20 Awesome J-Horror Movies Every Horror Fan Should See

17. Ju-On: The Grudge

audition movie
Lions Gate

Plot: Various people fall victim to a curse placed on a house where a family died in horrific circumstances. Like the other films in this franchise, it's told in non-chronological order.

The most famous Japanese horror film aside from Ring, Ju-On is pretty iconic at this point.

It doesn't have much of a plot and is largely just a collection of set-pieces, but when the scares are this good, it's very hard to complain.

Filled with atmosphere, heart-in-mouth horror and genuinely effective jump scares, this was a very, very satisfying dose of well-done horror for the noughties, which was a terrible decade for horror films.

If you want more of a plot this might not be your thing but if you want to be scared witless and sent diving behind your sofa in terror, then Ju-On is a spooky haunted house thrill ride that's well worth going on.

The rest of the franchise is inconsistent. The best of the other films is 2009's Ju-On: White Ghost and the two dire recent reboot movies (who says Hollywood has the monopoly on awful reboots?) were the worst.

Director Takashi Shimizu directed the Hollywood remake of it, which was arguably the only decent J-Horror remake.

Contributor

Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.