TSZDT: The Top 100 Japanese Horror Films
TSZDT: The Top 100 Japanese Horror Films
Current Version: May 2019 (5th edition)
The main TSZDT list features 9 Japanese films. Out of the 7,195 nominated films, 318 Japanese films have received at least one vote. This list contains an anthology that shares production countries. Find this list on IMDb and iCM.
1. Ringu
Hideo Nakata
1998 / Japan / 96m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani, Yûko Takeuchi, Hitomi Satô, Yôichi Numata, Yutaka Matsushige, Katsumi Muramatsu, Rikiya ôtaka, Masako, Daisuke Ban
“Director Hideo Nakata manages to strike a genuinely alarming balance between the cultural depths of Japanese folklore and the surface sheen of latter-day teen culture. With its video curses, late-night television links and matter-of-life-or-death phone calls, Ring has more than enough techno-friendly trappings to ensnare the average channel surfer. But lurking at the bottom of its well of intrigue is a timeless terror more attuned to the mature sensibilities of an adult audience. And it is this unique combination of old folk devils and contemporary moral panics which gives Ring such a nerve-rattling edge.” – Mark Kermode, Sight and Sound
2. Ôdishon
Takashi Miike
1999 / Japan / 115m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, Jun Kunimura, Renji Ishibashi, Miyuki Matsuda, Toshie Negishi, Ren Ohsugi, Shigeru Saiki, Ken Mitsuishi
“Miike’s static long shots and symbolic use of color subversively recall Ozu, and the audition itself becomes, intentional or not, a studied take on stately naïvete. Audition’s stylistic trapdoor, though, isn’t as abrupt as many seem to suggest, because a shaking body bag and a troubled Asami (sitting by her phone waiting for Aoyama’s delayed call) terrifyingly portend the chaos yet to come. Miike’s torture mechanism is very much based on the premise that performance is crucial to the freeing of the soul, and just as Asami’s rage is as much a product of Freudian psychosexual repression, so too does it express a need to negate her passivity.” – Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
3. Kaidan
Masaki Kobayashi
1964 / Japan / 183m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe, Rentarô Mikuni, Kenjirô Ishiyama, Ranko Akagi, Fumie Kitahara, Kappei Matsumoto, Yoshiko Ieda, Otome Tsukimiya, Kenzô Tanaka
“One of the most meticulously crafted supernatural fantasy films ever made, Masaki Kobayashi’s Kwaidan is also one of the most unusual. While such classic black and white chillers as The Uninvited, The Innocents and The Haunting teasingly speculate on the existence of ghosts, this lavish widescreen and color production deals with the spirit world head-on, as something completely and frighteningly real.” – David Ehrenstein, The Criterion Collection
4. Onibaba
Kaneto Shindô
1964 / Japan / 103m / Col / Jidaigeki | IMDb
Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Satô, Jûkichi Uno, Taiji Tonoyama, Senshô Matsumoto, Kentarô Kaji, Hosui Araya, Fudeko Tanaka, Michinori Yoshida
“No masterpiece by any means, it’s at times overplayed, but it’s striking visually, handling swift horizontal movement – and using the claustrophobic body-high reeds among which the women live – very well. It’s also genuinely erotic, and the treatment in detail of the women’s lives as essentially bestial is interesting so long as Shindo stops short of portentous allegorising about the human condition.” – Time Out
5. Gojira
Ishirô Honda
1954 / Japan / 96m / BW / Monster | IMDb
Akira Takarada, Momoko Kôchi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura, Fuyuki Murakami, Sachio Sakai, Toranosuke Ogawa, Ren Yamamoto, Hiroshi Hayashi, Takeo Oikawa
“The special effects for this re-released 1954 film by Ishiro Honda may now look a bit creaky, but the storytelling is muscular and the post-nuclear parable it offers is passionate and fascinatingly ambiguous… Godzilla wreaks devastation on Japanese cities – portrayed in such a way as explicitly to recall Hiroshima and the Allies’ bombing of Tokyo. Could it be that Godzilla gave Japan a way of confronting the carnage imaginatively, without the chagrin of military defeat? Or that Godzilla symbolises Japan’s defiant survival, and even indeed its righteous anger and its own undiminished potential for retaliatory destruction?… Either way, Godzilla’s killing looks movingly sacrificial, a renunciation of violence.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
6. Ju-on
Takashi Shimizu
2002 / Japan / 92m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Megumi Okina, Misaki Itô, Misa Uehara, Yui Ichikawa, Kanji Tsuda, Kayoko Shibata, Yukako Kukuri, Shuri Matsuda, Yôji Tanaka, Yoshiyuki Morishita
“The creep factor in this film is high, not because either the kid, or the specter look particularly scary (though the latter may fit that description at points), but because Shimizu is a master of camera shots, timing and the unexpected. Your nerves are left perpetually unsteady, never knowing the reach of the specter’s killing power. Not even the best of the slasher movies can compete with the non-stop, pulse-racing tension found here.” – John Strand, Best Horror Movies
7. Kairo
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
2001 / Japan / 119m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Haruhiko Katô, Kumiko Asô, Koyuki, Kurume Arisaka, Masatoshi Matsuo, Shinji Takeda, Jun Fubuki, Shun Sugata, Shô Aikawa, Kôji Yakusho
“Cross the “Ring” series with “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and the result wouldn’t be far from “Pulse,” another step on the road back to the psychothriller genre by which cult Japanese helmer Kiyoshi Kurosawa first made his name overseas… Though “Pulse” has vague correspondences with Kurosawa’s more serious movies, like “Charisma,” it never strays far from its genre roots, with an ambiguous tone that oscillates between sheer psychothriller silliness and moments of haunting abstraction when time and the real world seem to momentarily freeze. Lensing by Junichiro Hayashi is a fillip throughout, with a cold, clammy patina in several scenes (such as Ryosuke and Harue in the subway) that could come from no other director.” – Derek Elley, Variety
8. Hausu
Nobuhiko Ôbayashi
1977 / Japan / 88m / Col / Surrealism | IMDb
Kimiko Ikegami, Miki Jinbo, Kumiko Ohba, Ai Matsubara, Mieko Satô, Eriko Tanaka, Masayo Miyako, Kiyohiko Ozaki, Saho Sasazawa, Asei Kobayashi
“No summary really does House justice. And every little thing about it demands attention: from the schoolgirls themselves—precocious archetypes who go by the nicknames Gorgeous, Melody, Fantasy, Prof, Sweet, Mac, and Kung Fu—to the anything-goes flourishes of gimmick and technique, which evoke everything from silent film to children’s shows, classic surrealist cinema to Italian giallo. Obayashi crams every frame with a surplus of mad ideas, as if his background in 30-second spots demanded he never let the screen remain calm for an instant. He loves superimpositions, Day-Glo matte horizons and cotton-candy color schemes, crudely animated special effects (like amputated fingers playing a piano and a watermelon that becomes a carnivorous, high-flying human head), and jarring, jaw-dropping juxtapositions.” – Steve Dollar, Paste Magazine
9. Honogurai mizu no soko kara
Hideo Nakata
2002 / Japan / 101m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi, Asami Mizukawa, Fumiyo Kohinata, Yu Tokui, Isao Yatsu, Shigemitsu Ogi, Maiko Asano, Yukiko Ikari
“Nakata is a master of the uncanny, able to transform something as innocent as a little girl’s shoulder bag into an object to inspire terror. “Dark Water” positively oozes atmosphere, building up the tension slowly before allowing it to overflow into irrational shocks and strange epiphanies. Yet just beneath its surface horror this film conceals a deep reservoir of tragedy, addressing themes like family breakdown, isolation, abandonment, and – something of a taboo in Japan – the terrible legacy of mental illness. In the end, the keynote of “Dark Water” is not so much horror as an overwhelming sadness, in this masterpiece of tormented souls.” – Anton Bitel, Movie Gazette
10. Yabu no naka no kuroneko
Kaneto Shindô
1968 / Japan / 99m / BW / Jidaigeki | IMDb
Kichiemon Nakamura, Nobuko Otowa, Kei Satô, Rokko Toura, Kiwako Taichi, Taiji Tonoyama, Hideo Kanze, Eimei Esumi, Shôji ôki, Kentarô Kaji
“Shindô eventually buries viewers in the sprits’ ghastly abode, a suffocating set piece bathed in the shadows of bamboo reeds. Most films would be content to drop you in the middle of the forest, and this one does thrive on the basic, primal isolation of the situation (it also helps that there’s really only one other major location, so the audience truly does feel cut off). However, Kuroneko is especially atmospheric in its choice of locales, as the remote hut is an extension of its wraithlike inhabitants. The film’s most memorable shot seems like a simple establishing shot of the hut; however, one can see that it’s subtly gliding among the bamboo grove, as if it exists outside of space and time. A brief but vital scene, it perfectly captures the understated, unnerving creepiness of the film.” – Brett Gallman, Oh, The Horror
11. Tetsuo
Shin’ya Tsukamoto
1989 / Japan / 67m / Col / Body Horror | IMDb
Tomorowo Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka, Shin’ya Tsukamoto, Naomasa Musaka, Renji Ishibashi
“Though it may just seem like one big geek show gross out, Tetsuo: The Iron Man is actually a movie about revenge. It’s about man’s revenge against man, technology’s revenge against humans, nature’s revenge against technology and the neverending revenge between elements of karma and the primal forces of the universe. It’s a sick, cyclical meditation on physicality, mixing imagery both derivative and disgusting. It plays tricks with cinematic convention, drops narrative in favor of nastiness, and always manages to make sense, even if it is in its own obtuse, offensive way. It’s part comic book, part alien autopsy, and all visual violence, laced with enough wicked cinematic style to make other wannabe cyberpunks pale in comparison.” – Bill Gibron, DVDTalk
12. Cure
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
1997 / Japan / 111m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Kôji Yakusho, Masato Hagiwara, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa, Yoriko Dôguchi, Yukijirô Hotaru, Denden, Ren Ohsugi, Masahiro Toda, Misayo Haruki
“Writer/Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is not a Japanese David Fincher, while Fincher makes “Seven” seem cool, Kurosawa makes “Cure” real. This is not an over-stylized film. We see the murders like a witness, with far away static shots. When the detective is investigating, we are his partner and we stay a few paces away just listening. The film’s score is nearly non-existent, the scenes are filled with ambient sound, the rumbling of the ocean or a dryer. “Cure” is a movie to get lost in. From the very beginning we’re thrown into something where we’re never quite sure what is going on. It is wonderful to feel misplaced, knowing that this will not end with a foreseeable plot twist. There is no clear-cut conclusion. The film is not wrapped up in a nice neat little package. Kurosawa shows us a glimpse into this strange world and then pulls away, leaving us to figure out the answers, answers that may never come.” – Ross Williams, Film Threat
13. Kurutta ippêji
Teinosuke Kinugasa
1926 / Japan / 70m / BW / Surrealism | IMDb
Masuo Inoue, Ayako Iijima, Yoshie Nakagawa, Hiroshi Nemoto, Misao Seki, Minoru Takase, Eiko Minami, Kyosuke Takamatsu, Tetsu Tsuboi, Shintarô Takiguchi
“A stunning invocation of the world as viewed by the mentally ill, within minutes, as the rapid montage of the opening storm sequences dissolves into the surrealistic fantasy of the sailor’s wife dressed in an exotic costume dancing in front of an art-deco inspired backdrop featuring a large spinning ball flanked by ornate fountains, A Page of Madness bowls you over with a barrage of startling images utilising every technique known to filmmakers of the time. Even now, Kinugasa’s film seems as fresh as a daisy and when seen on the big screen, as eye-popping an experience as anything you’re likely to see released nowadays.” – Jasper Sharp, Midnight Eye
14. Uzumaki
Higuchinsky
2000 / Japan / 90m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Eriko Hatsune, Fhi Fan, Hinako Saeki, Eun-Kyung Shin, Keiko Takahashi, Ren Ohsugi, Denden, Masami Horiuchi, Tarô Suwa, Toru Tezuka
“Directed by Higichinsky, this freaky Japanese horror film uses all kinds of physical cinema techniques, such as shock cuts, flash cuts, dissolves, skip frames and superb digital effects in a constant effort to keep the film alive and spinning. Occasionally it employs a William Castle-like device of digitally swirling a small spot in the corner of the frame — and you may not even notice. Some scenes are so unbearably spooky that they give you that cold, clammy feeling and make your stomach drop out from under you, as if in a terrible nightmare. It’s one hell of a brilliant horror film with an original idea and style to spare.” – Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
15. Jisatsu sâkuru
Shion Sono
2001 / Japan / 99m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Ryo Ishibashi, Masatoshi Nagase, Mai Hosho, Tamao Satô, Takashi Nomura, Rolly, Joshua, Masato Tsujioka, Kôsuke Hamamoto, Kei Nagase
“As frustrating as Suicide Club may be, there is no denying that it does succeed in hooking viewers with its highly original concept. The film manages to establish a sense of creeping dread; the anticipation of what lurks around each corner proves far more terrifying than the cheap scare tactics employed in other films. Ryo Ishibashi exudes a sense of decency and commitment to his mission—qualities that have a definite payoff later in the film. As Kuroda, Ishibashi gives the viewers a solid protagonist they can latch onto during the dark journey ahead. The lack of clear answers will frustrate many (this reviewer included) but what Suicide Club attempts to say and do, coupled with its success in executing some of those goals, makes the film worth recommending. And even with its baffling conclusion, there’s at least one lesson to be gleaned from Suicide Club: J-Pop may be hazardous to your health.” – Calvin McMillin, Love HK Film
16. Batoru rowaiaru
Kinji Fukasaku
2000 / Japan / 114m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarô Yamamoto, Takeshi Kitano, Chiaki Kuriyama, Sôsuke Takaoka, Takashi Tsukamoto, Yukihiro Kotani, Eri Ishikawa, Sayaka Kamiya
“A few twists and turns keep the formula from becoming repetitive, and Fukasaku brings enough compassion to the deserving to keep the grizzly deaths from numbing our moral sensitivities. A sharp sense of humor assists him: aimed towards insight and ridicule rather than the nihilistic glee to which it might have succumbed. It chills us even as we snicker, and the resulting mayhem ultimately reads as a condemnation of our own violent tendencies rather than a tacit celebration. The underlying messages combine with sharp filmmaking for a gloriously entertaining ride, provided you have a taste for dark material and don’t mind the occasional poke in the ribs. Battle Royale completely engages us without losing track of its anti-violence message, a tricky balance that has sent many lesser productions spinning into hypocrisy.” – Rob Vaux, Mania
17. Koroshiya 1
Takashi Miike
2001 / Japan / 129m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Tadanobu Asano, Nao ômori, Shin’ya Tsukamoto, Paulyn Sun, Susumu Terajima, Shun Sugata, Toru Tezuka, Yoshiki Arizono, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Satoshi Niizuma
“‘Ichi the Killer’ is a bizarre sado-masochistic love story, an unnerving excursion into criminal and sexual extremes, and a comicbook explosion of lurid colours and freakish characters – but most of all, it is a furious, frenetic and at times very funny piece of bravura filmmaking, with outstanding performances, spectacular setpieces, dizzying moodswings, a killer soundtrack, and a mindbending conclusion. Guaranteed to amaze, shock, disgust and intrigue in equal measure, ‘Ichi the Killer’ is one of the most striking films ever made.” – Movie Gazette
18. Jigoku
Nobuo Nakagawa
1960 / Japan / 101m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Shigeru Amachi, Utako Mitsuya, Yôichi Numata, Hiroshi Hayashi, Jun ôtomo, Akiko Yamashita, Kiyoko Tsuji, Fumiko Miyata, Akira Nakamura, Kimie Tokudaiji
“Jigoku is a beautiful film. Its play with lighting effects, colour gels and jarring camera angles makes everything – both on earth and below – seem an off-kilter nightmare, while the soundtrack of jazz, wood percussion and theremin only adds to the sense of disorientation. Realism this is not, but Nakagawa is nonetheless concerned with depicting a society that has lost its moral balance, at a time when memories of war-time horror were still fresh in the Japanese mind, while post-war modernisation was engendering its own anxieties about over-permissiveness and the dissipation of traditional values.” – Anton Bitel, Eye For Film
19. Ugetsu monogatari
Kenji Mizoguchi
1953 / Japan / 96m / BW / Jidaigeki | IMDb
Machiko Kyô, Mitsuko Mito, Kinuyo Tanaka, Masayuki Mori, Eitarô Ozawa, Sugisaku Aoyama, Mitsusaburô Ramon, Ryôsuke Kagawa, Kichijirô Ueda, Shôzô Nanbu
“Like a painter determined to catch one vista in canvas after canvas, Mizoguchi considers how the price of indulging men’s desires is often the suffering of women. This is done in individual shots (e.g. the highway robbers in the background gorging themselves on food the victimized Miyagi was carrying) as well as in the film as a whole. On another level the film can be read as paralleling the plight of post-WWII Japan. Either way, the film’s subtle mix of realism and fantasy (consider a tracking shot with a near-invisible dissolve which “impossibly” links a sensual bath with a picnic) makes for challenging viewing. Working within Japanese genre conventions which seek to validate traditional values, Mizoguchi also considers their inherent contradictions. Look carefully at the pan and tracking shot as the errant Genjuro thinks he’s returning to home and hearth near the end and you will witness a great moment in the history of cinema as both art and social commentary.” – TV Guide’s Movie Guide
20. Shiryô no wana
Toshiharu Ikeda
1988 / Japan / 102m / Col / Slasher | IMDb
Miyuki Ono, Aya Katsuragi, Hitomi Kobayashi, Eriko Nakagawa, Masahiko Abe, Hiroshi Shimizu, Kyôko Hashimoto, Yûko Maehara, Yûko Suwano, Mari Shimizu
“The plot of Evil Dead Trap moves at the speed of sound. Gone are the drawn out scenes of characters discussing their predicament. Who needs those when there are pretty eyeballs to puncture? This film definitely knows where its priorities are. It’s definitely not for the squeamish or for those looking for a cerebral experience. Like the films that influenced it, Evil Dead Trap is a rollercoaster ride of blood and mayhem, with characters becoming isolated and disposed of in various gruesome ways. Don’t let the film’s early predictability get you down—the surprise ending is well worth the wait.” – Ross Chen, Love HK Film
21. Tôkaidô Yotsuya kaidan
Nobuo Nakagawa
1959 / Japan / 76m / Col / Jidaigeki | IMDb
Shigeru Amachi, Noriko Kitazawa, Katsuko Wakasugi, Shuntarô Emi, Ryûzaburô Nakamura, Junko Ikeuchi, Jun ôtomo, Hiroshi Hayashi, Shinjirô Asano, Arata Shibata
“Along with the masterful camerawork, the film’s lighting and music play an integral role in selling the dreadful feeling that permeates the entire film. The final moments are scored with traditional Japanese music that grows in driving intensity with the images on-screen, culminating in a stunning, powerful ending that perfectly caps off the film. The violence is surprisingly graphic and still very effective, over fifty years after release. No US film would have ever gotten away with the stuff they do in this film, and as such it feels like a more recent film than 1959. The violence is nothing compared with later films of course, but given the time, it’s incredible. The Ghost of Yotsuya is an amazing, haunting, wonderful horror film that fans of the genre should definitely not miss. It is proof that horror films can be artful and grotesque simultaneously.” – Will Kouf, Silver Emulsion
22. Versus
Ryûhei Kitamura
2000 / Japan / 119m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Tak Sakaguchi, Hideo Sakaki, Chieko Misaka, Kenji Matsuda, Yuichiro Arai, Minoru Matsumoto, Kazuhito Ohba, Takehiro Katayama, Ayumi Yoshihara, Shôichirô Masumoto
“All in all, “Versus” delivers on its one basic promise: action, and tons and tons of action. This movie has, for lack of a better word, style. It is obviously a low-budget film, since there are barely any special effects of the computer variety, but many of the old-fashion practicals and gallons and gallons of fake blood variety. It’s gore at its finest, and it’s quite fine, let me assure you. Gorefiends will pray their eyes don’t fail them during the viewing.” – Beyond Hollywood
23. Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu
Takashi Miike
2003 / Japan / 129m / Col / Surrealism | IMDb
Yûta Sone, Shô Aikawa, Kimika Yoshino, Shôhei Hino, Keiko Tomita, Harumi Sone, Renji Ishibashi, Ken’ichi Endô, Kanpei Hazama, Masaya Katô
“There is an intense emphasis on the sexual, especially on the interplay between imported Western taboos and the traditional (but now largely suppressed) explicit sexual celebrations of the spring fertility festivals. Boldly, Takashi has sidelined phallic imagery to concentrate on various aspects of feminine reproductive sexuality, especially lactation. From this he derives much of his trademark crude humour, but the female characters are never diminished by it. His unrelenting camera draws viewers in to the complex psychology of his virginal hero, at once attracted and repelled by the possibilities inherent in sexual contact, waiting for the remorseless supernatural to liberate him from his mundanely violent life.” – Jennie Kermode, Eye For Film
24. Perfect Blue
Satoshi Kon
1997 / Japan / 81m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Masaaki ôkura, Yôsuke Akimoto, Yoku Shioya, Hideyuki Hori, Emi Shinohara, Masashi Ebara, Kiyoyuki Yanada
“This striking picture… [pulls] off the rare trick of telling a story worth doing in live action while managing visual effects only possible in the cartoon medium… Though it’s a neat woman-in-peril thriller, this is most striking as a look into the life of a Japanese media sensation, used up at the end of her teens, and squashed into a tiny apartment with her goldfish and too many ghosts. The film even goes so far as to expose the bizarre streak of paedophilia in Japanese pop culture, whereby it’s all right for a doll-like girl child to be a fantasy object but a sexual woman is shockingly transgressive. Perfect Blue is scary, funny, poignant and thoughtful, but also delivers thriller set-pieces that rank with the best of De Palma or Argento” – Kim Newman, Empire
25. Kyôfu kikei ningen: Edogawa Rampo zenshû
Teruo Ishii
1969 / Japan / 99m / Col / Exploitation | IMDb
Teruo Yoshida, Yukie Kagawa, Teruko Yumi, Mitsuko Aoi, Michiko Kobata, Yumiko Katayama, Kei Kiyama, Reiko Mikasa, Miki Obana, Michi Tanaka
“Visually the film is breathtaking. Ishii, a director known for revelling in the erotic, violent and bizarre, is on top form in this quirky tale. While the scripting weaves an incredibly intricate and unconventional narrative, the look and feel of the film follows suit. There are some spectacular scenes on offer. The cinematography is just mind-blowing; the colours gaudy and luscious, which makes the whole thing just pop. Ishii also adds in a psychedelic flavour with some innovative editing techniques- also applying light filters in a couple of scenes to build on this factor.” – Kat Ellinger, The Gore Splattered Corner
26. Matango
Ishirô Honda
1963 / Japan / 89m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kenji Sahara, Hiroshi Tachikawa, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Miki Yashiro, Hideyo Amamoto, Takuzô Kumagai, Akio Kusama
“Honda portrays the way in which the rapid economic growth of Japan has resulted in a population divorced from these cultural and natural origins. The rigid mechanical efficiency of a modern society is revealed to be merely illusionary, as the hierarchy crumbles steadily the further this ship of fools is removed from it. Carried away by the forces of nature on a freak ocean tide, the film’s irreversible conclusion is that of evolution turning full circle; man becomes mushroom as he reverts back to the primordial sludge.” – Jasper Sharp, Midnight Eye
27. Haze
Shin’ya Tsukamoto
2005 / Japan / 49m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Shin’ya Tsukamoto, Takahiro Murase, Takahiro Kandaka, Masato Tsujioka, Mao Saito, Kaori Fujii
“Story-wise, there isn’t much to discuss. A nameless man (Tsukamoto) finds himself trapped in a very narrow passageway with no visible means of escape… Since there’s no clearly-defined characters and no real story to speak of, Tsukamoto relies on his ability to generate palpable suspense to carry the audience through this bleak cinematic nightmare. Watching our hero push his body through such narrow passages frequently forced me to confront my own deep-rooted fears of confined spaces, which only served to intensify the experience. It’s enough to push even the mildest claustrophobics to the proverbial breaking point. Tsukamoto’s inspired and frequently gut-wrenching performance also factors greatly into the film’s overall success.” – Todd Rigney, BeyondHollywood.com
28. Noroi
Kôji Shiraishi
2005 / Japan / 115m / Col / Found Footage | IMDb
Jin Muraki, Rio Kanno, Tomono Kuga, Marika Matsumoto, Angâruzu, Hiroshi Aramata, Yôko Chôsokabe, Dankan, Tomomi Eguchi, Gôkyû
“Noroi’s sense of realism may be unmatched in found-footage, and the journey of its idealistic, headstrong protagonist makes for gripping viewing; it’s the inseparable nature of the film’s form and content, however, that makes it a contender for one of the best horror films I’ve ever seen. Kobayashi’s film must feel real or else his journey would feel fake. If Noroi possessed the slightest suggestion of falsehood, the audience would have free reign to retreat to a comfortable spectator’s position, ready to let this fiction play out without any personal consequence. By convincing us of its veracity and giving us a protagonist whose drive for earth-shaking answers mirrors our own, Noroi directly interrogates our hunger for truth. In seeking truth, Noroi concludes, we become swallowed up by it. We’ve sought out Pandora’s box and wrest it open, and we deserve whatever comes out.” – Julian Singleton, Cinapse
29. Wild Zero
Tetsuro Takeuchi
1999 / Japan / 98m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Guitar Wolf, Drum Wolf, Bass Wolf, Masashi Endô, Kwancharu Shitichai, Makoto Inamiya, Haruka Nakajo, Shirô Namiki, Taneko, Yoshiyuki Morishita
“Anyways, for Wild Zero, you can easily see the influences of George A. Romero’s Trilogy of the Living Dead movies throughout this film – from the way the zombies behave and look to some familiar scenes and ideas being thrown up. Unlike Romero’s films, this one does not have any type of satire or social commentary, but just plain craziness, brainless action and Rock ‘n’ Roll! You can expect an abundance of over-the-top action sequences, gore, explosions, tacky situations, lame dialogue, clichés, computerised zombie blasting, dazzling special effects and flamboyant characters! There really is never a dull moment to be had. So just switch off your brain and enjoy the ride!” – Scum Cinema
30. Bijitâ Q
Takashi Miike
2001 / Japan / 84m / Col / Black Comedy | IMDb
Ken’ichi Endô, Shungiku Uchida, Kazushi Watanabe, Jun Mutô, Fujiko, Shôko Nakahara, Ikko Suzuki
“Despite this mayhem’s stunning, pornographic inappropriateness, Visitor Q eventually reveals itself to be both a sly critique of reality TV as well as a conservative statement about the decay of the Japanese family – and the necessity of traditional familial roles – during which each character reassumes his or her “proper” place in the household (father/provider, mother/nurturer, son and daughter/dutifully loyal offspring). But social commentary or not, any film brazen enough to interrupt a sex scene between a man and a dead woman with a joke about fecal matter is, to put it bluntly, the shit.” – Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
31. Marebito
Takashi Shimizu
2004 / Japan / 92m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Shin’ya Tsukamoto, Tomomi Miyashita, Kazuhiro Nakahara, Miho Ninagawa, Shun Sugata, Masayoshi Haneda, Ayumu Saitô
“It’s safe to say that Marebito is a substantial departure from Shimizu’s other work, not to mention the work of many of his contemporaries. This is partly due to Chiaki Konaka’s eclectic script, which mixes elements of hollow-Earth theory and H.P. Lovecraft, throwing in references to Madame Blavatsky, Werner Herzog, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker along the way. Konaka deliberately avoids explanations and shifts course a few times, leaving the viewer unsure whether what they’re seeing is reality or delusion. Shimizu builds upon this foundation by constructing a deeply claustrophobic atmosphere. The use of confined spaces, handheld cameras, and the absence of long shots all contribute to the feeling of confinement and draw the viewer in, something that can make you noticeably uncomfortable during the film’s more effective moments.” – Jim Harper, Flipside Movie Emporium
32. Sakebi
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
2006 / Japan / 104m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Kôji Yakusho, Manami Konishi, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Hiroyuki Hirayama, Ikuji Nakamura, Ryô Kase, Kaoru Okunuki, Hironobu Nomura, Jin Muraki, Hajime Inoue
“For those in tune with his deliberate methods, Kurosawa–holding a quiet shot a bit longer than anticipated, keeping the camera far enough away from his characters that we can fully absorb every dark corner of their surroundings, or focused away from what we want to see–effectively subverts genre expectations. The affect is off-kilter, adding to our growing unease… The film generates scares, and empathy for its increasingly unhinged protagonist, but its impact goes deeper than that. Kurosawa offers a compelling detective story, but those expecting linearity or pat answers will be disappointed, because the real questions he is asking are philosophical. At its core, this unsettling work is less about Yoshioka’s (Yakusho) guilt than it is about our own.” – Josh Ralske, AllMovie.com
33. Saam gaang yi
Fruit Chan & Takashi Miike & Chan-wook Park
2004 / Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea / 118m / Col / Anthology | IMDb
Bai Ling, Pauline Lau, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Meme Tian, Miriam Yeung Chin Wah, Sum-Yeung Wong, Kam-Mui Fung, Wai-Man Wu, Chak-Man Ho, Miki Yeung
“These short films collectively are an ambitious, well-conceived, beautifully presented example of what can be achieved when a director is allowed to present a completely original concept around a common theme, without censorship or meddling studio hands to muck things up. While most if not every frame presented shows an original and new spin on the term “horror”, these films present an elegance that surpasses one singular, often cheaply-perceived genre. Each director has his strength: for Fruit Chan, a strong narrative and a coherent and intriguing plotline; for Chan-Wook Park , a macabre new version of the classic guts and gore mystery; and for Takashi Miike, it’s a surprisingly sympathetic, subtle, and thoughtful philosophical work that is as heavy on the eyes as it is on the viewer’s emotions.” – Tyler Robbins, Snowblood Apple
34. Rinne
Takashi Shimizu
2005 / Japan / 96m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Yûka, Karina, Kippei Shîna, Tetta Sugimoto, Shun Oguri, Marika Matsumoto, Mantarô Koichi, Atsushi Haruta, Miki Sanjô, Mao Sasaki
“Reincarnation (Rinne) is a chilling J-Horror from Takashi Shimizu (director of Ju-On: The Grudge, Ju-On 2 and Marebito) and once again he does not let us down. Reincarnation is a typical supernatural J-Horror but that is far from a criticism, this movie is directed in a way that creeps you out rather than shock you with gore, the tension and mystery is maintained throughout with a crescendo involving masses of death, zombies and demonic dolls.” – Pazuzu Iscariot, Horror Extreme
35. Chakushin ari
Takashi Miike
2003 / Japan / 112m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Ko Shibasaki, Shin’ichi Tsutsumi, Kazue Fukiishi, Anna Nagata, Atsushi Ida, Mariko Tsutsui, Kumiko Imai, Keiko Tomita, Kayoko Fujii, Yoshiko Noda
“At this point it’s easy to believe that the film has got itself bogged down in a mire of cliché, with no idea of where to go with its momentum. But then it pulls it all back with a series of added twists, and it eventually becomes clear that this is a different kind of beast altogether. The story keeps changing up on you until the very end, and I’m sure that when I watch this a second time I’ll spot a fair few things I missed on the first viewing. This is a good (if not quite excellent) film that cloaks its eccentricity in the hackneyed vocabulary of mainstream horror, with occasionally startling results.” – Ian Shone, Horror News
36. Katakuri-ke no kôfuku
Takashi Miike
2001 / Japan / 113m / Col / Black Comedy | IMDb
Kenji Sawada, Keiko Matsuzaka, Shinji Takeda, Naomi Nishida, Kiyoshirô Imawano, Tetsurô Tanba, Naoto Takenaka, Tamaki Miyazaki, Takashi Matsuzaki
“Miike uses several cinematic resources to transport his viewers into a space of strange, and shifting realities. This fantasy-world mirrors the uncertainty and anxieties of its characters while signifying their buried strengths and untapped resources. The film is filled with strange pleasures, from a brief zombie sequence to a karaoke scene (complete with onscreen lyrics). That it has become a comfort movie for many of the lucky who have stumbled across it should come as no surprise, as its message of hope and resurrection in the midst of dire circumstances is one most should be able to appreciate.” – Matthew Pridham, Weird Fiction Review
37. Masters of Horror: Imprint
Takashi Miike
2006 / Japan / 63m / Col / Body Horror | IMDb
Billy Drago, Shihô Harumi, Michié, Magy, Shin’ichi Tokuhara, Takao Handa, Hiroshi Kuze, Miyuki Konno, Yutaka Matsuzaki, Hiroshi Fujita
“Notoriety follows director Takahashi Miike… This, his ‘banned’ episode of Masters of Horror, sits well amongst his work. Like most of his movies, the story simmers, and is brought slowly to a boil, with imagery of exquisite pain and beautiful suffering that stays with you for a time after the film has finished… Beautifully shot, Imprint at times is like watching a traditional Japanese painting come to life. The flame haired whores with their blackened teeth take on the appearance of oni or evil spirits, who live on islands and take much delight in the torture of others. Miike’s ability to take the obtusely sickening and turn it into an image of beauty is a gift that few directors have, but he has in spades.” – J. R. McNamara, Digital Retribution
38. Môjû
Yasuzô Masumura
1969 / Japan / 86m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Eiji Funakoshi, Mako Midori, Noriko Sengoku
“Given the rather static nature of the mise-en-scène, Masumura must be admired for stretching out such an elementary idea to feature length, yet the most overwhelming impression of this film is its deliciously overwrought visual style, conjuring up such a vivid and endlessly interesting, self-contained cinematic world inside the claustrophobic confines of Michio’s studio. Yes, The Blind Beast really is as outlandish as it sounds, and must rank as one of the most powerful and potently disturbing horror films ever conceived.” – Jasper Sharp, Midnight Eye
39. Ju-on 2
Takashi Shimizu
2003 / Japan / 92m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Noriko Sakai, Chiharu Niiyama, Kei Horie, Yui Ichikawa, Ayumu Saitô, Emi Yamamoto, Erika Kuroishi, Kaoru Mizuki, Shinobu Yûki, Takako Fuji
“Many of the scares have clearly been designed as stand-alone set-pieces and you can almost imagine the script meetings where new ways of unleashing Toshio and (especially) Kayako on the cast were devised, giving the film a somewhat inconsistent supernatural logic, if such a thing can be said to exist. But countering this is the fact that many of these scenes are skin-crawlingly creepy, and on the second and third viewing, by when I had joined all of the narrative dots, I found myself more appreciative of Shimizu’s undeniable imagination and skill as a horror director.” – Slarek, Cine Outsider
40. Ringu 2
Hideo Nakata
1999 / Japan / 95m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Miki Nakatani, Hitomi Satô, Kyôko Fukada, Fumiyo Kohinata, Kenjirô Ishimaru, Yûrei Yanagi, Rikiya ôtaka, Yôichi Numata, Masako, Miwako Kaji
“If you’re looking for a satisfactory explanation and conclusion to the very clever premise of a cursed videotape causing viewers to die… you won’t find it here. You will, however, find plenty of intriguing conversation around the topic and some beautifully executed scenes as the girlfriend of professor Ryuji (Sanada Hiroyuki) launches her investigation into the powers of sinister spirit Sadako – the star of the mystery tape… That may be too frustrating for many viewers but if you don’t demand to know everything you can still be quietly chilled by some of the set pieces pulled off by director Nakata Hideo.” – Richard Kuipers, Urban Cinefile
41. Tôkyô zankoku keisatsu
Yoshihiro Nishimura
2008 / Japan / 110m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Eihi Shiina, Itsuji Itao, Yukihide Benny, Jiji Bû, Ikuko Sawada, Cay Izumi, Mame Yamada, Ayano Yamamoto, Akane Akanezawa, Kotoha Hiroyama
“Comic book gore and a plot exploited to provide maximum fighting time, Tokyo Gore Police succeeds in its bid to push the few boundaries it sets for itself to the limit. Namely trying to think of the most ghastly mix of organic and mechanic bodies, then have them destroyed with a bucket load of blood after they’ve killed a dozen expendable police officers. One for splatter-fest fans, it hits the spot magnificently if you can handle the onslaught. Think The Evil Dead on a rampage through Tokyo and you’re getting close.” – Mike Barnard, Future Movies
42. Ju-on
Takashi Shimizu
2000 / Japan / 70m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Yûrei Yanagi, Yue, Ryôta Koyama, Hitomi Miwa, Asumi Miwa, Yumi Yoshiyuki, Kazushi Andô, Chiaki Kuriyama, Yoriko Dôguchi, Jun’ichi Kiuchi
“So this is where it all began. Sort of. In 1998, recommended by Kiyoshi Kurosawa to write and direct one or more of the segments for the Kansai TV horror film anthology “Gakko no Kaidan G”, Takashi Shimizu introduced Japanese audiences to Toshio and Kayako Saeki… If a film can cause a reaction without needing to rely on exposition or narrative, then you know that visually it’s doing something right. And Shimizu has the power to do that. There aren’t many directors that are able to create such a feeling through the use of lighting, composition and montage, I’d say Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Hideo Nakata are the only others who can do this effectively, but Shimizu is in the league of these greats. “Ju-on” is not the perfect horror film. It’s a little rough around the edges, but it’s the start of a style that Shimizu would perfect, and that’s something beautiful.” – Matthew Hardstaff, J-Film Pow-Wow
43. Sei mong se jun
Oxide Pang Chun
2004 / Japan / 101m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Race Wong, Rosanne Wong, Anson Leung, Michelle Yim, Cub Chin
44. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Yoshiaki Kawajiri
2000 / Japan / 103m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Hideyuki Tanaka, Ichirô Nagai, Kôichi Yamadera, Megumi Hayashibara, Emi Shinohara, Yûsaku Yara, Hôchû ôtsuka, Rintarou Nishi, Keiji Fujiwara, Yôko Soumi
“Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is a great little film. The visuals are gorgeous, the action set pieces are fun and imaginative, and the film even manages to be strangely sentimental in places. But don’t let the Gothic / Romantic trappings fool you. There’s more to Bloodlust than love and vampires. There are also zombies and werewolves and laser-spewing ghosts, and most of these things end up on the receiving end of a half-immortal hunter with a very big sword.” – Paul Thomas Chapman, Otaku USA
45. Kyûketsu Shôjo tai Shôjo Furanken
Yoshihiro Nishimura & Naoyuki Tomomatsu
2009 / Japan / 84m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Yukie Kawamura, Takumi Saitô, Eri Otoguro, Sayaka Kametani, Jiji Bû, Eihi Shiina, Kanji Tsuda, Yukihide Benny, Terri Doty, Erina
46. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer
Shin’ya Tsukamoto
1992 / Japan / 83m / Col / Body Horror | IMDb
Tomorowo Taguchi, Shin’ya Tsukamoto, Nobu Kanaoka, Sujin Kim, Hideaki Tezuka, Tomoo Asada, Iwata, Keinosuke Tomioka, Torauemon Utazawa
““Tetsuo II” doesn’t rise (or stoop) to the level of conventional action or suspense; it’s a design concept, a director’s attempt to take some of the ideas in “Blade Runner” (1982) and some of the Arnold Schwarzenegger films and the Japanese animated films like “Akira” and extend them into grotesquerie. Japanese art has, since the earliest times, been fascinated by the possibilities in shape-changing, in creatures who take first one form and then another. Here we have the changes forced upon the ordinary hero by the very terms of his environment: Tokyo has reached some sort of critical mass in which flesh and steel combine… the vision is as complex, detailed and obsessive as a painting by Hieronymus Bosch.” – Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com
47. Kyuketsuki Gokemidoro
Hajime Satô
1968 / Japan / 84m / Col / Science Fiction | IMDb
Teruo Yoshida, Tomomi Satô, Eizô Kitamura, Hideo Kô, Kathy Horan, Yûko Kusunoki, Kazuo Katô, Hiroyuki Nishimoto, Andrew Hughes, Nobuo Kaneko
“Visually, Goke is almost an inversion of Night’s impressionistic black and white imagery; the widescreen Fujicolor images burst with hypnotic splendor, suggesting nightmares remembered with all the exuberance of a kid in a neon-colored candy store. The opening setpiece is a hard achievement to top, yet the film continues to outdo itself, barreling through character drama and dreamy monster menaces with a remarkably elastic sleight of hand. As archetypes, the broad-stroke characters fit the B-movie bill snugly, not that it matters in the bitter end. Already a great achievement, Goke fully commits to the course of its vision, and the end result is something at once savagely beautiful and sure to have caused many nightmares in those whose young eyes saw it.” – Rob Humanick, Projection Booth
48. Tsumetai nettaigyo
Shion Sono
2010 / Japan / 146m / Col / Crime | IMDb
Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Denden, Asuka Kurosawa, Megumi Kagurazaka, Hikari Kajiwara, Tetsu Watanabe, Makoto Ashikawa, Lorena Kotô, Masaki Miura, Jyonmyon Pe
49. Sôseiji
Shin’ya Tsukamoto
1999 / Japan / 84m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Masahiro Motoki, Ryô, Yasutaka Tsutsui, Masako Motai, Renji Ishibashi, Akaji Maro, Tomorowo Taguchi, Jun Murakami, Yukito Mizoguchi, Eri Yu
50. Ginî piggu 2: Chiniku no hana
Hideshi Hino
1985 / Japan / 42m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Hiroshi Tamura, Kirara Yûgao
51. Kataude mashin gâru
Noboru Iguchi
2008 / Japan / 96m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Minase Yashiro, Asami, Kentarô Shimazu, Honoka, Nobuhiro Nishihara, Yûya Ishikawa, Ryôsuke Kawamura, Demo Tanaka, Nahana, Tarô Suwa
“Written and directed by Noboru Iguchi, “The Machine Girl” plays to the balcony with schlocky effects (the camera lens frequently suffers collateral splatter) and visible roots (a terrifically cheesy 1970s title sequence). As Ami tackles a bewildering array of adversaries — including a bunch of bereaved parents known as the Super Mourner Gang — faces are flayed and eyeballs impaled in an escalating rush of inventive mortifications. Offering her fans only a teasing glimpse of pristine white panties, Ms. Yashiro remains aloof from the screenplay’s sleazier moments. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the movie’s scariest villain, a yakuza mom only Tarantino could love. What she does with her bra is worth the price of admission alone.” – Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
52. Gurotesuku
Kôji Shiraishi
2009 / Japan / 73m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Kotoha Hiroyama, Hiroaki Kawatsure, Shigeo ôsako
53. Kokuhaku
Tetsuya Nakashima
2010 / Japan / 106m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Takako Matsu, Yoshino Kimura, Masaki Okada, Yukito Nishii, Kaoru Fujiwara, Ai Hashimoto, Hirofumi Arai, Makiya Yamaguchi, Ikuyo Kuroda, Mana Ashida
54. Yôkai hantâ: Hiruko
Shin’ya Tsukamoto
1991 / Japan / 89m / Col / Comedy | IMDb
Kenji Sawada, Masaki Kudou, Hideo Murota, Naoto Takenaka, Megumi Ueno, Bang-ho Cho, Ken Mitsuishi, Imari Tsuji, Kimiko Yo
“Hiruko is not a perfect film but it is an awful lot of fun, a surprisingly effective popcorn film from a man known best for his grim visions of humanity. Hieda sports the director’s trademark fishing hat throughout the film and is clearly a stand in for Tsukamoto to live out all of his childhood fantasies. It’s got pretty much everything you could want: likeable lead characters, bizarre secondary roles, a wealth of splat-stick humor, one of the more bizarre movie monsters you’ll ever come across, fountains of blood, surprisingly effective special effects and a legitimate dose of fear and suspense.” – Todd Brown, Screen Anarchy
55. Ekusute
Shion Sono
2007 / Japan / 108m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Chiaki Kuriyama, Megumi Satô, Tsugumi, Eri Machimoto, Miku Satô, Yûna Natsuo, Ken Mitsuishi, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Tetsushi Tanaka, Hikari Mitsushima
56. Kansen
Masayuki Ochiai
2004 / Japan / 98m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Michiko Hada, Mari Hoshino, Tae Kimura, Yôko Maki, Kaho Minami, Moro Morooka, Shirô Sano, Kôichi Satô, Masanobu Takashima, Isao Yatsu
“While not technically a character, the hospital in Infection plays a large part in the movie. It’s a dark, dirty and run-down place that’s low on money and understaffed. They use the hospital’s appearance to underline the depressed and negative state of the film, its characters and the situations that we are presented with. It ends up being the perfect backdrop for an unknown and mainly unseen force that is terrorizing a questionable medical staff that is attempting to deal with several things at once. Infection is not something that would be considered a slasher type film or anything. It focuses on the horror, but also on the morals of the people, the way they treat each other and how their choices can affect themselves and others in the long run. This is a movie that you may not completely understand until the end of it. As it goes by, it’ll start to unveil more and more of its plot and you’ll probably begin to get you’re questions answered. It’s a good watch that has a little bit of a campy style to it and a lot of entertainment value.” – Jaskee Hickman, The Movie Picture Show
57. Shin Gojira
Hideaki Anno
2016 / Japan / 120m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi, Satomi Ishihara, Ren Ôsugi, Akira Emoto, Kengo Kôra, Mikako Ichikawa, Jun Kunimura, Pierre Taki, Kyûsaku Shimada
58. Yotsuya kaidan
Shirô Toyoda
1965 / Japan / 105m / Col / Jidaigeki | IMDb
Tatsuya Nakadai, Mariko Okada, Junko Ikeuchi, Mayumi Ôzora, Keiko Awaji, Eitarô Ozawa, Masao Mishima, Mikijirô Hira, Eijirô Tôno, Yasushi Nagata
59. Kurîpî: Itsuwari no rinjin
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
2016 / Japan / 130m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Hidetoshi Nishijima, Yûko Takeuchi, Toru Baba, Ryôko Fujino, Masahiro Higashide, Teruyuki Kagawa, Haruna Kawaguchi, Misaki Saisho, Takashi Sasano, Naoko Satô
60. Organ
Kei Fujiwara
1996 / Japan / 110m / Col / Body Horror | IMDb
Kei Fujiwara, Kimihiko Hasegawa, Natsuyo Kanahama, Kenji Nasa, Ryu Okubo, Tojima Shozo, Shun Sugata
61. Kuchisake-onna
Kôji Shiraishi
2007 / Japan / 90m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Eriko Satô, Haruhiko Katô, Chiharu Kawai, Rie Kuwana, Kazuyuki Matsuzawa, Kaori Sakagami, Sakina Kuwae, Yûto Kawase, Rio Nakamura, Ryoko Takizawa
62. Kimyô na sâkasu
Shion Sono
2005 / Japan / 108m / Col / Surrealism | IMDb
Masumi Miyazaki, Issei Ishida, Rie Kuwana, Mai Takahashi, Fujiko, Madamu Rejînu, Mame Yamada, Pyûpiru, Erika Mine, Keiko Yokomachi
63. Tanin no kao
Hiroshi Teshigahara
1966 / Japan / 122m / Col / Psychological | IMDb
Tatsuya Nakadai, Mikijirô Hira, Kyôko Kishida, Miki Irie, Eiji Okada, Minoru Chiaki, Hideo Kanze, Kunie Tanaka, Etsuko Ichihara, Eiko Muramatsu
64. Kaidan Kasane-ga-fuchi
Nobuo Nakagawa
1957 / Japan / 66m / BW / Jidaigeki | IMDb
Katsuko Wakasugi, Takashi Wada, Noriko Kitazawa, Tetsurô Tanba, Kikuko Hanaoka, Sumiko Abe, Akira Nakamura, Unpei Yokoyama, Fumiko Miyata, Chisako Hara
65. Joyû-rei
Hideo Nakata
1996 / Japan / 75m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Yûrei Yanagi, Yasuyo Shirashima, Kei Ishibashi, Ren Ohsugi, Takanori Kikuchi, SABU, Reita Serizawa, Akira Hibino, Hirofumi Kobayashi, Dan Li
“Ring wasn’t just effortlessly scary – it didn’t come out of nowhere. Hideo Nakata had already been trying out how to scare audiences with a ghost girl all the way through Ghost Actress, which makes it an interesting watch. Strangely, the ghost is seen many more times than in Ring – here she’s more active, more vocal and more hands on!… well-acted, atmospheric, occasionally creepy, but a little too brief at 73 minutes – you’re left wanting more story, including a better reason for the haunting. But it’s a lively precursor to the terrifying Ring-cycle” – Mark Hodgson, Black Hole DVD Reviews
66. Nekeddo burâddo: Megyaku
Hisayasu Sato
1996 / Japan / 76m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Misa Aika, Yumika Hayashi, Mika Kirihara, Sadao Abe, Masumi Nakao, Tadashi Shiraishi, Seiya Hiramatsu
67. Bijo to Ekitainingen
Ishirô Honda
1958 / Japan / 87m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Yumi Shirakawa, Kenji Sahara, Akihiko Hirata, Koreya Senda, Makoto Satô, Yoshifumi Tajima, Eitarô Ozawa, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kamayuki Tsubono, Tadao Nakamaru
68. Daimajin
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
1966 / Japan / 84m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Miwa Takada, Yoshihiko Aoyama, Jun Fujimaki, Ryûtarô Gomi, Ryûzô Shimada, Tatsuo Endô, Shôsaku Sugiyama, Chikara Hashimoto, Saburô Date, Otome Tsukimiya
69. Mosura
Ishirô Honda
1961 / Japan / 101m / BW / Monster | IMDb
Furankî Sakai, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kyôko Kagawa, Za Pînattsu, Yûmi Itô, Emi Itô, Jerry Itô, Ken Uehara, Akihiko Hirata, Kenji Sahara
70. Suna no onna
Hiroshi Teshigahara
1964 / Japan / 123m / Col / Drama | IMDb
Eiji Okada, Kyôko Kishida, Hiroko Itô, Kôji Mitsui, Sen Yano, Ginzô Sekiguchi, Kiyohiko Ichihara, Hideo Kanze, Hiroyuki Nishimoto, Tamotsu Tamura
“Teshigahara suggests powerfully that freedom is an illusion and that we have to create our own meaning in life, which occurs for the man when he discovers a fresh water well and starts studying it passionately as a phenomenon of capillary action. Beyond that, “Woman in the Dunes” is an outrageous erotic tale, drenched in amusing Freudian symbolism… the film manages to blend the philosophical and the erotic as a way of evoking a sense of life’s ultimate absurdity. Teshigahara had a lot of help in his selfless actors and in his inspired cinematographer Hiroshi Segawa, whose stunning high-contrast black-and-white images are as crucial as the spare, eerie score composed by the late Toru Takemitsu, one of the greatest composers in world cinema.” – Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
71. Furankenshutain tai chitei kaijû Baragon
Ishirô Honda
1965 / Japan / 90m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Tadao Takashima, Nick Adams, Kumi Mizuno, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kôji Furuhata, Jun Tazaki, Susumu Fujita, Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Nakamura, Kenji Sahara
72. Kaijû sôshingeki
Ishirô Honda
1968 / Japan / 89m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Akira Kubo, Jun Tazaki, Yukiko Kobayashi, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kyôko Ai, Andrew Hughes, Chôtarô Tôgin, Yoshifumi Tajima, Kenji Sahara, Hisaya Itô
73. Shojo no harawata
Kazuo ‘Gaira’ Komizu
1986 / Japan / 72m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Saeko Kizuki, Naomi Hagio, Megumi Kawashima, Osamu Tsuruoka, Daiki Katô, Hideki Takahashi, Kazuhiko Goda
“Like most Japanese films of this genre, Entrails of a Virgin is chocked full of female degradation and uncomfortable rape scenes. However, what’s unique this time around is that in addition to slaughtering people, it’s the mud monster doing the majority of the perverse acts. That’s right. The monster is sexually-frustrated and endowed like, well, a monster. In fact, one of the more charming scenes involves an impaling with said monstrous member. You can’t go wrong there. With all the strange scenes of gore that are sprinkled throughout the film’s erotic themes, it sort of resembles an episode of HBO’s “Real Sex,” if it were filmed on the set of Evil Dead.” – Dustin Wilmes, Passport Cinema
74. Kowai onna
Keita Amemiya & Takuji Suzuki & Keisuke Toyoshima
2006 / Japan / 107m / Col / Anthology | IMDb
Noriko Nakagoshi, Yûko Kobayashi, Riko Suzuki, Miharu Morina, Yayoi Okuyama, Kaori Fuseya, Aiko Chisaka, Hisayo Ebine, Atsuko Abe, Harumi Yazawa
75. Otoshiana
Hiroshi Teshigahara
1962 / Japan / 97m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Hisashi Igawa, Sumie Sasaki, Sen Yano, Hideo Kanze, Kunie Tanaka, Kei Satô, Kazuo Miyahara, Akemi Nara, Tadashi Fukuro, Kikuo Kaneuchi
76. Blood: The Last Vampire
Hiroyuki Kitakubo
2000 / Japan / 48m / Col / Vampire | IMDb
Yûki Kudô, Saemi Nakamura, Joe Romersa, Rebecca Forstadt, Stuart Robinson, Akira Koieyama, Tom Fahn, Fitz Houston, Steve Blum, Paul Carr
77. Sora no daikaijû Radon
Ishirô Honda
1956 / Japan / 82m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Kenji Sahara, Yumi Shirakawa, Akihiko Hirata, Akio Kobori, Yasuko Nakata, Minosuke Yamada, Yoshifumi Tajima, Kiyoharu Onaka, Ichirô Chiba, Mike Daneen
“There is plenty of good old fashioned city-stomping as TWO Rodans attack Tokyo in what may be one of Toho’s best monster attack scenes. For the first time in colour, the extremely detailed miniature sets are brought to life and look surprisingly good, buckling under the gusts of wind from Rodan’s wings. Not only that, but the Japanese army is out in full force too, failing to stop the monsters with their array of tiny toy tanks and stock footage. Some of these scenes were that good that they were re-used time and time again in following Godzilla films… Rodan is one of Toho’s best films, featuring some of the most impressive monster action that they ever filmed and with some great special effects to bring it to vivid life.” – Andrew Smith, Popcorn Pictures
78. Yogen
Norio Tsuruta
2004 / Japan / 95m / Col / Thriller | IMDb
Hiroshi Mikami, Noriko Sakai, Maki Horikita, Mayumi Ono, Hana Inoue, Masao Mukai, Reiko Hiroshige, Takahiro Takano, Rui Tsurumizu, Gaku Adachi
79. Ginî piggu: Manhôru no naka no ningyo
Hideshi Hino
1988 / Japan / 63m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Shigeru Saiki, Mari Somei, Masami Hisamoto, Gô Rijû, Tsuyoshi Toshishige
80. Noriko no shokutaku
Shion Sono
2005 / Japan / 159m / Col / Drama | IMDb
Kazue Fukiishi, Tsugumi, Yuriko Yoshitaka, Shirô Namiki, Sanae Miyata, Yôko Mitsuya, Tamae Andô, Naoko Watanabe, Hiroshi Sakuma, Chihiro Abe
81. Kingu Kongu no gyakushû
Ishirô Honda
1967 / Japan / 104m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Rhodes Reason, Mie Hama, Linda Miller, Akira Takarada, Hideyo Amamoto, Yoshifumi Tajima, Sachio Sakai, Susumu Kurobe, Nadao Kirino, Tôru Ibuki
82. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
Hayao Miyazaki
2001 / Japan / 125m / Col / Fantasy | IMDb
Rumi Hiiragi, Takashi Naitô, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Miyu Irino, Bunta Sugawara, Mari Natsuki, Yumi Tamai, Tatsuya Gashûin, Akio Nakamura, Ryûnosuke Kamiki
83. Jigoku Kôshien
Yudai Yamaguchi
2003 / Japan / 87m / Col / Black Comedy | IMDb
Tak Sakaguchi, Atsushi Itô, Hideo Sakaki, Shôichirô Masumoto, Akiko Mishiro, Alex Revan, Kanae Uotani
84. Akumu tantei
Shin’ya Tsukamoto
2006 / Japan / 106m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Ryûhei Matsuda, Hitomi, Masanobu Andô, Ren Ohsugi, Yoshio Harada, Shin’ya Tsukamoto, Nobuteru Akimoto, Kenichi Arai, Masayoshi Deguchi, Eri Fuse
85. Junk: Shiryô-gari
Atsushi Muroga
2000 / Japan / 83m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Nobuyuki Asano, Shû Ehara, Tate Gouta, Yûji Kishimoto, Miwa, Natsuki Ozawa, Kaori Shimamura, Koutarou Tanaka, Kôtarô Tanaka, Deborah Joy Vinall
86. Gamera 3: Iris kakusei
Shûsuke Kaneko
1999 / Japan / 108m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Shinobu Nakayama, Ai Maeda, Yukijirô Hotaru, Ayako Fujitani, Senri Yamazaki, Toru Tezuka, Yuu Koyama, Nozomi Andô, Kei Horie, Norito Yashima
87. Gamera daikaijû kuchu kessen
Shûsuke Kaneko
1995 / Japan / 96m / Col / Monster | IMDb
Tsuyoshi Ihara, Akira Onodera, Shinobu Nakayama, Ayako Fujitani, Yukijirô Hotaru, Hatsunori Hasegawa, Hirotarô Honda, Akira Kubo, Kôjirô Hongô, Takashi Matsuo
88. Sadako vs. Kayako
Kôji Shiraishi
2016 / Japan / 98m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Mizuki Yamamoto, Tina Tamashiro, Aimi Satsukawa, Misato Tanaka, Masahiro Kômoto, Masanobu Andô, Ichiruko Dômen, Runa Endo, Maiko Kikuchi, Masayoshi Matsushima
89. Akanbo shôjo
Yudai Yamaguchi
2008 / Japan / 100m / Col / Gothic | IMDb
Nako Mizusawa, Goro Noguchi, Takumi Saitô, Itsuji Itao, Keisuke Horibe, Etsuko Ikuta, Atsuko Asano, Asami, Teru
90. Kuime
Takashi Miike
2014 / Japan / 93m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Ko Shibasaki, Ebizô Ichikawa, Hideaki Itô, Maiko, Toshie Negishi, Hitomi Katayama, Ikkô Furuya, Hiroshi Katsuno, Miho Nakanishi
91. Kyonyû doragon: Onsen zonbi vs sutorippâ 5
Takao Nakano
2010 / Japan / 73m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Sora Aoi, Risa Kasumi, Mari Sakurai, Tamayo, Io Aikawa, Minoru Torihada, Saori Andô, Kaworu Asakusa, Daisuke Iijima, Hachirô Ika
92. I Am a Hero
Shinsuke Sato
2015 / Japan / 126m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Masami Nagasawa, Kasumi Arimura, Yô Ôizumi, Miho Suzuki, Nana Katase, Hisashi Yoshizawa, Yoshinori Okada, Makita Sports, Yu Tokui, Toshifumi Muramatsu
93. Ginî piggu 4: Pîtâ no akuma no joi-san
Hajime Tabe
1986 / Japan / 52m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Kobuhei Hayashiya, Masami Hisamoto, Nezumi Imamura, Ivu, Tamio Kageyama, Natsumi Ogawa, Oto, Pîtâ, Masahiro Satô
94. Tokugawa onna keibatsu-emaki: Ushi-zaki no kei
Yûji Makiguchi
1976 / Japan / 80m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Yûsuke Kazato, Rena Uchimura, Akira Shioji, Masataka Iwao, Ryuichi Nagashima, Yûsuke Tsukasa, Tetsuo Fujisawa, Yasumori Hikita, Mineko Maruhira, Miki Masuda
95. Paranômaru akutibiti: Dai-2-shô – Tokyo Night
Toshikazu Nagae
2010 / Japan / 90m / Col / Found Footage | IMDb
Aoi Nakamura, Noriko Aoyama
96. Stacy
Naoyuki Tomomatsu
2001 / Japan / 80m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Norman England, Tomoka Hayashi, Yukijirô Hotaru, Ryôichi Inaba, Natsuki Katô, Ryûki Kitaoka, Shirô Misawa, Masayoshi Nogami, Toshinori Omi, Kenji Otsuki
97. Ringu 0: Bâsudei
Norio Tsuruta
2000 / Japan / 99m / Col / Supernatural | IMDb
Yukie Nakama, Seiichi Tanabe, Kumiko Asô, Takeshi Wakamatsu, Ryûshi Mizukami, Kaoru Okunuki, Yasushi Kimura, Mami Hashimoto, Daisuke Ban, Masako
98. Saimin
Masayuki Ochiai
1999 / Japan / 110m / Col / Mystery | IMDb
Gorô Inagaki, Miho Kanno, Takeshi Masu, Ken Utsui, Yuki Watanabe, Shigemitsu Ogi, Kenta Satoi, Noborou Shirai, Tadao Nakamura, Katsumi Takahashi
99. Ginî piggu 3: Senritsu! Shinanai otoko
Masayuki Kusumi
1986 / Japan / 39m / Col / Splatter | IMDb
Shinsuke Araki, Ivu, Masahiro Satô, Rie Shibata, Keisuke Shinki
100. Baiohazâdo: Dijenerêshon
Makoto Kamiya
2008 / Japan / 97m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Paul Mercier, Alyson Court, Laura Bailey, Roger Craig Smith, Crispin Freeman, Michelle Ruff, Michael Sorich, Salli Saffioti, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Steve Blum