the entire thing and later takes his own life. The footage mysteriously disappears and later reappears when the film crew goes to make a film about it.
8. Kairo (Pulse)
A Japanese horror film that will really freak you out to Kairo. Pulse really freaks you out by telling the story of ghosts who haunt the living via the internet space. Every day citizens begin to receive strange and frightening images on their computer screens. The vengeful ghosts want to trap humans in their own loneliness rather than kill them, thus leading to bizarre behavior of rooms sealed off with red tape. They want humans to suffer in eternal loneliness with death.
9. Audition
This Takeshi Miike Japanese horror film was the first to gain notoriety in the west. The movie is about a widower named Aoyama. His friend jokingly suggests that he hold movie auditions for young women to find a new wife. After interviewing several women, Aoyama becomes interested in Asami, who responds well to him, although as they date, her dark and twisted past affects their relationship.
Watch Audition on Amazon Prime.
10. Teke Teke
This is a movie based off a popular Japanese ghost story my students in Japan loved to tell each other. The Legend of Teke Teke is about a vengeful female ghost. She has no lower body and runs around on her hands.
According to Japanese, the sound she makes when she runs on her hands is, “teke teke” hence where she gets her name. She can run incredibly fast, so even if you’re trying to outrun her in car you’re still epically screwed. At the end of the day, one fact remains the same. You set eyes upon her and your ass is as good as dead. The film Teke Teke is about this same ghost with a twist. You see her, and you die three days later.
You can watch the entire movie free on YouTube here.
11. Kuime (Over Your Dead Body)
Over Your Dead body is a movie about actors cast in a play called Yotsuya Kaidan. The play’s plot follows a ruthless samurai who is haunted by his rejected wife, Oiwa. Kosuke and Miyuki are cast as the lead characters. Fantasy becomes reality when Kosuke has an affair with a younger actress.
Watch Kuime (Over Your Dead Body) on Amazon Prime.
12. Kwaidan
Kwaidan is a 1965 Japanese horror film directed by Masaki Kobayashi. The film consists of four unrelated ghost stories titled The Black Hair, The Woman of the Snow, Hoichi The Earless, and In A Cup of Tea. If you want to get a feel for old Japanese folk tales, this is a great way to do so.
Watch Kwaidan on Amazon Prime.
13. The Complex
The Complex is a 2013 Japanese horror film directed by Hideo Nakata. If you’re looking for something longer than a movie, this twelve episode series is full of drama, twists, and turns. The story follows a young nursing student names Asuka who moves into a run down apartment with her father, mother, and younger brother. She befriends a local boy named Minoru who isn’t what he seems to be.
Watch The Complex on Amazon Prime.
14. Tomie
Tomie is a Japanese horror movie collection based on Junji Ito’s manga of the same name. Sweet and beautiful Tomie Kawakami is not what she seems. In fact, Tomie who has a mole under her left eye which drives all her admirers insane with lust and longing often resulting in her own death. However, due to her ability to regenerate, she comes back to terrorize and murder her killers. The Tomie Japanese horror films honestly make my skin crawl.
15. Uzumaki (Spiral)
Uzumaki is a 2000 Japanese horror film based on the manga of the same name by Junji Ito. This movie is about a town cursed by spirals. Since the manga was still being released while the movie was being made, Uzumaki take a different although also satisfying ending. Spiral follows a high school girl named Kirie who moves to a small town called Kurouzo-cho. She begins to suspect something is amiss when her boyfriend Shuichi’s father begins to become obsessed with spirals. His obsession consumes him and he films himself crawling into a washing machine and dying.
Watch Uzumaki (Spiral) on Amazon Prime.
16. Tokyo Ghoul
Tokyo Ghoul is perfect for this Halloween season for obvious reasons, but what makes this anime so popular is its worldwide influence and dedicated fans. The story follows a college guy named Ken Kaneki who goes on a date with a girl names Rize Kamishiro who reveals herself as a ghoul. He barely survives a deadly encounter with her and is taken to the hospital in critical condition. After recovering, Kaneki discovers he underwent a surgery that transformed him into a half-ghoul. This was accomplished because some of Rize’s organs were transferred into his body, and now, like normal ghouls, he must consume human flesh to survive.
Watch Tokyo Ghoul on Amazon Prime here.
17. Battle Royale
If you love Japanese horror films, you’re going to love Battle Royale. It’s based off a novel by Koushun Takami. The film follows a group of Japanese middle school delinquents who are forced into a battle to the death situation by a totalitarian government. Battle Royale is a horror film set in Japan during a dystopian future. I personally believe Battle Royale is the scariest Japanese horror film as it truly shows the ugly side of human nature and makes you question your own motives. If you were in a similar situation, would you do the same thing or take the high road?
Watch Battle Royale on Amazon Prime here.
18. One Missed Call
One Missed call is a 2003 Japanese horror film directed by Takashi Miike. Its based on the novel Chakushin Ari by Yasushi Akimoto. The plot revolves around a woman named Yumi Nakamura, a young psychology student whose friend, Yoko gets a chilling voicemail on her phone. The message is dated from two days in the future and Yoko can hear herself screaming in it. After Yoko dies, Yumi finds herself discovering that this phenomenon has been occurring throughout Japan.
Watch One Missed Call on Amazon Prime here.
19. Perfect Blue
Perfect Blue is a 1997 Japanese animated psychological thriller film directed by Satoshi Kon and written by Sadayuki Murai. The story is about an idol named Mima Kirigoe who is a retired member of the successful J-pop girl group CHAM. She begins to pursue acting and then becomes a victim of stalking making gruesome murders occur. Mima starts to lose her grip on reality while the film grapples between the lines of fiction and the real world.
Watch Perfect Blue on Amazon Prime here.
20. Monsterz
Monsterz is a 2014 Japanese fantasy-horror and thriller film directed by Hideo Nakata. If you’re a fan of Japanese films, it is a remake of the South Korean film, Haunters. A man has a supernatural ability to control others with his eyes. His special ability caused him to kill his abusive father, but caused his mother to abandon him. One day, the man freezes everyone in sight except Shuichi who then man then develops an obsession with.
Watch Monsterz on Amazon Prime here.
21. Marebito
Marebito tells the story of a strange man named Masuoka. He is obsessed with the idea of fear after watching a man shove a knife into his eye to commit suicide. Masuoka goes beneath the city, where he sees human-like creatures walk on their hands and knees and whimper like dogs. He then finds a naked girl chained to a cave wall. Masuoka takes her home where he soon discovers she doesn’t eat, drink, or speak.
Watch Marebito on Amazon Prime here.
22. Retribution
Retribution is a 2006 Japanese mystery film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, starring Kōji Yakusho.The story follows a detective’s investigation of serial murders. His findings eventually lead him to a mysterious woman in red who slowly draws him into the darkness.
Watch Retribution on Amazon Prime here.
23. Death Note
Death Note was originally a Japanese manga and anime. Let us take a moment to clarify I’m promoting the original Japanese version of Death Note and not the white-washed trash version of the film Netflix came out with. Death Note is about a Tokyo college student who attempts to change the world into a utopian society without crime. To do this, he commits a world-wide massacre of criminals and people whom he deems morally unworthy of life by writing their names in a supernatural notebook called the Death Note. His actions attract the attention of an eccentric Tokyo detective.
Watch Death Note on Amazon Prime here.
24. Real Onigokku (Tag)
Real Onigokku is a 2015 Japanese action and horror film directed by Sion Sono and inspired by the title of the novel Riaru Onigokko by Yusuke Yamada. A quiet high school girl named Mitsuko survives a giant gust of deadly wind that kills all her classmates. The movie plays with alternate realities and shows how the same version of yourself could exist in a different world.
Watch Tag on Amazon Prime here.
25. Cure (Creepy)
Cure tells the story of a detective investigating a gruesome string of murders where the victims have an X carved on their necks. At every crime scene, the murderer is found nearby with no recollection of committing the murder. This is definitely one of the creepiest Japanese horror films I’ve come across!
Watch Cure on Amazon Prime here.
26. Exte (Hair Extension)
I find Hair Extension to be a refreshingly different horror film. The plot of Exte follows an aspiring hairdresser who becomes the object of lust to a tricophilic man (aka someone who becomes sexually aroused by seeing head hair). The creepy man sells hair extensions at the local salons, though he harvests the hair from a stolen corpse of a girl who continues to grow gorgeous voluminous black hair that comes alive. When the unsuspecting wearer is most vulnerable, the hair drives the victim insane or kills them.
Watch Hair Extension on Amazon Prime here.
27. Onibaba
Onibaba is a historical drama written and directed by Kaneto Shindo. Its title means Demon Hag and is set during the 14th century civil war in Japan. The film follows two women who kills samurais for their belongings and sell them to make a living. When the daughter in law begins an affair with the neighbor, the mother in law finds a demon mask to frighten her. However, the mask isn’t what it seems.
Watch Onibaba on Amazon Prime here.
28. Sadako Vs. Kayako
Sadako vs Kayako is essentially The Ring vs The Grudge. Basically this film is about finding out which ghost is a bigger asshole. The film follows university students Yuri Kurahashi and Natsumi Ueno who find Sadako’s cursed videotape at a shop and play it. A medium convinces the girls they should unleash another curse so that the two evil spirits battle it out and try to kill each other. Let’s just say nothing goes as planned.
Watch Sadako vs. Kayako on Amazon Prime here.
29. Akumu Tantei (Nightmare Detective)
Nightmare Detective is a 2006 Japanese horror film directed by Shinya Tsukamoto. In Tokyo, Detective Sekiya investigates the two suicides of Detective Wakamiya and rookie Detective Keiko Kirishima. Both victims were stabbed while sleeping giving unexplained circumstances of their deaths. However, Wakamiya discovers both victims dialed 0 on their cell-phones before their death and recorded strange messages. The police officers then believe someone is staging suicides to cover up murders.
Watch Nightmare Detective on Amazon Prime here.
30. Kotoko
Kotoko is a 2011 Japanese film by director Shinya Tsukamoto. It is based on an original story by J-pop artist Cocco, who stars in the film alongside Tsukamoto. Suffering from double vision, a single mother tries to take care of her baby in the grip of terrifying hallucinations. After experiencing a nervous breakdown, she is deemed unfit to take care of her child and has her baby taken away from her. The only respite the mother has from her visions is when she sings. This is definitely a psychological horror film that blurs the lines of reality and fiction.
Watch Kotoko on Amazon Prime here.
What is the scariest Japanese movie on the list? Well, you’re going to have to watch them and let me know. All these movies scared me in one way or another and really messed with my head. Hopefully you’ll find these super scary Japanese films make spooky season even more entertaining. I hope these Japanese horror movie recommendations will whet your appetite!
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