The development of J-horror is ongoing, incorporating elements of kabuki, Noh theater, and kaidan, as much as slasher film and subgenres popular throughout the world. The impression Japan has left on horror is distinct, and today the genre is hard to imagine without it.
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The 00s were a transformative period for cinema as digital filmmaking became more prominent, and J-horror is no exception. In a single decade, from a single nation, some of the most groundbreaking horror emerged, and many of those films have withstood time’s test and are just as good today.
10Gozu
A bizarre mashup of urban legends, vignettes, and ghost stories,Gozushould be a muddled failure instead of a success, but it isn’t. The blend of genres coheres with a dreamlike logic, leaving the viewer feeling that everything that is happening, no matter how strange or disturbed, fits.Like all of Takashi Miike’s films,Gozuisn’t for everyone.Its content is a smidge too upsetting for the average palate.
Like a twisted chimera ofTwin Peaksand Miike’s later work,Gozusteps into the deep end of J-horror and never resurfaces. The territory it treads may feel unfamiliar for fans ofmodern slasher films,but it’s a great film for those craving something a touch more avant-garde.
9Suicide Club
Written and directed by Sion Sono, this 2001 gem won “Most Ground-Breaking Film” at the 2003 Fantasia Film Festival. As the title makes obvious, the film deals explicitly with suicide, as a rash of such deaths spreads across Tokyo, beginning with the film’s now-infamous opening.
The film is comfortable with its own ambiguity,and if it has a specific cultural message, it is willing to let viewers find it themselves. Even whether or not this ishorror with a happy endingis up for debate, but Sono’s imagery is unforgettable, as is the feelingSuicide Clubleaves viewers with.
8Exte
Are hair extensions scary? InExte,yes. After coroner Yamazaki realizes that the hair on a recently discovered body has continued to grow despite death, he takes it home so that he can cut the hair and sell it to salons as extensions.
The evil hair extensions then do exactly what one would expect them to,either driving those that wear them mad or killing them.Extenever grew into amajor horror franchise,and it’s safe to assume its wild premise played a part in that. Yet the flagrant absurdity of its plot is part of what makesExtesuch a delight. What it lacks in probing critique or deep themes it makes up for with cheerful weirdness. This film is eminently snackable.
7Three…Extremes
Three…Extremesis a three-part anthology film by three East Asian directors: Fruit Chan, Park Chan-wook, and Takashi Miike. The three films are solid on their own but glorious in conjunction.
Miike’s film,Box,is the story of Kyoko,a young novelist troubled by nightmares of her childhood as a circus performerand the tragedy that occurred there.Boxis a much softer introduction to Miike’s oeuvre than his other films, and it serves as an excellent introduction to J-horror in general. Taken as a whole,Three…Extremesis as well-conceived and executed as thevery best of the decade that followed.
6Noriko’s Dinner Table
The sequel to Sion Sono’sSuicide Club,Noriko’s Dinner Tableexpands upon the psychological horror of the first in every way. Its timeline is fragmented, occurring before, during, and after the events of the original film.
While this technique allows the film to answer questions and shut doors left open by the first,it also allows the film to aim a pointed social critiqueat subjects either ignored or only lightly addressed by the first film, including alienation, the effects of the internet, and the generation gap.Noriko’s Dinner Tableis nothing if not ambitious, in its own way as challenging and exploratory asthe best of those released in 2021.
5As The Gods Will
Based on the manga of the same name by Muneyuki Kaneshiro,As The Gods Willis about Shun Takahata, a high school boy whose life is plunged into turmoil when a supernatural force compels him and the rest of his class to play a hellish game of Red Light, Green light, with death as the penalty for losing.
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The challenge changes and expands as the film progresses, andShun is forced to compete with other children all across Japan in a variety of murderous games.The story is playful, rich with black humor, and doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is for the best in a film that considers Red Light, Green Light ripe for horror.
4Ju-On: The Grudge
The original that inspired the American remake,Ju-On: The Grudgeis a sublime exercise in nonlinear storytelling, using interwoven narratives to tell the story of series of murders that left a building cursed.
Its blend of supernatural and mundane violence leaves viewers nowhere to hidebut is never gratuitous. The impact of its most chilling moments is calculated, making thishaunted house one of the best.If that weren’t enough, this film includes one of the creepiest kids in all of cinema.Ju-On: The Grudgewas a smash success for good reason, and it still offers spooky thrills today.
3Noroi: The Curse
Kobayashi wants to make a documentary, and as a journalist of the paranormal, not just any old subject will do. His investigation into some strange noises quickly evolves into the hunt for an ancient demon in this found-footage horror film.
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With an almost two-hour runtime, the horror ofNoroi: The Curseis slow-burning. The film is patient, willing to take as long as necessary to ensure thatthe terror it instills in viewers doesn’t go anywhere anytime soon.The steady drip of unsettling clues and the absence of jumpscares in its early acts only makeNoroi: The Cursethat much more frightening when the curtain comes up and answers are finally given.
2Ichi the Killer
Takashi Miike is one of Japan’s most prolific and notorious filmmakers, with over 100 films to his credit, including the renownedAuditionand13 Assassins.Ichi the Killeris about the killing spree undertaken by a disturbed, and disturbing, man after the disappearance of his gang boss.
NoJohn Carpenter slashermeets this film’s level of violence, nor, for that matter, do many splatter films. The violence inIchi the Killeris so extraordinary that the average filmgoer will likely pass on it altogether. Yet as aficionados know,Ichi the Killerisone of the best films in all of J-horror,brilliantly directed, cast, and lit. For some of the genre’s best and darkest, this is it.
1Uzumaki
Based on Junji Ito’s manga of the same name,Uzumakiis a strange little story. High school student Kirie’s first hint that something is wrong is her boyfriend’s father’s obsession with spirals. He films a snail, stirs whirlpools in his soup–anything to be closer to spirals.
Soon the entire town shares his spiral obsession, driven mad by the pattern.By the time Kirie’s fellow students begin to grow snail shells and leave oozy trails behind them, it is too late.Uzumakitakes something innocuous, a pattern, and transforms it into an object of terror, omnipresent and inescapable. The casting, direction, and writing are all praise-worthy, but it is the simple, stunning achievement of making the spiral so terrible that earnsUzumakiits place.
