Top 10 Asian Horror of the 2000s

A Tale of Two Sisters [장화, 홍련] (2003)

This classic in Korean horror is based on a 500-year-old folktale called Janghwa Hongryeon jeon. It’s about a young girl who returns to her family’s countryside estate after some time recovering in an institution. Once she is home with her father, sister, and their frigid stepmother, she starts to see apparitions and some very unusual occurrences. A Tale of Two Sisters has some excellent scenes that are genuinely creepy as well as horrific, and a healthy sense of dread is maintained throughout. If you’re looking for long-haired figures going bump in the night, you won’t be disappointed.

The Eye [見鬼] (2002)

After 18 years of blindness, 20-year-old Mun undergoes a corneal transplant that restores her eyesight. Almost immediately, mysterious figures become apparent in Mun’s field of vision, and she begins to realize that she has inherited something terrifying and horrible. She is now saddled with the responsibility to track down any information she can about the previous owner of her eyes in order to unravel the mystery. Don’t expect jump-out-of-your-seat scares, this movie is much more subtle and slowly paced. The Eye was released three years after The Sixth Sense (1999) and fans of that film should check it out.

One Missed Call [ 着信アリ] (2003)

A group of people who have been cursed begin receiving voicemail messages from their future selves, foretelling their own deaths with a recording of the horrific way in which they will be killed. This movie has some excellent imagery and the ghosts’ appearances might be the scariest of any in this list.

Ju-On: The Grudge [呪怨じゅおん] (2002)

Anyone who dares enter the house in which Japanese onryō (vengeful spirits) reside are marked with a dreadful curse that they cannot escape. Upon dying, anyone who enters the place of this new death are quickly consumed by the curse in turn. This is another great combination of horror, detective mystery, and old fashioned ghost story.

Noroi: The Curse (2005)

Masafumi Kobayashi, documentary filmmaker, explores seemingly unrelated paranormal incidents connected by the legend of an ancient demon, or oni, called the Kagutaba. This is a great mix of found footage and mockumentary-style on-location interviews that makes it all the more immersive and believable.

Shutter [ชัตเตอร์ กดติดวิญญาณ] (2004)

In this Thai horror, a young professional photographer discovers mysterious shadows in his photographs coinciding with the death of a young woman. Soon, his friends begin committing suicide one by one and it’s up to the photographer’s girlfriend to uncover the truth. This mystery horror has that sense of dread that is so profoundly crafted in Asian horror films.

Pulse [Kairo/回路] (2001)

In this morbidly bleak techno-horror, two unconnected groups discover evidence of spirits trying to invade the human world through the Internet. Old, dial up Internet. This fantastic ghost story touches on themes of depression and isolation with its depictions of suicide and paranoia. Get the red duct tape!

Spiral [Uzumaki] (2000)

There’s always that point in exploring Asian horror when one stumbles upon either this film or the manga it was adapted from. In this strange story by Junji Ito, some inhabitants of a small Japanese village become increasingly obsessed and consumed with the notion of spirals. This descent into utter madness is a visual hallucinatory that is somewhere between unsettling and disturbing.

Dark Water [仄暗い水の底から] (2002)

This excellent ghost story is directed by Hideo Nakata, the director of Ring and Ring 2. It definitely has a similar feel, even though the plot isn’t as complex as the one surrounding Sadako. A mother and her daughter move into an apartment with a leak in the ceiling and what follows can only be called Apartment Horror.

Runners up: 

Forbidden Siren (2006)

“When you hear the siren, never go out.” A newspaper writer moves to a remote island with his daughter Yuki and young son Hideo, who cannot speak. The island has a troubled past, including an incident in the 1970s in which all of the inhabitants except one disappeared without a trace. Shortly after moving in, their neighbor warns the father not to go outside when the island’s siren starts wailing.

Witch Board Bunshinsaba [분신사바] (2004)

When cruel school children bully a new student, the student puts a curse on the four girls by tormenting them with the vengeful spirits that she contacts through an Ouija Board. The vengeful spirits, or onryō, happen to be a mother and child who were wrongfully killed 30 years prior. The movie has a great start but can feel rushed at times as it quickly glosses over some interesting ideas. Ultimately, it can be compared to the typical Ringu/Whispering Corridors copycat films that were released in droves.