Do you like watching horror films on Halloween? If so, you came to the right place. In today's article, we'll take a look at 20 Japanese horror movies to watch alone, with friends or your boyfriend or girlfriend and make Halloween a more interestingly frightening experience.
I love to meet with my friends and watch some good horror movies with pizza and snacks. So, I hope you enjoy the movies from the list the same way I do.
However, this article not only has a list, but also a look to the features that make Japanese horror (or J-horror) so scary, a vocabulary list related to horror and a tip for learning Japanese with ease while watching horror movies.
Without further ado, let's start!
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Which are the 15 Japanese Horror Movies to Watch this Halloween?
1.Ring
Original title: Ringu リング.
Director: Hideo Nakata.
Year: 1998.
A journalist investigates a strange phenomenon in which people die within seven days after watching a mysterious videotape. While doing this, she'll try to save herself.
This movie is the definition of Japanese horror cinema and the most famous of the list. Not only it sparked an international remake, but also a bunch of new Japanese horror films, making the "cursed videotape" trope an icon in world culture.
2.Ju-on: The Grudge
Original title: Ju-on 呪怨.
Director: Takashi Shimizu.
Year: 2002.
A house is cursed by an evil spirit and anyone who enters dies horribly, spreading the curse without control.
Ju-on is another famous Japanese horror franchise known worldwide for its unsettling atmosphere and nonlinear storytelling. A must watch for sure.
3.Dark Water
Original title: Honogurai Mizu no Soko kara 仄暗い水の底から.
Director: Hideo Nakata.
Year: 2002.
A single mother and her daughter move into an old apartment where a strange and mysterious leak from the ceiling hides a disturbing secret related to a missing girl.
Another must watch movie from director Hideo Nakata (Ring), known for its melancholic tone and psychological horror. Like Ring, it was remade by Hollywood.
4.Audition
Original title: Odishon オーディション
Director: Takashi Miike.
Year: 1999.
Finding a new wife, a widower stages a fake audition where he meets a mysterious woman with a dark past.
If you like slow-burn pacing movies or TV series that leads to a satisfactory ending, then this is the movie for you. You won't believe what happens on the third act.
5.One Missed Call
Original title: Chakushin Ari 着信アリ.
Director: Takashi Miike.
Year: 2003.
People start receiving strange voicemails from their future selves that predict their deaths. It's the protagonist's duty to stop this as soon as possible.
Another movie from director Takashi Miike that involves technology-driven horror and was part of the new J-Horror wave from the early 2000's.
6.Noroi: The Curse
Original title: Noroi ノロイ.
Director: Kōji Shiraishi.
Year: 2005.
A paranormal investigator documents supernatural phenomenons that lead to a shocking and horrifying conclusion.
This film is part of the found-footage sub-genre, a filming style that The Blair Witch Project (1999) made popular. Noroi gained a cult following since its release due to the effective use of the found-footage style and it's subtle but terryfing horror.
7.Ichi the Killer
Original title: Koroshiya 1 殺し屋1.
Director: Takashi Miike.
Year: 2001.
A sadomasochistic enforcer and an emotionally unstable killer cross paths after a yakuza boss disappears, which leads to a violent hunt.
The third (and not the last) film from Takashi Miike on this list, Ichi the Killer is infamous for its disturbing imagery and ultra violence. Although it's more of a psychological crime movie, it has some horror elements that may terrify you.
8.Tag
Original title: Riaru Onigokko リアル鬼ごっこ.
Director: Sion Sono.
Year: 2015.
A schoolgirl is trapped in a bizarre and violent game where reality is confusing and rules of life and death are unknown.
This movie is known for its blend of horror and over the top, fast-paced violence, Sono's trademark. It also has a very interesting social commentary on gender roles.
9.Pulse
Original title: Kairo 回路.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Year: 2001.
Mysterious suicides linked to a website start to happen and haunt a group of friends who will investigate if that website is connected to the dead trying to enter the world of the living.
This is another film with technology-driven horror and from the early 2000's. It has an interesting commentary on social isolation in the age of Internet.
10.Reincarnation
Original title: Rinne 輪廻.
Director: Takashi Shimizu.
Year: 2005.
An actress starts experiencing disturbing and horrifying visions while filming a horror movie based on a real-life massacre, which causes fiction and reality to blend.
Rinne is famous for its intricate plot and eerie set pieces.
11.Marebito
Original title: Marebito 稀人.
Director: Takashi Shimizu.
Year: 2004.
After watching a man's suicide, a cameraman becomes obsessed with recording fear. This will lead him to a underground world inhabit by terrible beings.
Marebito explores fear from a philosophical point of view and it also has some Lovecraftian elements in it.
12. As the Gods Will
Original title: Kamisama no Iu Tōri 神さまの言うとおり.
Director: Takashi Miike.
Year: 2014.
A plot very similar to Squid Game, but years prior: high school students are to participate in deadly children's games, where there is no room for failure because if you lose, you die.
The last movie from Takashi Miike on the list, it's also an adaptation from a popular manga. If you love gore and surreal humor, this is the horror movie for you.
13.The Complex
Original title: Kuroyuri Danchi クロユリ団地.
Director: Hideo Nakata.
Year: 2013.
When a nursing student moves into an apartment complex, her life changes completely when she begins to hear strange noises from next door. This will lead to a haunted past.
The Complex marked the return of Nakata to horror movies after Ring (1998) and Dark Water (2002).
14.Sadako vs. Kayako
Original title: Sadako vs Kayako 貞子vs伽椰子.
Director: Kōji Shiraishi.
Year: 2016.
The cursed spirits from Ring and Ju-on battle each other and their victims join forces to stop them.
This is a crossover of the two most popular Japanese horror franchises mentioned above, offering fans delightful supernatural battles.
15.Onibaba
Original title: Onibaba 鬼婆.
Director: Kaneto Shindō.
Year: 1964.
Let's end this list with a classic of Japanese horror cinema.
During a civil war in medieval Japan, an old womand and her daughter-in-law earn a living by killing lost samurai and selling their armor. Suddenly, a mysterious samurai wearing a demonic mask appears and tests their troublesome relationship bringing fear and jealously to their lives.
Onibaba is a masterpiece that combines historical drama and psychological horror and it explores how human nature develops.
What makes Japanese horror so terrifying?
If you watched Hollywood horror movies, you know that what makes them scary is shock value (gore scenes), jump scares and escape from evil killers or creatures. This is different in Japanese horror.
J-horror is more psychological and affects the protagonists and the audience indirectly, whereas American horror concentrates on physical fear and surprises that make audience jump from their seats. Japanese horror movies have less sound and more silence, they're slower in pace but unsettling at the same time and they focus on internal fears.
Cursed spirits that want revenge (also known as onryō 怨霊) are also present in a lot of Japanese horror movies and what makes scary is that they appear to the main characters in daily life. This makes the audience believe that kind of spirits can appear in their common lives.
The answer to which one of these types of horror is the best is up to the viewer's taste.
Basic Japanese Horror Vocabulary.
- 幽霊 (yūrei): ghost, spirit.
- 呪い (noroi): curse.
- 化け物 (bakemono): monster.
- 地獄 (jigoku): hell.
- 恐怖 (kyōfu): fear.
- 墓 (haka): tomb.
- 墓場 (hakaba): graveyard.
- 殺人 (satsujin): killer.
- 自殺 (jisatsu): suicide.
- 血 (chi): blood.
- 怨霊 (onryō): vengeful spirit.
- 悪夢 (akumu): nightmare.
- 不気味 (bukimi): eerie.
- 怖い (kowai): frightening, scary, I'm scared.
- 死神 (shinigami): Grim Reaper, god of death.
Watch Japanese horror while learning Japanese with Lingopie.
So, there you have it. A list with 15 Japanese horror movies to watch this Halloween and experience one of the best horror in the world. Do you agree with our list? What J-horror movie would you add to the list?
Now, you have the movies and the vocabulary for a Japanese Halloween. The only thing missing is learning Japanese watching horror movies and TV series with Lingopie!
Lingopie offers an authentic language learning experience by watching real TV shows and movies in Japanese, and giving you the chance to learn words and phrases from what's said in the scenes you watch. You can review your words with games and flashcards and take communication-focused lessons (both group and private) with our experienced teachers and tutors so you can deepen your knowledge in Japanese.
So, what are you waiting for? Sign up and start your free trial now!
See you!
