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The Terrifying World of Japanese Horror Movies

Japanese horror movies are a special kind of freaky!

By 1 min read 14

In general, I don’t “do” horror movies. They freak me out, which I guess is the point of the movie but still. Japanese people seem to love horror movies, which is strange to me because Japanese horror movies are really really scary. After seeing both Ju-on and the American remake, The Grudge, I can safely say I’m ready to swear off Japanese horror flicks for the next year.

If you’re eager to dive into J-horror, though, check out any of these 5 Japanese horror movies.

horror

Japanese horror movies have beautifully crafted stories and are not so much the gore fest that many American horror movies are but something about those horror stories just leaves a ball of uneasiness in my stomach for weeks after the movie.

Do you watch Japanese horror movies?

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  • Dani Pascual says:

    I watched the ring and surprisingly i was able to sleep that night, im not the type to watch horrow movies cause i easily get scared but after i survived watching the ring i was surprised at myself

  • Erin Gavin says:

    I am on the fence, I loved the ring series (my brother worked on the american version with Naomi Wates) that one is freaky. Shutter is excellent but scary as it is storyline tense mixed with actual visual frights. The version with Joshua Jackson is the better version to me as it was filmed in my much-loved Tokyo. I watched several real japanese horror films when I lived there, didn’t sleep well for. Week each time!!

  • Iri Yanoshik says:

    I should say that I like japanese horrors more than american.
    But I’m already degenerated and takes lot of (mostly asian in general) horror movies as a stories with interesting facts about culture of death.
    Some of them are in fact silly, but some are awesome and interesting.

  • ForeverPurity says:

    I always found j-horror to just be overly gruesome… Not really scary. Too much blood. Lol

  • I am a huge fan of mystery and suspense movies, with a little horror slipped in..Ever since The Exorcist…I am not a fan of gore and guts movies. Like you said Japanese horror movies have a plot and story. Not like Saw, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street ones. I can watch Stephen King ones because the book is always worse than the movie…except for IT. I am an avid reader so I guess my mind works differently.

  • Tess de la Serna says:

    In manga, it always says in genre, “psychological” aside from horror. Generally don’t like horror but tried reading it in manga since it’s just a graphic novelette. Never again!!! I was scarred for life!

  • Ani Chan says:

    Watched so many awesome J-horror movies that it really is hard to find a really good american horror to watch…

  • QuillLicker says:

    I’d add Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s ‘Pulse’ (haunting and tragic) and Masaki Kobayashi’s ‘Kwaidan’ (incredible folk-horror anthology from 1964) to that list. I’m a big horror fan but the undercurrent of real human emotion in the best Japanese films really set them apart. Or, as with Hausu, so does the outright insanity!

  • yohan says:

    I’m into watching horror movies. But heck this one is so damn scary.

  • Baturay says:

    here is good book about Japanese horror movies: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2918082-nightmare-japan

  • Perdomot .One says:

    I love Japanese horror films, with Ringu being my fave. The Japanese really know how to scare you with your own imagination.

  • Yes i do and they are SO creepy!! Western is boring now.

  • horror mangas are more than enough to make me scared silly for the entire day, so jap horror movies are definitely a ‘nope’!

  • Quatro Naruhodo Briefs says:

    I have the same sentiments. Japanese horror movies leave huge impressions on me.

    When I stayed in my wife’s home in Japan, I remember waking up every night exactly 4am to pee and I would always debate whether to get up and go pee or just try to fall asleep, because the long hallway to the toilet was creepy at night and I imagined that little boy from Juon drop from the ceiling and murder me. lol

    I know it sounds silly, but blood and gore in American horror only amuses me or disgusts me depending on usage, but a Japanese horror tale will stay with me a lot longer. Ok, I won’t sleep tonight. Thanks, Grace! Cheers 😀 haha

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