One thing you can say about Japanese horror films is that they are insanely creepy and Americans love to take them and see if they can do any better. The answer to that is: sometimes. Not changing the story that much gives rise to the fact that it is just that insanely creepy and is able to send shivers down your spine, but the original films are even more so since they’re, well, original, and don’t focus so much on all of the overreaching drama that the American versions do at times. Plus they don’t hype up the film just for the actors, they hype it up for the fact that it’s supposed to be terrifying, which a lot of them are. When it comes to dealing with certain aspects of the horror genre the Japanese have got an edge over America in one regard, they simply know how to scare the living hell out of you. Americans have caught up and even surpassed them, but the psychological aspect of horror is still something the Japanese are very good at, and it does beat out the shock factor on occasion since some people want that buildup before jumping out of their seat.
Here are five of the best Japanese horror movies ever made.
5. Ju-On: The Grudge
The scariest thing about the Grudge is that it’s caused by powerful emotions that are felt by an individual just before their death. In this case however the curse isn’t confined to home in which the events happened, it can travel with someone and kill them wherever they go so long as they step within the affected area to begin with. When was remade for American audiences to give people actors that they knew and cared about however it lost a bit of its edge and became more comical than anything since it had been altered ever so slightly to play more to a different culture. In some ways it was exactly the same, but it didn’t receive as great a reception.
4. Ringu
The curses that have been devised in movies in the last two decades and more are simply diabolical in nature it would seem. They are meant to be shared in order to survive, and in order to survive they must keep being shared so that the person that the curse falls upon will be safe. But this becomes a huge morality issue you would think since some people would rather the curse end with them so that no one would get hurt, while others would gladly keep on sharing it to stay away from the murderous spirits that inhabit such objects as the tape that ends up signing everyone’s death warrant.
3. Dark Water
This movie didn’t really do well at all in the states, but in Japan it was given a good deal of consideration since it was a rather dark and mysterious thriller that didn’t rely on the shock factor and cheap thrills that a lot of films do. You really had to put some thought into this one and try to figure out what was going on. The whole idea was that a little girl had drowned in a water tank on the roof of the apartment building that the mother and daughter had moved into, and was trying to find her own mother. When the mother decided to stay with the little girl in order to protect her own daughter the plot finally became clear.
2. One Missed Call
This is kind of a difficult story to follow but when you finally get to the meat of it the movie is just downright terrifying. Hearing what sounds like your own voice the moment before you die would be something that a lot of people would pass off as a trick, at least until it happened to them. Then getting a call from a friend that supposedly just died would only add to the terror. This kind of film is one of those that doesn’t offer the cheap thrills but makes you sit and pay attention. Much like a few of the films on this list it was given a run in America and it kind of fizzled, which is too bad since it was a chilling story.
1. Pulse
Think about how reliant society is on technology these days, and then think about how it could be used against us. Not just one country or region, but the entire world of the living. Think about how disastrous it would be if the dead could reach out through our technology and lay claim to the land of living for no better reason than because they could. There is no real happy ending to this story as it envisions a world where the dead essentially take over through the use of technology. In both versions there seems to be no endgame, no way to fight back other than to eschew all technology.
How disastrous would that be in this day and age?
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