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J-Horror is a term used to refer to Japanese contributions to horror fiction in popular culture. Whereas American modern day horror films tend to rely heavily on special effects and a multitude of sub-genres (i.e. slashers, demons, extraterrestrials, etc.), J-horror tends to focus on psychological horror and tension building (anticipation), particularly involving ghosts and poltergeist. Certain popular J-Horror films are based on manga (e.g. Tomie, Uzumaki and Yogen). Many contain themes of folk religion such as: possession, exorcism, shamanism, precognition, and yōkai.

Contents 1 Japanese horror and ghost story classics 2 J-Horror and Yūrei 3 Japanese horror influence 4 Notable Japanese horror films 5 Notable Japanese horror directors 6 See also

The origin of the J-Horror can be traced to horror and ghost story classics of the Edo period and the Meiji period, which are known as kaidan. Elements of several of these popular folktales have been worked into the storylines of modern films, especially in the traditional nature of the Japanese ghost.

The success of the 1998 film Ring brought the image of the yūrei to Western popular culture for the first time, although the image has existed in Japan for centuries.

Yūrei are Japanese ghosts, ones who have been bound to the physical world through strong emotions which do not allow them to pass on. Depending on the emotion that binds them, they manifest as a particular type of ghost. Most common to J-Horror is the onryō, a yūrei bound by a desire for vengeance.

Like many creatures of folklore, like vampires or werewolves, yūrei have a traditional appearance and follow a certain set of rules.

They are generally female, although male yūrei do exist. They wear white clothing, which is the color of funeral garb in Japan. They have long, often unkempt black hair, which comes from Kabuki theater where each character has a particular type of wig that identifies them to the audience.

In the past few years, there has been a trend going on to localize some of the more popular Japanese Horror films, but rather than simply adding subtitles or dubbing the works, they have been entirely remade. Ring was one of the first to be remade in America as The Ring, and later The Ring Two (although this remake bears almost no similarity to the original Japanese sequel). Keeping in the recreating of Suzuki Koji's work, Dark Water was also recently remade. Ju-on remade as The Grudge, Kairo as Pulse and Chakushin Ari as 2007's One Missed Call, are other examples of this.

Interestingly, many of the original directors who created these masterpieces of Asian horror have gone on to direct the American remakes. For example, Hideo Nakata, director of Ring, directed the remake The Ring Two and Takashi Shimizu, director of the original Ju-on, directed the remake The Grudge and its sequel, The Grudge 2.

Several Asian countries have been remaking these Japanese horror films as well. For example, Korea created their own version of the J-horror classic Ring, titled The Ring Virus.

Examples of this genre are:

• Audition (aka Ôdishon)
• Cure
• Dark Water (aka Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara)
• Guinea Pig
• Infection (aka Kansen)
• Jigoku
• Jisatsu saakuru (aka Suicide Club or Suicide Circle)
• Ju-on, Ju-on 2, Ju-on: The Grudge, Ju-on: The Grudge 2, Ju-on: The Grudge 3
• Kairo
• Kakashi
• Pyrokinesis (2000)
• Kwaidan
• Marebito
• Onibaba
• One Missed Call (aka Chakushin Ari)
• One Missed Call 2
• Parasite Eve
• Premonition (aka Yogen)
• Reincarnation (aka Rinne)
• Ring, Rasen, Ring 2, Ring 0: Birthday
• Shikoku
• Tetsuo: The Iron Man (aka Tetsuo)
• Three... Extremes (aka Saam gaang yi)
• Voice
• Uzumaki

• Hideo Nakata
• Kaneto Shindo
• Masaki Kobayashi
• Nobuo Nakagawa
• Takashi Miike
• Takashi Shimizu
• Kiyoshi Kurosawa
• Ataru Oikawa (Tomie, based on Ito Junji's manga of the same name)
• Akihiro Higuchi (Uzumaki, based on Ito Junji's manga of the same name)
• Norio Tsuruta (Yogen, Borei Gakkyu and Ring 0: Birthday)

• K-Horror
• Horror film