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Popular perception of Japanese horror, or J-horror, might be limited to "Ringu" and "Ju-on: The Grudge," but there's more to this thematically rich genre. The enduring image of Sadako crawling out of a television screen is preceded by decades worth of macabre folk tales, supernatural myths, and horror aspects drawn from traditional Kabuki theater. One of the earliest examples of J-horror is Kaneto Shindo's 1964 film "Onibaba," a tale of dread and betrayal set against the backdrop of civil war. At other times, these horror stories dive into deeply surreal waters, such as Nobuhiko Obayashi's "Hausu" aka "House," which has gained cult status over the years due to its inventive imagery.

Fast forward to a post-"Ringu" world, Takashi Miike made "One Missed Call," which features a straightforward horror plot revolving around strange cell phone messages. For those unfamiliar with Miike's brand of filmmaking, the "Audition" and "Ichi the Killer...

Randy Orton is no stranger to the public spotlight, especially after he made a name and built an impressive career as a WWE wrestler. The physicality of his line of work forced him and his fellow wrestlers to work out through insane hours, but these men could only take so much and needed something to blow off a little steam.

Fortunately, this is where the gaming industry comes in to save him from boredom, as he found solace in Soulslike games, such as Elden Ring. These games are not for the faint of heart, and Orton is proud to share his knowledge and love for the genre while taking a few shots at a fellow wrestler for his taste in games.

WWE Superstar Randy Orton Is a Proud Soulslike Gamer Being a pro wrestler must have given Orton the courage to explore the Lands Between. Image Credit: WWE

The gaming...

The "Olicity" connection is living on in an unexpected way. Former Arrow co-stars Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards now share an unlikely connection, each now sporting ties to the wrestling world.

Years after leaving Star City behind, Amell and Rickards have both stepped into the squared circle in wrestling-related dramas; Amell leads the Starz series Heels, while Rickards leads Queen of the Ring, a biopic hitting theaters on March 7, 2025. Their post-Arrow careers may have shifted from vigilante justice, but the common ground in their later careers offers fans a fun double feature and an unconventional way to support the Arrow stars.

Stephen Amell Turned Real-Life Wrestling Experience Into a New Leading Role in Heels The Underrated Wrestling Drama Streams on Netflix

Amell built wrestling credibility long before retiring from playing Green Arrow. His WWE Monday Night Raw debut in 2015 led to multiple in-ring performances, going as far as...

Quick LinksSean Astin Used Ralph Bakshi's Film to Learn About The Lord of the RingsSean Astin Hated Ralph Bakshi's Version of Samwise GamgeePeter Jackson's Films Treated Samwise Gamgee With Respect

Peter Jackson's live-action film adaptations of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings became pop-cultural icons upon their release in the early 2000s, and even two decades later, they are heralded by many as the greatest fantasy films of all time. Each of the trilogy's installments was a massive success both critically and commercially, cementing Jackson's Middle-earth as the definitive version for countless fans, but this was far from the first attempt at bringing Tolkien's seminal work to the big screen. Before the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001, the most prominent The Lord of the Rings adaptation was Ralph Bakshi's animated film from 1978. In terms of quality,...

“I can’t sing and I can’t dance,” Mildred Burke tells her future manager, husband, business partner (and later ex-husband and rival) Billy Wolfe. “But I can tell a story and beat some ass.”

What a story, and what an ass-beating. “Queen of the Ring” is a wide-eyed and inspirational biopic about Burke, born Mildred Bliss, who defied gender norms, broke arbitrary laws separating and limiting the participation of all genders in sports, and shattered the glass ceiling. She was a single mother, an entrepreneur and I hope I never get punched as hard as she can punch. At a time when women’s wrestling was outlawed throughout much of the United States, she not only proved it could be done, but also that it could be profitable as hell.

Mildred Burke is played by Emily Bett Rickards, who is best known for playing the hacker Felicity Smoak on the superhero TV series “Arrow.

Upon its release in 1998, the Korean ghost film “Whispering Corridors” proved to be immensely successful in part with its release at the forefront of the J-Horror Movement. Appearing as a contemporary of celebrated titles “Ringu” and “Ju-On” among numerous others, it helped to spawn a franchise. “Memento Mori” arrived one year later and then this third entry a couple of years later. Helmed by first-time director Yun Jae-yeon and feeling very much like a retread of the material the genre was producing elsewhere around the world, that does strike this one down slightly even with its celebrated positives.

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In a Korean boarding school, lesbian ballet student Kim So-hee (Park Han-byeol) is in deep love with her passive girlfriend and fellow ballet student Yoon Jin-sung (Song Ji-hyo) who won’t return her affection. When an announcement is made about a competition for...

One of the most disappointing trends we’ve been witnessing in the gaming industry is the push towards live service mode. While the games do tend to receive continual updates after release, they’re accompanied by predatory monetization practices that leave gamers horrified.

Valorant doesn’t make the same mistakes as its rivals. (Image via Riot Games)

Call of Duty has been under fire for years now, all thanks to the incessant monetization tactics. If there’s something in the Fps franchise that can earn money, Activision will make sure to monetize it. Players are particularly frustrated with this issue when it comes to Operator skins. Luckily, Valorant has a clear way out of this.

Why Valorant‘s approach to monetization works unlike Call of Duty Operator skins in Call of Duty have been criticized left and right. (Image via Activision)

Let’s be honest, one of the most unique...

Jimmy Johnson is ready to retire after more than three decades with Fox Sports. The legendary football coach-turned-nfl analyst broke the news to Colin Cowherd on Monday’s “The Herd.”

“I’ve made an extremely difficult decision. I’ve been thinking about it for the last four or five years, and I’ve decided to retire from Fox,” Johnson revealed. “I’m going to miss it, I’m going to miss all the guys and I’ll see them occasionally. But it’s been a great run, starting back 31 years ago.”

“Probably the most fun I’ve ever had in my career — and that’s counting Super Bowls and national championships — was at Fox Sports,” the two-time Super Bowl champ added. “I have an absolute ball with my friends on the set, the best friends I’ve ever had.”

Johnson, 81, indeed joined Fox Sports in 1994 after winning Super Bowls Xxvii...

The Doctor meets “The Nurse” (aka his new Companion) in a new trailer, seen above, for the upcoming season of Doctor Who.

The new season of Doctor Who will premiere Saturday, April 12 (at 3 am Et), on Disney+ (where available) and the BBC and BBC iPlayer (in the UK). The eight-episode season will then do weekly drops each Saturday. (This marks a departure from the Ncuti Gatwa-led incarnation’s first season, which we yankees got on Fridays.)

More from TVLineTVLine Items: Jimmy Johnson Retires From Fox Sports, Paw Patrol Double Renewal and MoreDisney+'s Long-Delayed Tiana Animated Series Has Officially Been...

Japanese cinema is one of the world's oldest and largest film industries, producing countless gems. J-horror, in particular, has carved a chilling niche in global cinema, even inspiring trends and remakes of classics in Hollywood. The genre's uncanny ability to unsettle audiences can be traced back to Japan's rich cultural history of ghost stories shared for centuries.

J-horror began gaining global recognition in the late 1990s and early 2000s, thanks to films like Ringu (The Ring) and Ju-on (The Grudge). These films introduced viewers to eerie, slow-building atmospheres and terrifying spirits often tied to themes of revenge and unresolved traumas. Yet the roots of J-horror go deeper. Movies likeJigoku (Hell) helped pioneer the genre by combining traditional folklore with the emerging anxieties of modern Japan. J-horror has left an indelible mark on cinema, with some movies being among the scariest ever made worldwide.

Updated February 11, 2025, by Anthony Jeanetta. Japan...

The Ring, Gore Verbinski's supernatural horror spectacle of 2002, will stream soon on Peacock, proving that horror doesn't always take a break during the beginning of the year. Starting Jan. 1, Peacock subscribers will be able to stream the film about the cursed video starring Naomi Watts.

In The Ring, Watts plays Rachel Keller, a journalist who attends her niece's funeral and realizes Katie's death is not related to natural causes. Katie's mom asks Rachel to investigate, and during the funeral, the journalist finds out that the teenager isn't the only victim. A few of her friends also died in mysterious circumstances after watching a cursed videotape. When Rachel investigates the mysterious tape, she also sees the cryptic video. Seconds after it ends, she receives an ominous phone call from someone who just whispers, "Seven days."

Rachel grabs the tape and runs off. She contacts her ex-husband, who's a video specialist,...

Parker Finn exploded onto the horror scene in 2022 with Smile, one of the most frightening and original films of the new millennium. When he returned two years later with the even scarier Smile 2, it was inevitable that he would be asked about his favorite horror movie. One of his answers was eye-opening: Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 1997 thriller Cure, which has fascinating parallels to Parker Finn's films.

Finn confessed that his favorite movie of all time is The Shining, which may account for casting Jack Nicholson's son Ray in Smile 2 — but he quickly added that Cure is another all-time favorite. His Smile franchise may bear the influence of J-horror classics like Jun-On and Ringu, with its virus-like supernatural contagion, but Cure is an even more interesting reference point for Finn's films. Kiyoshi Kurosawa's film features an evil influence that spreads from one innocent bystander to another, and, like Smile 2,...

Sony is considering a possibly historic takeover of Kadokawa Corporation, which may significantly alter Japan’s media environment. The technology and entertainment behemoth is in advanced talks to buy the long-running media organization, with sources claiming a transaction may be finalized in the coming weeks.

Sony and Kadokawa already have a relationship, and the possible merger expands on that. Sony now owns a 1.93% share in Kadokawa, founded through a strategic collaboration in 2021. This current connection could pave the way for a comprehensive acquisition.

Kadokawa offers a strong media history to the potential transaction. Founded in 1945, the corporation has a long film production and publishing history. Its Kadokawa Daiei Studio has produced famous films, including the well-known horror film Ringu, which was eventually remade in the United States as The Ring.

The corporation continues to aggressively develop its entertainment offering. In July, Kadokawa paid $20 million for animation studio Doga Kobo, which...

Sony is reportedly in discussions to acquire Kadokawa Corporation, the Japanese media giant behind recent features by Takeshi Kitano and Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

Sources say that if ongoing talks are successful, a deal could be signed within weeks, according to Reuters.

Sony has held a 1.93% stake in Kadokawa since 2021, when the two firms formed a capital alliance alongside digital advertising firm CyberAgent. Sony also owns a stake in FromSoftware, the Kadokawa subsidiary outfit behind hit video games such as Elden Ring.

Kadokawa was founded in 1945 as a publisher and is known in the film business for Kadokawa Daiei Studio, which was...

The 2024 Taiwan Creative Content Fest (Tccf), held its closing and awards ceremony for the Pitching section today (8th). This year’s grand prize, the Taicca X Cnc Award, was awarded to Clouded Leopard by Mangowork Studio Co., Ltd., while the Taicca Award: Best Story went to Rest in Pieces by Balena Islet Publishing Inc. Each winner took home $30,000 Usd and $10,000 Usd, respectively. Additionally, following the jury’s recommendation, a Special Jury Award was introduced due to the exceptional diversity and quality of proposals. This award was presented to the tri-country co-production The Alleyway which received $10,000 Usd in prize money as encouragement to inspire more market-potential projects in the future.

Taicca Chairperson Homme Tsai expressed that the four-day Tccf event received high praise for its international participation and professional quality, with over 10,000 visitors attending. He hopes to invite more major international platforms and production companies to participate in next year’s...

International finance, production and sales company Est N8 has been in talks with buyers at AFM on Indonesian horror thriller The Hole after acquiring international rights.

Hanung Bramantyo directed the story co-written with Haqi Achmad. The story blends noir with supernatural horror and is said to be in the vein of Seven, The Wailing, and Ringu.

Set in rural Indonesia, The Hole follows a police officer’s journey into darkness as he investigates a series of brutal murders targeting village officials. As he delves deeper, he uncovers sinister secrets about the victims that put him and his loved ones at risk.

In 2002, a movie came out that would influence horror for a long time to come. This was Takashi Shimizu's Ju-On: The Grudge (2002). Along with Ringu four years earlier, Ju-On: The Grudge kicked off a decade of American obsession with Japanese horror. These films spearheaded a cult following of J-horror in the United States in the early 2000s, with films like One Missed Call, Dark Water, and Pulse. To this day, Ju-On: The Grudge contains many of the essential elements of J-horror, elements that were exactly what Hollywood was looking for to revive the horror genre in the 21st century.

Winner of the Grand Prize at the Japan Horror Film Competition as a short film, Ryota Kondo‘s debut feature “Missing Child Videotape” might sound like another “Ringu” copycat, but is actually quite unique in its presentation of horror. Let us take things from the beginning though.

Missing Child Videotape is screening at Tokyo International Film Festival

The story takes place in 2015, although one could say a part is also occurring much before that. Keita is a young man living a quiet life working in a supermarket and sharing an apartment with Tsutaka, a school teacher. Both of them, however, have their secrets and their issues. Keita is still feeling guilt from being the one present when his younger brother disappeared 13 years ago, and still goes to the woods where the whole thing happened on occasion, to search for him.

It is in one of those ‘excursions’ that he finds another missing boy,...

Japanese Horror films have produced some of the most terrifying and chilling moments in all horror cinema, building a reputation as a powerhouse in the genre. From "documentary" style found footage films to more traditional paranormal stories, Japanese filmmakers demonstrate a unique talent for creating some of the most exceptional horror movies ever. These titles often exhibit cultural nuances and combine them with haunting esthetics and gripping atmospheres, taking everyday life and turning it into something dark and sinister.

Some Japanese horror films transcend both the country and the genre, with titles like Ringu and Ju-On: The Grudge leaving a lasting mark on cinema and inspiring numerous other films. While some horror films trend towards shocking moments and jump scares, these focus on a slow build with incredibly intricate imagery while also not shying away from gore and brutality. In a genre that encompasses great Japanese horror films from as far back as the 1980s,...

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Most Hollywood stars become synonymous with the films they star in, but every so often, a celebrity's unapologetic love of another movie becomes a part of their "brand." It's very common with directors when their styles reflect their inspirations, most notably, Brian De Palma with Alfred Hitchcock. It's not as common with actors, however, who are often cagey or diplomatic when talking about their cinematic likes and dislikes, because you never know who you're going to work with (or for) in this business. We know what films an actor like Bruce Willis loves because he's been open about it in interviews, but it's doubtful a movie fan would sit down to watch Peter Bogdanovich's "The Last Picture Show" and think to themselves, "You know, Bruce Willis loves this movie."

But then there's Willem Dafoe, who might be the world's...

Shudder is undoubtedly the best horror streaming platform available since it is solely dedicated to bringing the best horror the industry has to offer. Founded in 2015, the video-on-demand streaming service offers a diverse selection of films, from vintage titles to the most recent originals and exclusives.

In October 2024, for example, Shudder released numerous highly entertaining horror films, including Azrael, The Exorcism, and MadS. However, the streamer has prepared a plethora of movies for horror geeks in the following month, ranging from renowned franchises such as Chucky and Children of the Corn to the newest arrivals like Black Cab and Rita. With that in mind, let's take a look at what Shudder has to offer in November 2024.

The J-Horror Virus Streaming November 1

When it comes to filmmaking, Japanese horror has long had a distinct tradition emphasizing psychological horror featuring vengeful spirits known as Yurei. The J-Horror Virus is a new horror...

Quick Links The Grudge Stays True to Its Origins by Keeping the Original Film's Director The Grudge's Non-Linear Storytelling Adds to Its Atmosphere

In the early 2000s, studios began to see the potential in Japanese horror films and how they could be translated for an American audience. Horror fans were already aware of the films of Hideo Nakata, Takashi Miike, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and others, but more casual moviegoers likely didn't search that part of the world to get their quick scare fix. Taking advantage of how the horror landscape was evolving and changing, DreamWorks Pictures optioned to remake Nakata's 1998 Japanese horror film, Ringu, for an American audience.

With The Ring, director Gore Verbinski was able to take the shell of that original story and make it accessible to American moviegoers, tapping into the supernatural elements that were familiar to them in other horror movies. The move was a success,...

Dcu head James Gunn asserted he's not a big fan of Asian movie remakes. However, 2002's The Ring, a U.S. horror adaptation of 1998's Ringu, is one exception he's willing to make.

James Gunn shared his favorite remake films in a lively conversation on Threads. His list is dominated by Western horror films like The Thing, The Fly, It, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers; it also included 2006's The Departed, a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs. One Threads user commented that film is better than Martin Scorsese's take; Gunn chimed in and named The Ring as his all-time favorite Asian film remake. "I'd actually say the best remake of an Asian film (they're almost never good) is The Ring," he wrote. Gunn is now known for his string of Marvel and DC superhero movies, but his breakout feature was 2006's Slither, a body...

Xbox’s Tokyo Game Show 2024 presentation was a mixed bag, with a slew of new Jrpg reveals that left non-jrpg fans feeling a bit underwhelmed. But it appears that the green team has a new reason to be excited: the gaming giant has announced its next Partner Preview, set to go live this Thursday, October 17, and it might just be the event Xbox enthusiasts have all been waiting for.

There may yet be hope. | Image Credit: Microsoft

According to the official announcement, the broadcast promises to be a “no-fluff, all-games” affair, featuring “over a dozen new trailers over the course of around 25 minutes.” But there’s one game in particular that has been conspicuously absent from Xbox’s lineup, and fans will surely be hoping that this Partner Preview will finally bring it into the fold.

The Black Myth: Wukong Saga Continues

Unless you’ve been living under a rock,...

Life after death proves to be equally competitive as the earthly one in John Hsu‘s barmy comedy “Dead Talents Society” in which ghosts fight each other for their right to exist. Their world is controlled by pretty much the same rules as those we live by – one has to be seen and acknowledged to gain respect, and the influencers dictate the trends. Even in the afterlife, there is too much work for anyone’s liking but possessing talent is everything. If you don’t have it, tough luck – you’ll be gone faster than you can say “second chance”.

Dead Talents Society is screening at Hawai’i International Film Festival

Hsu returns to the world of ghosts after his big cinema success “Detention” (2019), this time in a much different manner. He departs from being completely sinister to mock the entertainment industry and our addiction to it by referencing several...

Its ironic that when a horror movie is truly effective at producing fear, I never want to see it again. While there are some incredible horrors, like Stanley Kubricks The Shining, that I'll happily rewatch several times over, noticing something new with each viewing, other horrors told me everything I needed to know with a singular viewing, and although I enjoyed them the first time around, I have no desire to rewatch. In fact, some were so bone-chillingly horrific that the thought of having to experience them for a second time actually gives me anxiety.

There are lots of great movies that are so brutal I could only watch them once, and this is especially relevant for horror films. It might be that the movies excessive depiction of violence was just too much for me to take, but in other circumstances, it was not the literal imagery that made for difficult viewing,...

I once thought the European mind couldn’t comprehend Dinner for Schmucks. I now know how wrong I was.

14 ‘Dinner for Schmucks’ (2010)

The 1998 French film Le Dîner de Cons (“dinner of fools”) won a ton of awards and sparked three different Indian adaptations: 2007’s Hindi-language Bheja Fry, 2008’s Kannada-language Mr. Garagasa and 2010’s Malayalam-language April Fool. The original film is based on a 1999 French play of the same name. When it was still a stage production, the title was often translated in English as The Prat’s Dinner or The Cunt’s Dinner.

13 ‘The Last House on the Left’ (2009)

The 2009 Wes Craven film is a remake of a 1972 Wes Craven film, which in turn was based on the 1960 Swedish film Jungfrukällan (“the virgin spring”). That film was actually based on a 13th-century Scandinavian ballad, “Töres döttrar i Wänge,” a real mindfreak about the tragic origin of a local Swedish church.

The long-awaited anime adaption of Junji Ito's classic horror manga Uzumaki is finally set to hit Adult Swim on September 28. Fans who have been waiting for this moment since the series went into production in 2019 can satisfy themselves with the incredible live-action version from the year 2000, currently streaming on Prime.

The funny and frightening film is an excellent adaptation of the manga, but it also offers a unique twist on the usual themes of the J Horror genre.The beloved Junji Ito is a highly idiosyncratic creator who effortlessly blends humor and horror in his visually striking manga. The same can be said of this stylish film version of Uzumaki, which is by turns sweet and funny, then profoundly unsettling. Such versatility is required for a story this strange: A small town is gripped by a curse that causes a dangerous obsession with spirals. A teenage couple struggles to...

Early on in “A Clockwork Orange,” Alex and his fellow droogs break into a rich writer’s home and rape his wife, which would be wrong enough if he weren’t crooning “Singin’ in the Rain” in the process. Half a century later, the scene seems no less appalling, given the way Stanley Kubrick made such ultraviolence look like fun for the demented kids who were doing it. Could there be anything more nihilistic than that?

Middle-aged bad boy Harmony Korine certainly thinks so. The latest stunt from his taboo-razing Edglrd studio, “Baby Invasion” blurs the lines between real life and a gnarly video game, so much so that it’s hard to tell what we’re watching for most of the trippy project’s 79-minute running time.

First-person footage of Florida McMansions ransacked by screen-addicted sociopaths? Creepy face-replacement technology that turns armed vandals into demon-horned Gerber babies? AI-generated cameos from an elusive CG rabbit?...

Lovecraftian movie needs a remake to capture its unique atmosphere and themes accurately. Human characters in Lovecraftian narratives face moral dilemmas due to otherworldly beings. Uzumaki manga inspires a new live-action adaptation with improved VFX and cohesive storytelling.

One 24-year-old Lovecraftian movie has not aged too well, suggesting it needs a worthy remake. Although Lovecraftian horror can be a vast term that could accommodate several horror movies, it is often driven by a set of rules that define its unique atmosphere and themes. Typically, cosmicism or Lovecraftian horror revolves around humanity's struggle against intangible, otherworldly beings that serve as reminders of the insignificance of human life in the vastness of the universe.

The human characters in Lovecraftian narratives either find themselves losing their minds after accessing forbidden knowledge or end up morally bankrupting themselves to the point of no redemption. In literature, Hp Lovecraft's stories also leave much to a reader's imagination,...

The Ring franchise, which includes 14 films, began with the 1995 TV film Ringu, and its popularity has influenced the horror genre. The franchise offers two different ways to watch the films: in order of release date or in chronological order of events. Each film in the franchise contributes to the overarching storyline and expands on the lore of the curse, introducing new characters and plot twists.

The critically acclaimed horror franchise The Ring movies, in order, consists of several timelines, remakes, and sequels, making it hard to keep track of its fourteen films' order by release date and chronology. While there have been several remakes of the franchise, The Ring movies' popularity began with its 1998 feature-length film Ringu. The film became a pioneer for the J-horror genre and earned worldwide critical acclaim thanks to its achievements in visuals, sound design, and cinematography. The Ring's chilling supernatural tale has become a major influence on the horror genre.

I’ve been fascinated with cursed objects ever since my mom first scared me with stories about those paintings of crying children that would supposedly survive raging fires while the house around them burned. Despite later learning that most of these yarns are nothing more than urban legends, I still find myself oddly attracted to tales about evil taking on a more abstract shape.

And in honor of Damian Mc Carthy’s Oddity taking the idea of cursed objects to the next level as the film unleashes horrors from its protagonist’s cabinet of curiosities, we’ve decided to come up with a list celebrating six of the spookiest cursed objects in horror media.

For the purposes of this list, we’ll be avoiding haunted dolls like Chucky and Annabelle, as I think the article will be much more entertaining if we focus on non-humanoid objects that pose more of an abstract threat.

Anime Expo 2024 revealed several upcoming figures, figurines and collectibles for anime fans. One of these was an anime-inspired redux of a horror movie and novel icon.

Kotobukiya is known for its statues and other forms of merchandise based on both true anime franchises as well as anime takes on other popular properties. One of these is now The Ring, which is known in both the East and West as a chilling horror series. An upcoming Sadako bishojo character statue will frighten collectors with terror that will fit right on their shelves.

Related Zoids Action Figures Become Moe Anime Girls With Kotobukiya's New Bishojo Model Kits

Takara has revealed new entries in the Zoids toy franchise -- namely, two upcoming figures that reimagine the animalistic mecha as beautiful women.

The Ring's Sadako Is the Latest Horror Icon to Get a Bishoujo Reimagining Horror pic.twitter.com/6E1lowxMx5 (@ShunyaYamashita) July 5, 2024

The...

A distractingly outsized performance is one of many unsuccessful elements in Osgood Perkins’ stylish yet progressively silly horror

In a rather gloomy period for the horror film – a string of commercial misfires causing some to question the usually profitable genre’s long-life reliability – the promise of nightmarish killer thriller Longlegs has felt like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. Teased with an intricate campaign of the likes we rarely get in this era – withholding, drawn out, artful – buzz grew from online whispers to in-cinema screams with early reactions suggesting a bold and terrifying new original was here, sleep be damned.

Some of that promise does manage to creep onto the screen, almost all of it within the first creepier half, but writer-director Osgood Perkins, son of Psycho’s Anthony, just can’t quite edge his film into the territory it so wishes to be a part of,...

This article contains mild spoilers for "The Imaginary."

Animation and horror is a peculiar and difficult combination. Although the West has seen kids' animated movies descend into pure horror plenty of times before, it is trickier with anime, where more often than not horror is boiled down to simply a metric ton of blood or body horror. Still, even when the atmosphere of horror doesn't work in an animated movie, chances are it will still provide a horrifying monster or villain. This has been true since the early days of feature animation in the U.S., when "Snow White" gave countless kids nightmares with the Evil Queen.

That tradition has mostly gone away, as cartoons inspired by horror are becoming increasingly rare each year. This only makes the movies that do remember the power of horror in a kid-friendly setting all the more powerful. So is the case of "The Imaginary,...

In the world of television and film, it's common for other countries to adapt or remake popular media. The U.S. has had plenty of successful adaptations, ranging from horror flicks like The Grudge (Ju-On) and The Ring (Ringu) to dramas like Jane the Virgin (Juana la Virgen) and The Good Doctor (The Good Doctor). However, plenty of American original shows that have been popularized have been adapted to fit other cultural mediums.

Hideo Nakata's 1998 J-horror sensation "Ring" ("Ringu") revolves around images, mainly the distortion of photographs that denote Sadako's (Rie Inō) marked victims, and the eerie, anxiety-inducing cursed tape that comes alive in grotesque ways. Even Gore Verbinski's 2002 remake employs this photographic distortion — smudged and blurred faces that hint at the tragedy that befell the ones photographed, as if their very souls were smudged out of the frame.

The idea that photographs capture the essence of our souls is not recent, nor is its relation to spirit photography far-fetched, as the shadows and aberrations captured are often considered proof of something amiss. When Nakata was asked about this concept in an interview with Offscreen, the director affirmed that the idea for the smudged photos was inspired by a real-life woman who could allegedly manipulate objects with her clairvoyance, just like Sadako's influence manipulated the photographs:

"Mister Takahashi, who wrote the script with me,...

Quick Links Who Does Hiroyuki Sanada Play in Ringu (1998)? Ryuji Takayama Was Very Important to the Ring Franchise Ryuji Takayama Became Sadako's Ghoulish Counterpoint In the Ring Franchise How Ringu Helped Launch Hiroyuki Sanada's Hollywood Career

The following article contains spoilers for Shgun. It also contains a mention of suicide.

Hiroyuki Sanada is one of the most talked-about Japanese actors in Hollywood. It's all due to FX's Shgun being a period drama and a masterpiece at the same time. In the series, Sanada plays Yoshii Toranaga, a feudal-era Lord of Edo, who works to ensure corrupt politicians and villains like Lord Ishido didn't govern Japan and take the throne.

Many have praised Shgun for its authenticity and Sanada's intimidating presence. Though Sanada delivers one of the best performances of his career as the titular shgun, he also may not have gotten there if not for another equally memorable...

There was a moment in Japanese culture when writers and filmmakers began to update centuries-old fears so that they could still be effective storytelling tools in the modern world. One of the best examples of this is how extremely popular stories like Ringu and Parasite Eve began re-interpreting the cyclical nature of curses as pseudo-scientific “infections,” with this new take on J-Horror even making its way over to the world of video games in titles like Resident Evil (a sci-fi deconstruction of a classic haunted house yarn).

However, there is one survival horror game that is rarely brought up during discussions about interactive J-Horror despite being part of a franchise that helped to popularize Japanese genre cinema around the world. Naturally, that game is the Nintendo Wii exclusive Ju-On: The Grudge, a self-professed haunted house simulator that was mostly forgotten by horror fans and gamers alike despite being a legitimately...

Spoilers for "True Detective: Night Country" follow.

The dark, sleepy mining town of Ennis, Alaska, which is where the events of "True Detective: Night Country" are set, conceals many dark secrets beneath the ice. When a group of researchers go missing from their base, Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and the rest of the police force have enough reasons to suspect foul play, but nothing prepares them for what they find. The researchers are found frozen together with no clothes on, their limbs tangled and protruding in various directions, with expressions of pure terror stamped on their icy faces. It is a rather ugly thing to look at, and Danvers immediately describes it as a corpsicle, which is perhaps the most inventive way of referring to this horrifying spectacle.

Writer-director Issa López chooses to linger on these bodies, zooming in on specific body parts that could possibly serve as a clue...

The PG-13 rating, at least for horror, often induces derision or skepticism, like an instant shackle on the horror. A PG-13 rating broadcasts straightaway not to expect any excessive gore, violence, or any of the explicit fun stuff that tends to be horror’s bread and butter. But those things aren’t synonymous with horror’s true aim, which is to scare you silly.

Luckily, PG-13 horror has proven time and time again throughout the decades that it’s more than capable of inducing chills. Especially when it comes to the supernatural.

This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to PG-13 horror movies that bring the terror through ghostly jump scares, ominous atmosphere, and more. That the PG-13 rating means they also double as potential gateway horror for the budding monster kid is a bonus.

Here’s where you can stream them this week.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks,...

Remakes often get a bad rap in the horror community, but sometimes, filmmakers manage to dust off an old VHS, splice in some fresh DNA, and deliver a reimagined nightmare worth losing sleep over. It’s a high-wire act, balancing the homage to past horror hits with the pursuit of innovation, yet some brave souls dare to do just that. Today, on Nightmare on Film Street, we unfurl the blood-red carpet for the 10 Best Horror Movie Remakes of All Time, tipping our hats to those that have been rebuilt, recharged, and reborn for our viewing pleasure.

While some argue that nothing beats the thrill of the original, these revisited realms of horror beg to differ. With each selection, we’ve plunged into the abyss to retrieve not just mere carbon copies, but transformed terrors that have staked their claim in a crowded market.

Orion 10. The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014)

Kicking...

Quick Links Tatstunoko’s Original Tekkaman Series Was an Ardent, Yet Short-Lived Series Tekkaman Blade Brought the Star Knight Back Into the Limelight With a Brand New Story and Cutting-Edge Look Tekkaman Blade Nearly Never Happened and Was Almost Pushed Aside For Another Classic Tatsunoko Series Tekkaman Blade Has Enjoyed a Lively Legacy Since His Last Adventure Anime series were once only viewable in Japan, making it difficult for Western fans to access and enjoy them. Tekkaman: The Space Knight was an ambitious but short-lived series that faced cancelation after only 26 episodes. Tekkaman Blade revitalized the series with a new hero, improved animation, and a more fleshed-out story, running for 50 episodes and receiving various spin-offs and games.

Anime fans today may be horrified to learn this, but once upon a time, most anime series were only released in Japan. That’s right—there once was a time when a vast...

“Audition” is quite a historic production (at least for its cult following), since it was the film that established Takashi Miike as a prominent member of the horror category and Eihi Shiina as a “priestess” of the grotesque.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

Based on the homonymous novel by Ryu Murakami, who actually wrote it as a reaction to a failed love affair, “Audition” tells the story of Shigeharu Aoyama, a middle aged entrepreneur who has recently lost his wife and has been living a disinterested life ever since. His 17-year-old son, Shigehiko, who worries about the turn his father's life seem to have taken, prompts him to meet new women. Yoshikawa, a friend of Shigeharu and a film producer, proposes that he take part in a sham in order to meet women, an idea he agrees to. According to the plan, actresses would...

A year ago, “M3GAN,” one of the snazziest films ever produced by Blumhouse Productions, was the exception to the rule of first-weekend-of-January trash thrillers. The movie was witty and shivery in a preposterous way, its robot-killer-doll scenario actually had a thing or two to say about AI, and it gave us the year’s most memorable android-girl dance meme — at least, until Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday Addams danced with her hands to Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary.” But now, opening in the same junkyard weekend slot, we have another Blumhouse production, “Night Swim,” which restores a certain order to the cinematic universe by being as tepid and unscary as a proper early-in-January movie should be.

“Night Swim” is about a family that moves into a house with a swimming pool that’s haunted, and everything about the spirits that rule this pool — the ghost backstory, the greenish-brown sludge that oozes up from the drain,...

2023 was a banner year for horror films from across the globe, which deserve just as much praise and attention as any domestic genre triumph.

In a year that’s had its share of ups and downs at the box office, horror continues to be a top performer and one of the most consistent sources of entertainment. Superhero fatigue continues to set in and the ballooning budgets of major studio blockbusters have started to seem more like a curse than a kindness. The film industry adapts accordingly and figures out what audiences want.

However, horror movies have never been more popular and 2023 has been a goldmine of blood, guts, and gore. This year alone has featured grandiose franchise sequels like Scream VI, Evil Dead Rise, Insidious: The Red Door, and Saw X. Even Hercule Poirot has gotten into the horror game with A Haunting in Venice. Additionally, weird and wild local horror releases like Skinamarink,...

On the surface, Jeong Yong-ki's new South Korean horror “The Ghost Station” seems to be your average entry in the genre, following a similar path as many other recent releases from the country. However, there's a bit more going on beyond the scenes of this one, co-writing a solid story with two of the masters of the J-Horror movement in Koji Shiraishi who was responsible for films like “Noroi: The Curse,” “Grotesque,” and “Occult” among numerous others in a prolific career. As well, screenwriter Hiroshi Takahashi, who penned the original “Ringu” and several of the sequels, teamed up with director Jeong to base their new film on a popular webtoon that incorporates plenty of J-Horror ideas and concepts into a high-quality South Korean feature. The end result is this wholly enjoyable if overly familiar genre effort, coming to Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital from WellGO USA on December 19.

Warning! This article contains spoilers for A Murder At The End Of The World.

A hit murder mystery show on Hulu signifies the resurgence of a 20-year-old horror subgenre, which lost its prominence due to social and cultural shifts but is now relevant again. The show, A Murder at the End of the World, criticizes Artificial Intelligence and portrays real-world fears around privacy, blurring lines between convenience and intrusion, and the consequences of technology. Unlike other shows, A Murder at the End of the World presents a more realistic portrayal of technophobia, showcasing both the negative and positive aspects of technology, such as its potential for misuse and its ability to aid in solving crimes.

A hit murder mystery show on Hulu reveals how a 20-year-old horror movie subgenre is making a massive comeback. While horror remains one of the most popular movie genres, some of its subgenres have experienced...

Not only have Japanese horror movies like Ring (Ringu) and The Grudge (Ju-On) found a mainstream audience in the U.S., they literally changed the genre with shocking approaches to scaring audiences. It turns out that Japanese filmmakers have an entirely deeper level of shock-value that hasn't quite caught on in America yet.

Known as J-splatter or J-spoitation, there are films that are so disturbingly violent and gory that they push the boundaries of art, while challenging the sense of morality. Some of these truly shocking movies from Japan must be seen to be believed because mere words cannot accurately describe the demented visions they portray.

Tag

Tag (2015)

A girl's life cascades into chaos as everyone around her suffers a gruesome fate while she becomes less certain of who she is and her once-once normal. Starring Reina Triendl, Mariko Shinoda and Erina Mado.

Release Date July 11, 2015 Director Sion Sono Runtime 1 hour 25 minutes Genres Action,...

In the midst of the surge of J-horror following the success of “Ringu”, it seems that someone had an idea of parodying the standards (cliches if you prefer) of the category. That someone was Shinji Aoyama and the film was “Embalming”, a production that is deceptively badly written and occasionally directed, still managing, though, to retain its fun element from beginning to end.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

Embalmer Miyako Murakami is called by her detective friend Hiraoka to treat the body of teenager Yuki Shindo, the son of a politician, after he jumps from a rooftop, apparently in a suicide. A needle found in the body, however, leads Miyako into thinking that there may be more to his death, while Hiraoka seems to think that the deceased's girlfriend, Rika is more involved than she appears to be. And more there is, in abundance actually,...