20 Most Disturbing Japanese Horror Movies Of All Time

20. Ichi The Killer (2001)

The Plot: While searching for his disappeared boss Anjo, Yakuza enforcer Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano) comes to learn that he was seemingly murdered by the legendary Ichi (Nao Omori), an easily-manipulated man known for leaving piles of bodies anywhere he goes, and who becomes a vital weapon in the emerging Yakuza clan war. Why It's Disturbing: Ichi the Killer has been highly controversial since release for its graphic violence, including faces being sliced off, needles shoved through jaws, nipples cut off, limbs being torn and sliced off, giant neck wounds spraying fountains of gore, the tip of a tongue getting cut off (in close-up, no less), a guy getting slowly sliced in half as all of his guts fall to the floor, and someone shoves two needles into their ears to make themselves deaf. Now, it's worth saying that the movie's disturbing quality is reduced a little by both the comic tone and the generally shoddy quality of some of the CGI gore effects (hence why it places so high up on this list), but as an overall production, it's as nasty, grim and f***ed up as audiences have come to expect from Takashi Miike.