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 Japanese Horror
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Ju-On: The Grudge
Directed by Takashi Shimizu • 2002 • Japan
Starring Megumi Okina, Misaki Ito, Takashi MatsuyamaA cursed house—where years earlier a woman, her son, and cat were murdered—has some seriously spooky surprises in store for all who pass through its door. When social worker Rika (Megumi Okina) is sen...
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Ju-On: The Grudge 2
Directed by Takashi Shimizu • 2003 • Japan
Starring Noriko Sakai, Shingo Katsurayama, Chiharu NiiyamaTakashi Shimizu’s sequel to his international hit delivers more of the indelibly creepy atmosphere and tension-enhancing nonlinear style that made the original a J-horror sensation. Here, the cu...
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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...
