Japanese Horror.
 

Without the benefit of search I can only scan a few pages for topics. Apologies if this is old.


Anyone watched any J-horror flicks? We all know about The Ring and it's Japanese inspiration Ringu. But there are many more in the genre. I recently watched Ju-on and the horror is very understated-it's a lot more creepy horror than in your face scariness.

Another awesome film is Odishon (Audition), the story of a middle aged man who meets a demure "classic" Japanese woman thru a mock film audition to interview potential mates he holds after his son tells his widower father he's looking old. Let's just say he doesn't get what he expects. It's very slow at the onset then it injects a few creepy elements along the way till the amazing climax. Not recommended for the light hearted.

I have a few others I haven't watched yet, but more info on J-horror films is
here

A good book to read (if you know japanese) and i guess it's also a greatly creepy movie to watch is Spiral or Uzumaki. There is another movie that explores similar themes called Rasen, and it's pretty creepy too. Recently they were both shown on the sundance and international channels. I like Japanese horror and chinese horror a lot, and i guess Indonesian horror is making a big resurgence so keep your eyes out for some titles!

I'd also reccomend Tetsuo II: Bodyhammer directed by Tsukamoto Shinya.

Then there's a great disk out on Criterion "Kwaidan" which is a collection of short horror films based on a book by a greek born author who moved to Japan and all but became Japanese himself.

Japanese horror is great and there's deffinitely a push to get it remade or released here in the states. Probably because all American horror movies have been pretty horrible lately.

Just remember that just like anything else there are awful Japanese horror movies. So don't expect it to be amazing just because it's from Japan.

Check out http://www.midnighteye.com/ for info on other Japanese horror flicks and cult cinema.

Dark Water (Honogurai mizu no soko kara) is another good one. Its by the same guy who made the three Ringu films.
Its being remade in Hollywood as we speak, cant say as im looking forward to it