If you’re looking for some new Japanese horror films to watch, I have put together a list of 10 that I think are good ones to choose, but if you’re just after jump scares galore, most of these films won’t scratch that itch.
But hopefully, you find something you can check out and enjoy – also, some of the trailers aren’t with subtitles, so you may have to press CC button to generate auto ones.
Marebito (2004)
If you’re a fan of strange horror, Marebito is an absolute must, as it’s one of those films where you can tell pretty quickly that you’re not watching a normal horror movie, featuring underground tunnels, strange creatures, obsession and a general feeling that reality has started to come apart – Masuoka, a cameraman obsessed with capturing fear after witnessing a disturbing event, and that obsession takes him into a bizarre underground world where he discovers something he definitely shouldn’t have found.
What I really liked about this film was the atmosphere, as it feels grimy, claustrophobic and uncomfortable, with a strange dreamlike quality running through everything, where you’ll probably finish it with a few questions, which is part of the fun.
Uzumaki (2000)
I’m surprised Uzumaki doesn’t get mentioned more often when people start talking about weird Japanese horror – based on Junji Ito’s manga, it’s about a town becoming obsessed with spirals, which sounds slightly ridiculous when you say it out loud.
Then you actually watch the film and get sucked into how gradually it becomes more and more disturbing, where people begin behaving strangely, and the film keeps finding increasingly bizarre ways to use its central idea.
It’s not conventional horror at all, and it’s also occasionally completely bonkers, but there are some genuinely disturbing moments buried underneath all that weirdness, and I also love how much it feels like a product of its time, because there’s something wonderfully strange about early-2000s Japanese horror that modern productions don’t quite capture.
Occult (2009)
Koji Shiraishi gets plenty of attention for Noroi: The Curse, but Occult is another found footage film of his that tends to get left sitting in its shadow, which is a shame because I think it’s one of his most interesting films.
It starts with a documentary filmmaker interviewing a man who survived a bizarre stabbing incident, and from there, things gradually become more and more disturbing, with a very cheap and scruffy look, and that isn’t an insult, because t actually suits the film perfectly – you’re watching something that feels like a documentary made by a couple of people who have stumbled onto something far bigger and stranger than they expected.
There’s also a really odd sense of humour running through it, before the film starts getting properly weird, and the final stretch is particularly memorable.
The Complex (2013)
This one really feel like a proper old-school J-horror film without simply copying Ringu, a s there’s an ordinary setting, something mysterious happening behind a wall, strange noises at night and that creeping feeling that the supernatural has somehow invaded everyday life – it’s also directed by Hideo Nakata, so there’s a pretty obvious connection to the classic J-horror era, but the film doesn’t feel like a nostalgia exercise though, featuring a few good twists along the way.
It’s not the scariest Japanese horror film you’ll ever see, but it’s exactly the sort of film that gets forgotten when everybody keeps recommending the same five J-horror classics.
Reincarnation (2005)
A Japanese horror film about a movie being made about a massacre sounds like a fairly safe bet, and then Reincarnation starts messing with your head – a young actress is cast in a film based on a real-life murder, and as production continues, she begins experiencing increasingly disturbing things connected to the original killings.
It’s classic J-horror territory, but there’s a clever layer underneath because you’re watching people recreate horrific events, with some proper creepy imagery thrown in for good measure – it’s also directed by Takashi Shimizu, so if you’ve got a soft spot for the Ju-On films, there’s plenty here that should feel familiar.
Infection (2004)
Hospitals are already creepy places at the best of times, but an abandoned, underfunded hospital at night where something seems seriously wrong?
Yeah, I’ll watch that, and so should you.
Infection is one of those wonderfully grimy early-2000s Japanese horror films that feels like it should have a much bigger following, where you have a constant feeling that the entire building is falling apart, before things start getting a bit weird.
There’s some body horror here too , and you never quite know what you’re looking at, so the longer it goes on, the more uncomfortable the whole situation becomes, with a very specific 2000s J-horror atmosphere that I really miss.
Premonition (2004)
Here’s another one that deserves to be dug out if you’ve gone through the better-known J-horror movies – Premonition revolves around a man who discovers a newspaper containing details of terrible events before they happen.
The film actually manages to get a lot of mileage out of the idea, featuring a constant sense of inevitability running through the film, and some of the best moments simply come from watching characters realise that something they’ve just seen or experienced is connected to a future event.
It has that classic Japanese supernatural-horror feeling without needing to throw anything at you, and the concept gives the film a nice sense of dread because you’re always waiting for the next piece of bad news.
The Locker (2004)
This is a proper little J-horror oddity – two teenagers discover a strange locker near Shibuya Station, and before long the thing becomes connected to a series of disturbing events – it’s only a short film too at 71 minutes, which I actually think helps it.
The production is definitely low-budget, so don’t expect any polish, but that’s part of why I enjoy hunting down films like this, because you can see the limitations, but there’s still a genuine attempt to create something unsettling, and it has that wonderfully strange urban-legend quality that Japanese horror does so well.
Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman (2007)
The Kuchisake-onna legend is one of those Japanese urban legends that horror fans really should know about – a woman with a mutilated mouth approaches people and asks if they think she’s beautiful – answer incorrectly and things get ugly.
Carved takes that story and turns it into a proper supernatural slasher, but the best thing about the film is the way the legend has become part of Japanese folklore – children know about her, adults know about her, and rumours spread about sightings.
And the film has some quite dark moments when it gets going.
The Booth (2005)
A radio studio isn’t exactly the first location you’d choose for a horror movie, but The Booth makes it one and makes it work well – a radio DJ takes over a late-night programme and begins hearing strange things connected to the previous host.
The studio is basically a box, and the character is surrounded by equipment, microphones and headphones, but there’s nowhere to actually go – it’s a small film with a small setting, but it makes that setting work better than it should, really – this film is hard to find to stream or buy, but someone uploaded it to YouTube for people to watch.
Don’t expect jump scares though, it’s all about the slow buidling of dread – won’t be for everyone, but I liked it.
More Asian horror articles.
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