20 Horror Films Where Humans Are The Real Monsters

11. Ringu (1998)

Hideo Nakata’s Ringu terrorised a generation of film lovers, properly bringing Japanese horror into Western pop culture, and creating one indelible image that will live on in the annals: a white-clad, long-haired girl crawling out of the TV and into our living rooms.

You know the setup; there’s a videotape circulating that is rumoured to be cursed, with those who watch it biting the dust after seven days. Reporter Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima) picks up the trail of this mystery after her niece dies suddenly, and when both she and her young son have seen the tape, it’s a race against time to prevent the consequences.

Sadako Yamamura (Rie Inō) is the spirit who arrives straight out of the TV to claim her victims' lives, and yet while she is all kinds of terrifying, she’s not the real monster. Reiko discovers that the spirit was once a girl who was abused by her father, Dr. Heihachiro Ikuma (Daisuke Ban), trapped inside the very well she crawls out of in the video and left to die – thus, her vengeful ghostly presence. 

Sure, Sadako does the killing, but all the misery, curses, and death could have been prevented by one terrible person not doing what they terribly did.