Horror From The East...
by azathothpwiggins | created - 01 Oct 2020 | updated - 2 months ago | PublicFew events have influenced modern horror films more than the Asian horror boom of the late 1990's and the early 2000's. Here are some fan favorites -as well as some lesser known titles- from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Singapore. As an added bonus, some older classics will also be added from time to time...
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1. Audition (1999)
R | 115 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, Jun Kunimura
Votes: 89,272
2. Ringu (1998)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Mystery
A reporter and her ex-husband investigate a cursed video tape that is rumored to kill the viewer seven days after watching it.
Director: Hideo Nakata | Stars: Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani, Yûko Takeuchi, Hitomi Satô
Votes: 77,518
3. Pulse (2001)
R | 119 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Two groups of people discover evidence that suggests spirits may be trying to invade the human world through the Internet.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Haruhiko Katô, Kumiko Asô, Koyuki, Kurume Arisaka
Votes: 25,606 | Gross: $0.05M
4. Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)
R | 92 min | Horror
A mysterious and vengeful spirit marks and pursues anybody who dares enter the house in which it resides.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Megumi Okina, Misaki Itô, Misa Uehara, Yui Ichikawa
Votes: 48,094 | Gross: $0.33M
5. Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (2003)
R | 92 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
As their curse spreads on, the ghosts find their chance to live once again through the pregnancy of a cursed woman.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Noriko Sakai, Chiharu Niiyama, Kei Horie, Yui Ichikawa
Votes: 10,884
6. Dark Water (2002)
PG-13 | 101 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A mother and her 6-year-old daughter move into a creepy apartment whose every surface is permeated by water.
Director: Hideo Nakata | Stars: Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi, Asami Mizukawa
Votes: 34,936
7. Yogen (2004)
R | 95 min | Horror
A newspaper predicts the deaths of a man's (Hiroshi Mikami) family members and friends.
Director: Norio Tsuruta | Stars: Hiroshi Mikami, Noriko Sakai, Maki Horikita, Mayumi Ono
Votes: 4,604
8. The Booth (2005)
Not Rated | 74 min | Horror, Thriller
Shogo (Ryuta Sato), the arrogant and condescending star of a popular call-in radio-show must temporarily broadcast out of Studio 6, a creepy and dilapidated booth abandoned since its last ... See full summary »
Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura | Stars: Maiko Asano, Makoto Ashikawa, Mansaku Ikeuchi, Seiko Iwaidô
Votes: 450
9. Nightmare Detective (2006)
Unrated | 106 min | Action, Crime, Fantasy
Three people in Tokyo take a surreal voyage of self-discovery through memory and nightmares. "O" intends suicide while talking on a cell-phone with a stranger he meets on line who plans a ... See full summary »
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Ryûhei Matsuda, Hitomi, Masanobu Andô, Ren Ôsugi
Votes: 2,754
10. Ab-normal Beauty (2004)
R | 101 min | Drama, Horror
Jiney is a talented student of Arts with a trauma in her childhood and lack of communication with her mother, and excellent photographer that is not satisfied with her awarded works. When ... See full summary »
Director: Oxide Chun Pang | Stars: Race Wong, Rosanne Wong, Anson Leung, Michelle Yim
Votes: 2,602
11. Bloody Reunion (2006)
Not Rated | 93 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Buried grudges have disasterous consequences for a class reunion in this unapologetically bloody film from Korean director Dae-wung Lim.
Director: Dae-wung Lim | Stars: Lee Dong-kyu, Seong-won Jang, Seol-ah Yu, Oh Mi-hee
Votes: 2,622
12. Spider Forest (2004)
R | 112 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A recently widowed TV producer is drawn to an isolated cabin in a mysterious woods.
Director: Song Il-gon | Stars: Kam Woo-seong, Jung Suh, Kang Kyung-hun, Jang Hyun-sung
Votes: 2,257
13. Phone (2002)
R | 104 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Investigative reporter Ji-won begins to receive a series of menacing calls. To escape the terrifying and relentless clanging of the telephone, she changes her number and moves out. But the threatening campaign of terror continues unabated.
Director: Byeong-ki Ahn | Stars: Ha Ji-Won, Kim Yu-mi, Woo-jae Choi, Ji-yeon Choi
Votes: 5,294
14. Three... Extremes (2004)
R | 125 min | Horror
An Asian cross-cultural trilogy of horror films from accomplished indie directors.
Directors: Fruit Chan, Park Chan-wook, Takashi Miike | Stars: Bai Ling, Lee Byung-hun, Kyoko Hasegawa, Pauline Lau
Votes: 20,874 | Gross: $0.08M
15. The Eye (2002)
R | 99 min | Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
A blind girl gets a cornea transplant so that she will be able to see again. She gets more than she bargained for upon realizing she can also see ghosts.
Directors: Danny Pang, Oxide Chun Pang | Stars: Angelica Lee, Chutcha Rujinanon, Lawrence Chou, Jinda Duangtoy
Votes: 30,083 | Gross: $0.51M
16. Acacia (2003)
R | 103 min | Horror, Thriller
After unsuccessfully trying to have a baby of their own, Dr. Kim Do-il and his father convince his wife Choi Mi-sook to adopt a child in an orphanage. Mi-sook is connected to arts and ... See full summary »
Director: Ki-hyeong Park | Stars: Shim Hye-jin, Jin-geun Kim, Oh-bin Mun, Na-yoon Jeong
Votes: 2,066
17. The Maid (2005)
Not Rated | 93 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
"Every year, for thirty days during the lunar seventh month, the Chinese believe that the gates of hell are thrown open. Vengeful spirits or hungry ghosts wander among the living, seeking ... See full summary »
Director: Kelvin Tong | Stars: Alessandra De Rossi, Huifang Hong, Benny Soh, Zhenwei Guan
Votes: 1,313
18. Cello (2005)
Not Rated | 94 min | Horror, Mystery
A cellist is haunted by strange events after a car wreck
Director: Lee Woo-cheol | Stars: Sung Hyun-ah, Da-an Park, Jeong Ho-bin, Jin Woo
Votes: 2,774
19. Kuchisake-onna (2007)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A suburban town in Japan is the victim of what is supposedly just an urban legend, a woman's spirit with a horribly disfigured face who is intent on kidnapping children for unknown reasons.
Director: Kôji Shiraishi | Stars: Eriko Satô, Haruhiko Katô, Chiharu Kawai, Rie Kuwana
Votes: 3,049
20. Marebito (2004)
R | 92 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A fear-obsessed freelance cameraman (Shinya Tsukamoto) investigates an urban legend involving mysterious spirits that haunt the subways of Tokyo.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Tomomi Miyashita, Kazuhiro Nakahara, Miho Ninagawa
Votes: 5,700 | Gross: $0.01M
21. Face (2004)
R | 92 min | Drama, Horror
Lee Hyun-min, who works reconstructing faces from their skull, quits his work in a institute to stay with his Beta-allergic daughter Jin that was submitted to a transplant of heart by the ... See full summary »
Director: Sang-gon Yoo | Stars: Song Yun-ah, Shin Hyeon-jun, Kim Seung-wook, Ahn Suk-hwan
Votes: 1,217
22. Dead Friend (2004)
Not Rated | 98 min | Horror
A teenage girl suffering from amnesia discovers that she is somehow connected to a group of people who are being killed off one by one by a vengeful ghost.
Director: Tae-kyeong Kim | Stars: Kim Ha-neul, Nam Sang-mi, Jeon Hye-bin, Yi Shin
Votes: 2,066
23. Silk (2006)
Not Rated | 108 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
In Taipei, the crippled scientist Hashimoto uses his invention of "Menger Sponge" to capture the energy of the spirit of a child in an old building. He invites the specialist in reading ... See full summary »
Director: Chao-Bin Su | Stars: Chang Chen, Yôsuke Eguchi, Karena Kar-Yan Lam, Barbie Hsu
Votes: 3,497
24. Wishing Stairs (2003)
R | 100 min | Horror, Drama
A staircase leading to the dormitory of a remote boarding school usually has 28 stairs, but every so often there appears to be 29. When someone steps on the mysterious extra stair, the horror begins.
Director: Jae-yeon Yun | Stars: Song Ji-Hyo, Park Han-byeol, Jo An, Park Ji-yeon
Votes: 3,311
25. Whispering Corridors (1998)
R | 105 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
In a Korean school, students are regularly beaten and mistreated by their teachers. However, the spirit of one pupil, who died ten years ago, periodically returns in the guise of a new girl, thus able to gain a revenge on the culprits.
Director: Ki-hyeong Park | Stars: Kim Gyu-ri, Yun Ji-hye, Park Jin-hee, Choi Kang-hee
Votes: 3,501
26. P (2005)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama, Horror
Whilst growing up in rural Thailand, a young orphan girl is taught the ways of magic by her grandmother. But when grandmother falls sick, Dau is lured to Bangkok to find work so that she ... See full summary »
Director: Paul Spurrier | Stars: Suangporn Jaturaphut, Opal, Dor Yodrak, Narisara Sairatanee
Votes: 1,307
27. Art of the Devil (2004)
100 min | Horror, Mystery
Boom, pregnant from an affair, is told by her lover to leave him and his family alone. Enraged, she goes to a witch doctor and has him use black magic against her ex-lover and his family. ... See full summary »
Director: Tanit Jitnukul | Stars: Arisa Wills, Supakson Chaimongkol, Krongthong Rachatawan, Tin Settachoke
Votes: 1,587
28. Akumu tantei 2 (2008)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Horror
Still haunted by his unwanted abilities, which allow him to enter other people's dreams, and memories of his mother dying when he was a child, Kyoichi Kagenuma (Ryuhei Matsuda) contemplates... See full summary »
Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto | Stars: Ryûhei Matsuda, Yui Miura, Hanae Kan, Hatsune Matsushima
Votes: 742
29. Purei (2005)
Unrated | 77 min | Horror
Two people kidnap a girl, hoping for a ransom.
Director: Yûichi Satô | Stars: Tetsuji Tamayama, Asami Mizukawa, Mitsuyoshi Shinoda, Toshiyuki Toyonaga
Votes: 453
30. Thirst (2009)
R | 134 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Through a failed medical experiment, a priest is stricken with vampirism and is forced to abandon his ascetic ways.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Choi Hee-jin, Seo Dong-soo
Votes: 51,419 | Gross: $0.30M
31. Ichi the Killer (2001)
R | 129 min | Action, Crime, Drama
As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of achieving.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Nao Ômori, Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Paulyn Sun
Votes: 60,061 | Gross: $0.02M
32. 3 Extremes II (2002)
R | 140 min | Horror, Mystery
An anthology consisting of three horror shorts from different Asian directors: Memories by Kim Jee-woon, The Wheel by Nonzee Nimibutr, and Going Home by Peter Chan.
Directors: Peter Ho-Sun Chan, Jee-woon Kim, Nonzee Nimibutr | Stars: Leon Lai, Kim Hye-su, Jeong Bo-seok, Suwinit Panjamawat
Votes: 3,918
33. Anaza hevun (2000)
R | 132 min | Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi
A pair of hard-boiled Tokyo cops are investigating a gruesome murder: after killing the victim, the murderer cut his skull open and cooked his brain in a stew. As they try to track down the... See full summary »
Director: Jôji Iida | Stars: Yôsuke Eguchi, Miwako Ichikawa, Takashi Kashiwabara, Yukiko Okamoto
Votes: 873
34. Tokyo Gore Police (2008)
Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Comedy, Horror
In future Tokyo, a young woman in the privatized police force tracks down her father's killer while battling against mutant rebels known as engineers.
Director: Yoshihiro Nishimura | Stars: Eihi Shiina, Itsuji Itao, Yukihide Benny, Jiji Bû
Votes: 12,738
35. Ring 0: Birthday (2000)
Not Rated | 99 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
In this prequel to Ring, a young Sadako becomes an actress in hopes of escaping her troubled past. But strange visions and terrifying powers begin to manifest...
Director: Norio Tsuruta | Stars: Yukie Nakama, Seiichi Tanabe, Kumiko Asô, Takeshi Wakamatsu
Votes: 9,921
36. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
R | 114 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
After being institutionalized in a mental hospital, Su-mi reunites with her sister, Su-yeon, and they return to live at their country home. But strange events plague the house, leading to surprising revelations and a shocking conclusion.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Lim Soo-jung, Yum Jung-ah, Kim Kap-su, Moon Geun-young
Votes: 68,288
37. Meatball Machine (2005)
Not Rated | 90 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Full-throttle splatter-ific Japanese cyberpunk science fiction/horror at its most aggressive, this mind-blower about alien parasites that turn their human hosts into slave "Necroborgs" will leave you dizzy and drained - in a good way.
Directors: Yûdai Yamaguchi, Jun'ichi Yamamoto | Stars: Issei Takahashi, Aoba Kawai, Kenichi Kawasaki, Shôichirô Masumoto
Votes: 2,281
38. Creepy (2016)
Not Rated | 130 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
Takakura is a former detective. He receives a request from his ex-colleague, Nogami, to examine a missing family case that occurred six years earlier. Takakura follows Saki's memory. She is... See full summary »
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Yûko Takeuchi, Toru Baba, Ryôko Fujino
Votes: 5,988
39. Rigor Mortis (2013)
Not Rated | 103 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror
A public housing tenement is plunged into a dark storm of supernatural chaos.
Director: Juno Mak | Stars: Siu-Ho Chin, Kara Wai, Hee Ching Paw, Anthony Chan
Votes: 6,498
40. Cure (1997)
Not Rated | 111 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they've done.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Masato Hagiwara, Koji Yakusho, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa
Votes: 23,079 | Gross: $0.09M
41. Black Cat (1968)
Not Rated | 99 min | Drama, Horror
Two women are raped and killed by samurai soldiers. Soon they reappear as vengeful ghosts who seduce and brutally murder the passing samurai.
Director: Kaneto Shindô | Stars: Kichiemon Nakamura, Nobuko Otowa, Kei Satô, Rokkô Toura
Votes: 8,583
42. House (1977)
Not Rated | 88 min | Comedy, Horror
A schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted.
Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi | Stars: Kimiko Ikegami, Miki Jinbo, Kumiko Ôba, Ai Matsubara
Votes: 33,743
43. Spiral (2000)
90 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
The inhabitants of a small Japanese town become increasingly obsessed with and tormented by spirals.
Director: Higuchinsky | Stars: Eriko Hatsune, Fhi Fan, Hinako Saeki, Shin Eun-kyung
Votes: 8,992
44. Train to Busan (2016)
Not Rated | 118 min | Action, Horror, Thriller
While a zombie virus breaks out in South Korea, passengers struggle to survive on the train from Seoul to Busan.
Director: Yeon Sang-ho | Stars: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an
Votes: 258,897 | Gross: $2.13M
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