Best Asian Horror

"Jigoku" (1960)

Until "Jigoku," Japanese film had been a relatively horror-free experience. Well, that literally went up in flames with this descent into hell. It was one of the most expensive Japanese films of its time. A grim lecture on moral corruption, the film's final half follows its protagonist into the underworld and a succession of nightmarish, graphic images that are shocking even today. Perhaps the first truly modern Asian horror film, "Jigoku" is getting a long overdue release on U.S. DVD this fall.

"Evil Dead Trap" (1988) Arguably the template for today's J-horror, "Evil Dead Trap" became a cult favorite in the States on bootleg video. Ironically, a VHS tape drives the plot here as it would in "Ringu" a decade later, except that this tape purports to show an actual murder. An ambitious reporter takes her crew to an abandoned factory in search of the tape's origins, and the gruesome fun begins. Offering up atmosphere so thick you could slash it with a chainsaw, "Evil Dead Trap" works hard to overcome its rather cloudy plot.

"Cure" (1997)
Released a year before "Ringu," director Kyoshi Kurosawa's creepy police procedural benefited from the latter film's success when it opened in select U.S. markets in 2000. Detective Takabe (the always excellent Koji Yakusho) tracks a series of seemingly random yet identical killings, all by different people, back to a sinister young man who claims to have no memory. The man's real purpose and Takabe's ultimate destiny are utterly frightening -- you'll never look at a cigarette lighter quite the same way.

"Ringu" (1998)
Now practically a cottage industry, "Ringu" was a novel and a TV miniseries before the movie changed the course of Japanese cinema and generated a shelf full of follow-ups. Fusing the country's traditional ghost story with modern technology (well, videotapes aren't exactly modern, but never mind), this tale of a vengeful spirit and her viruslike curse had fans worldwide nervously watching for dark-haired girls to climb out of their television sets. A horror classic -- with not a drop of blood or an onscreen death in sight.

"Whispering Corridors" (1998)
Just as "Ringu" re-animated J-horror, "Whispering Corridors" brought the South Korean kind (K-horror) back from oblivion. Set in a girls' high school, Park Ki-Yong's directorial debut attacked the repressive nature of the Korean educational system while also weaving a conventional, if unsettling, ghost story. As the first film of its type to arrive after years of government censorship, it opened the floodgates for many more to come. Now if only the same would happen in North Korea ...

"Ju-on" ("The Grudge") (2000) It started with a cheap, straight-to-video flick that inadvertently got a rep as the scariest movie ever made. The minimalist approach of the original "Ju-on" made it thoroughly unnerving, but not as unnerving as the fact that writer/director Takashi Shimizu has now told basically the same story six times, including three Japanese sequels, the first U.S. "Grudge" and "Grudge 2." With a seventh installment on the way in Japan, Shimizu will have yet another chance to outscare even himself.

"Audition" (2000)
Director Takashi Miike makes a new movie every 10 minutes or so (we're not kidding), but his "Audition" is one of a kind. Miike eschews his usual manic pace for the languid, bittersweet tale of a middle-aged widower who tries to find a new young bride for himself by unscrupulously hosting casting calls. But his choice isn't quite what he expected, "Audition"'s tone suddenly changes, and the movie's final 15 minutes are almost unbearable to watch. "Audition" did make it to limited U.S. screens, but that ending almost guarantees a remake ain't happening any time soon. We hope.

"Uzumaki" (2000)
This bizarre fantasy is based on a series of Japanese manga (comic books). The residents of a small town are slowly driven insane or physically transformed by spirals ... yes, spirals. A girl's hair twists into a malevolent entity; a young boy gets gruesomely wrapped around the tire of a car; and another transforms into a human snail -- those are just some of the manifestations as the entire town is possessed. Curl up with a loved one to watch this hallucinatory mix of comic art and H.P. Lovecraft-type cosmic horror.

"Kairo" ("Pulse") (2001)
"Kairo" is one of the most chilling films of the last 15 years. Kiyoshi Kurosawa's meditation on alienation, loneliness and despair shows what really happens when we spend too much time alone on the Internet: the dead start using it to depopulate the world of the living. As slow as a dial-up connection, "Kairo" nevertheless manages a sustained tone of dread that will haunt you long afterward.

"The Eye" (2002)
If that now legendary elevator sequence doesn't give you serious goosebumps, you might as well be dead. Danny and Oxide Pang wrote and directed this Hong Kong gem, the chilling and ultimately poignant tale of a blind woman whose cornea transplant allows her to see dead people. HK cinema's formidable response to the new wave of J-horror, "The Eye" has been in development as a U.S. remake for a while, with Jessica Alba currently attached to star. Do yourself a favor and keep an eye out for the original.