Directed by Hideo Nakata • 1998 • Japan
Starring Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Miki Nakatani
The film that launched the craze for J-horror in the West, director Hideo Nakata’s international sensation melded traditional Japanese folklore with contemporary anxieties about the spread of technology for a chilling experience unlike anything that had come before. A group of teenage friends are found dead, their bodies grotesquely contorted, their faces twisted in terror. Reiko (Nanako Matsushima), a journalist and the aunt of one of the victims, sets out to investigate the shocking phenomenon, and in the process uncovers a creepy urban legend about a supposedly cursed videotape, the contents of which cause anyone who views it to die within a week—unless they can persuade someone else to watch it, and, in so doing, pass on the curse.
Up Next in Horror
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Audition
Directed by Takashi Miike • 1999 • Japan
Starring Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Miyuki MatsudaIn one of the most notorious horror films ever made, recent widower Shigeharu (Ryo Ishibashi) sets out to find a new wife by staging an “audition.” Interviewing a series of women, Shigeharu becomes encha...
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Rabid
Directed by David Cronenberg • 1977 • Canada
Starring Marilyn Chambers, Frank Moore, Joe SilverDavid Cronenberg cemented his reputation as one of the most daring directors of his generation with his deeply disturbing second foray into the body-horror genre. After undergoing radical emergency su...
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Dark Water
Directed by Hideo Nakata • 2002 • Japan
Starring Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Asami MizukawaAfter terrifying audiences worldwide with the J-Horror classic RING and its sequel, director Hideo Nakata returned to the genre for this atmospheric tale of the supernatural. Based on a short story by RING ...
