The Japanese horror boom of the 1990s wasn’t just limited to film, as most of the classic survival horror franchises that we now know and love came from Japanese developers offering a unique perspective on traditionally western settings. This is how we got iconic yet idiosyncratic locations like Raccoon City and even the cursed town […]
The Japanese horror boom of the 1990s wasn’t just limited to film, as most of the classic survival horror franchises that we now know and love came from Japanese developers offering a unique perspective on traditionally western settings. This is how we got iconic yet idiosyncratic locations like Raccoon City and even the cursed town of Silent Hill.
That’s why it makes sense that the latest entry in the Silent Hill series is aiming to return to the franchise’s East-Asian roots by having the game actually take place in 1970s Japan after decades of having western developers in charge of the IP. With that in mind, we’ve decided to come up with a list recommending six underrated Japanese Horror films to get you in the mood for NeoBards’ upcoming Silent Hill f.
As usual, this list is entirely based on personal opinion, but we’ll try to contain entries to Japanese movies that fit both the mood and themes present in the marketing material surrounding the highly anticipated title. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own Japanese Horror favorites if you think we missed a particularly underrated one.
We’ve already covered this underrated Junji Ito adaptation on a previous list highlighting the scariest scarecrows in horror films, but Tsuruta Norio’s atmospheric parable about a rural village haunted by undead effigies is a must-watch for fans of atmospheric terror hidden in seemingly idyllic towns.
Also known as Scarecrow in some countries, the film may take a while to get its deliberately paced story properly kicked into gear, but the unsettling imagery and folk-horror-inspired mythology are sure to keep viewers invested in one of the most memorable experiences on this list.
5. Marebito (2004)
Creator of the Ju-On franchise, Takashi Shimizu was quite the busy filmmaker during the early 2000s. However, not all of the director’s projects were connected to the Saeki family, as one of his scariest features happens to be a little-known experimental genre flick titled Marebito.
A voyeuristic combination of Found Footage and traditional narrative filmmaking, Marebito is a labyrinthian nightmare about a paranoid cameraman who encounters a mysterious woman in the secret underground ruins that lie hidden beneath the streets of Tokyo. What follows is an impressionist series of scares as our protagonist succumbs to his newfound obsession, with the flick’s unreliable narrator and Lynchian “otherworld” making it a perfect midnight movie for Silent Hill fans.
4. Infection (2004)
The first entry in the J-Horror Theater anthology (an attempt by producer Takashige Ichise to capitalize on the worldwide J-Horror craze of the 2000s), Masayuki Ochiai’s Infection follows a group of doctors and nurses struggling to deal with a seemingly supernatural infection during the graveyard shift at a run-down hospital. While that sounds like a simple enough premise on paper, Infection somehow manages to blend the paranoid thrills of films like John Carpenter’s The Thing with classic ghost story tropes as it proceeds to toy with viewers’ minds.
The film’s low budget and obtuse storytelling may bother some viewers, but I’d argue that there are plenty of metaphysical scares to be had here if you allow yourself to be immersed in the flick’s insanely creepy setting – which is precisely why we’re recommending it to fans of Silent Hill.
3. Reincarnation (2005)
Another movie from J-Horror Theater, Takashi Shimizu’s contribution to the anthology is a haunting homage to both Kubrick and Argento. In a refreshingly meta twist, Reincarnation tells the story of an up-and-coming actress who begins to have ghostly visions of the past when she accepts a role in a movie about a real mass-murder that occurred back in the 1970s.
While I won’t spoil any of the flick’s twists and turns, suffice to say that the eerie addition of nostalgic ’70s imagery (including some 8mm Found Footage) combined with a masterful use of dual realities (as the past violently bleeds into the present during filming of the film-within-a-film) make this a perfect choice for Silent Hill fans wanting to prepare themselves for the upcoming game.
2. The Vampire Doll (1970)
Also known as The Night of the Vampire and Legacy of Dracula in some territories, Michio Yamamoto’s The Vampire Doll is one of the most influential films on this list despite its relative obscurity. A supernatural mystery following a young woman and her fiancé as she searches for her brother in a remote country home, this criminally underseen film went on to inspire countless filmmakers due to its haunting visuals and impeccable atmosphere.
And if that’s not enough to reel you in, the movie’s isolated ’70s setting and survival-horror-esque setup will almost certainly place you in the right spooky mindset for Silent Hill f. Just keep in mind that this is not your average vampire movie!
1. Occult (2009)
The Silent Hill series has dabbled in Lovecraftian terror ever since the first game featured a secretive cult attempting to summon their warped vision of God. However, if you’re in the mood for a Japanese perspective on cosmic horror in the world of film, look no further than the work of Koji Shiraishi. The director may be best known for his multi-layered opus Noroi, but today I’d like to recommend his 2009 feature Occult – a criminally underrated Found Footage movie.
Following a documentary crew as they accompany the survivor of a mass stabbing as he slowly spirals into madness, Occult isn’t as narratively dense as Noroi, but it can be just as unsettling if you accept its more grounded approach to incomprehensible scares (as well as that bonkers ending).
