FrightFest Guide to Japanese Horror Movies

Paperback Book

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From the sumptuous scares of Kwaidan to the cold chills of Dark Water, Japanese horror movies have been inducing shivers in viewers across the globe for decades. Iconic long-haired female ghosts, impish yokai monsters, and city-stomping kaiju – the fantastical bestiary of Japanese horror is firmly ingrained in our collective imagination.

Renowned Japanese film expert Tom Mes takes you on a journey through a century of horror, during which you will encounter cat demons, mushroom people, snake girls and snow maidens, along with Japan’s unique takes on zombies, vampires, werewolves and haunted houses. Take descents into hell, wade through the crimson rivers of 1980s splatter, and wallow in the wild excesses of modern masters like Takashi Miike and Shinya Tsukamoto.

Thanks to Ring and its iconic cursed videotape, the turn of the millennium saw a worldwide boom in Japanese ghost films, and a host of Hollywood remakes, but The FrightFest Guide to Japanese Horror Movies takes you back to this distinctive movement’s roots.

Master filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa, acclaimed director of great Japanese horror films including Cure and Pulse, provides the insightful foreword.

The FrightFest Guide to Japanese Horror Movies shines a spotlight on more than 200 films and fright franchises, including horrific hidden gems and monstrous missing links that have never been seen outside Japan or written about in the English language before.