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Stars: Kaho Seto, Satoshi Oka, Ryuseigun Saionji | Written and Directed by Keishi Kondo

The late nineties/early 2000s brought a new and highly successful era of Japanese horror (or J-horror as it is often known). It seemed like a new cult classic was released every few months, from Ring to The Eye to Dark Water to The Grudge and many many more. They all had a similar style and felt like nothing that anyone else in the World was making. And although Japanese horror has continued to impress since, it has never quite reached those levels again. Maybe New Religion can change that…

There’s a lot going on in New Religion that I feel I need to explain even when trying to give it a short synopsis. Miyabi has a tragic event occur in her life but tries to moving on, becoming a call girl and getting with a new partner.

The Brazilian director on his Oscar-nominated new film, I’m Still Here, the importance of remembering shared history, and Brazil’s double pandemic

Walter Salles, 68, is Brazil’s most internationally celebrated film-maker. He came to global prominence in 1998 with the poignant road movie Central Station, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival and received two Oscar nominations, and has since released English-language films including Dark Water and On the Road and had an arthouse hit with the Che Guevara biopic The Motorcycle Diaries. For his first feature film in 12 years, I’m Still Here, he returned to Brazil to tell the true story of Eunice Paiva, an activist and mother coping with the forced disappearance of her husband during the country’s military dictatorship. Last month, its star, Fernanda Torres, won the Golden Globe for best actress and the film is up for three Oscars, including one for best...

Walter Salles is a filmmaker who doesn't come around that often — literally. Part of the euphoric response to his comeback with I'm Still Heregoes beyond its shattering poignancy or timely subject matter, but the fact that it had been 12 years since he last made a feature film. It's good to know his touch has only gotten more refined with age, though it needs to be said he has always had a splendid handle on elevating material past its generic origins. This is how he made one of the few good English-language remakes of a Japanese horror hit with Dark Water, a film that packs more heart than its incredibly soggy exterior would lead you to believe.

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,...

"It's gotten too dangerous here..." Sony Pictures Classics has debuted the US trailer for acclaimed Brazilian film I'm Still Here, the first feature film from director Walter Salles in 12 years. He's best known for his earlier work - directing the films Central Station, The Motorcycle Diaries, Dark Water, On the Road. The film tells a true story about a Brazilian family whose father is taken by the government & never seen again. Set in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1971 - a country in the tightening grip of a military dictatorship. A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family's life is shattered by a heinous act. The lives of Eunice Paiva and her five children abruptly change after the disappearance of her husband – former Brazilian Labour Party congressman Rubens Paiva. The film stars Fernanda Torres as Eunice, Selton Mello, and Fernanda Montenegro. This first premiered at the Venice Film Festival,...

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.

“I’m Still Here” is not the first film that writer/director Walter Salles has made about the consequences of living under a military dictatorship, as his personal politics have become an inseparable aspect of his identity as an artist. Salles’ films have all been highly specific in calling out the evils of fascism and militarism, but that does not mean his work should generally be classified as some form of protest art.

Salles is a humanist, which is perhaps why he is so adamant about recognizing political structures in which power is not concentrated. “I’m Still Here” is perhaps not revolutionary in its topic of interest, but considering that Salles is one of the few living filmmakers who is so open about the necessity of addressing the past, it is just as critical to his arc as a storyteller as career highlights like “Dark Water” and the Oscar-nominated “The Motorcycle Diaries.

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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...

Does art imitate life? Or is it the other way around? If there was one genre of art that nobody wants their life to imitate, it's horror. Especially when that brand of horror is as creepy and unsettling as 2002s Dark Water. But in 2013, a tragic death occurred that was eerily reminiscent of Hideo Nakatas J-horror classic. Dark Water and the real-life tragedy of Elisa Lam share striking similarities that had conspiracy theorists scratching their heads when the particulars of Lams death came out. Dark Water is a classic in the J-horror ghost story genre, and the case of Elisa Lam is just as creepy and unsettling as any fictional tale.

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...

Tomoki Izumi’s Mieruko-Chan manga is getting a live-action film set to release in the early summer of 2025 in Japan.

An official website and X account have been launched for the live-action film, which unveiled a teaser visual featuring Nanoka Hara, who has been cast to play the role of the protagonist Miko Yotsuya.

Yoshihiro Nakamura is serving as the director as well as the scriptwriter for the film.

Nanoka Hara expressed her excitement about the role, saying, “I’m Nanoka Hara, and I’ll be playing Miko Yotsuya in the live-action film Mieruko-chan. I remember being really happy when I was offered the role of Miko. I was instantly captivated by how unique and interesting the premise was. It’s a horror film, yet my role is to simply ignore the ghosts, which made me laugh out loud while reading the script. Working with Nakamura-sensei was both nerve-wracking and exciting.

Jim Henson's 1986 film "Labyrinth" is a deeply beloved classic among kids of a certain age. It presents the raw sexuality of David Bowie, playing a sexy goblin lord in tights, his bulging package kickstarting millions of kids' puberties. At the beginning of the film, the main character, the 16-year-old Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) wants nothing more than to live in a fantasy world, happy to remain in her pretty-princess phase indefinitely. However, when Bowie's goblin king kidnaps her baby brother Toby (Toby Froud), she learns that living in such a world is wild and off-putting. Most of the film is a random, light adventure, but one scene points out that Sarah is unduly clinging onto her childhood trinkets.

She learns the lesson of I Corinthians 13:11. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man,...

The scariest horrors of the 2000s tended to be straightforward and visceral, tapping into the reptilian parts of the viewer's brain. It was the era of torture porn and gore galore, as well as found footage gems, remakes of Japanese hits, low-budget sleepers, and big franchises. Zombie movies were popular, as were ghost stories, along with stories that explored the dark side of the internet and technology. Hollywood's horror output was very mixed during these years, with highs like The Others and lows like Dark Water.

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Apartment 7A is a psychological horror thriller film directed by Natalie Erika James who also co-wrote the film with Christian White and Skylar James. Based on the 1967 novel titled Rosemary’s Baby by author Ira Levin, the Paramount+ film serves as a prequel to the iconic 1968 film by Roman Polanski. Apartment 7A is set in 1965 in New York City and it follows the story of a young dancer who rents a room from an elderly couple after suffering from a serious injury that ends her career. Apartment 7A stars Julia Garner, Dianne West, Kevin McNally, Jim Sturgess, Marli Siu, Rosy McEwen, Amy Leeson, Scott Hume, and Andrew Buchan. So, if you loved the psychological horror, edge-of-the-seat thrills, and compelling characters in Apartment 7A here are some similar movies you should check out next.

Rosemary’s Baby Credit – Paramount Pictures

Rosemary’s Baby...

This article discusses suicide and traumatic reproductive issues.

A Hollywood reboot of an American remake of a classic Japanese horror series may not sound like cause for celebration, but Nicolas Pesce's 2020 version of The Grudge is actually a high point in the franchise. The atmospheric and terrifying film is supported by a stellar cast whose performances lend extra depth to a multi-layered story that diverges boldly from the usual formula. Though it was repeatedly delayed, critically snubbed, and had an ill-timed early-pandemic release, this version of The Grudge is not to be missed.

As every fan knows, the series concerns a curse that is created when someone dies in the grip of righteous anger. The inciting incident for most The Grudge films is the murder of vengeful spirits Kayako and her son Toshio who are not the stars of this edition; instead, the curse spreads through a cast of...

The Criterion Channel’s at its best when October rolls around, consistently engaging in the strongest horror line-ups of any streamer. 2024 will bring more than a few iterations of their spooky programming: “Horror F/X” highlights the best effects-based scares through the likes of Romero, Cronenberg, Lynch, Tobe Hooper, James Whale; “Witches” does what it says on the tin (and inside the tin is the underrated Italian anthology film featuring Clint Eastwood cuckolded by Batman); “Japanese Horror” runs the gamut of classics; a Stephen King series puts John Carpenter and The Lawnmower Man on equal playing ground; October’s Criterion Editions are Rosemary’s Baby, Night of the Hunter, Häxan; a made-for-tv duo includes Carpenter’s underrated Someone’s Watching Me!; meanwhile, The Wailing and The Babadook stream alongside a collection of Cronenberg and Stephanie Rothman titles.

Otherwise, Winona Ryder and Raúl Juliá are given retrospectives, as are filmmakers Arthur J. Bressan Jr. and Lionel Rogosin.

Terror Tuesday: Extreme combines the experience of call-in radio shows with Thailand’s unique brand of modern horror. This new, eight-episode anthology series is inspired by the popular EFM radio program, Terror Tuesday, where listeners share their own frightening (and supposedly true) tales. Viewers will be lured in by the “based on real events” angle, but the creative — and not to mention brutal — interpretations of the truth is what ultimately makes this series worth watching.

Traditional anthologies struggle to stay relevant and on the air these days; the term “anthology” now often refers to series like American Horror Story and Slasher rather than anything in the vein of The Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt. Thankfully for fans of self-contained horrors, Terror Tuesday: Extreme is more in step with those classic TV shows. In fact, the only thing linking these standalone stories is the titular radio program. And even...

Sam Quah brings real artistry to a story of buried guilt and conspicuous violence, but his neat contrivances tie things up rather too easily

Sam Quah’s Chinese remake of his own Malaysian thriller from 2022 is a film literally dripping in sin. It’s set in 2006 during the clean-up after the tsunami, with the ceiling at the local high school leaking due to the incessant rain. After the pupils punt origami boats out on the college lake, mute loner Tong (Shengdi Wang) is smeared in glue and tortured by the resident girl gang. So if liquid-sloshing Quah hasn’t seen Hideo Nakata’s Dark Water, by the time a mackintosh-sporting psycho is dicing up the bullies it’s clear he must be a fan of I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Tong’s mother, willowy school cleaner Li Han (Janine Chang), is one suspect on the police’s list...

Iconic horror film The Ring is moving to 4K Ultra HD in a brand new Steelbook release from Paramount Home Media Distribution. According to Blu-ray.com, fans of Gore Verbinski's 2001 feature can look forward to the upcoming release, which is scheduled to arrive on the physical media market later this fall on October 15, 2024. The film stars Oscar-nominee Naomi Watts as Rachel Keller, Martin Henderson as Noah Clay, David Dorfman as Aidan Keller, Brian Cox as Richard Morgan, and Daveigh Chase as the haunting Samara Morgan. The Ring was first theatrically released to the United States on October 18, 2002, by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was a clear success at the box office, grossing over $249.3 million globally on a comparatively minimal budget of around $48 million. At the time, The Ring became one of the highest-grossing horror remakes ever made. The Ring sits at a comfortable Tomatometer score of 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. Following the success of The Ring,...

Horror anthologies are alive and well in Japan. From books and manga to television and film, the Japanese clearly enjoy their scares in segments. Especially during summer, a season where spirits are said to return to the mortal realm. And many times the literary side of kaidan (ghost stories) entail collections called kaidan-shū, a style of book born from the Edo-period game of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai (the gathering of 100 supernatural tales). Perhaps the most famous of these kinds of books, on account of its 1964 film adaptation, is Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1904) by Yakumo Koizumi/Lafcadio Hearn. Meanwhile, more modern authors have dabbled in or embraced the kaidan-shū format.

Fuyumi Ono, who is known for writing the light novel series Jūni Kokuki, found herself amassing other people’s kaidan over the years. In time, these same accounts — including ones submitted to the magazine Yū — and several others were published...

We’ve talked a lot about what makes a black sheep a black sheep. It can be a number of things really. We look at horror series and see what the underappreciated or even outright hated ones are to lift them up and defend them. It can also be a relatively underseen or unknown entity in the career of an actor, director, or series of films to shine a light and get it on more radars. A black sheep can be seen as bad at the time of its release (or even now) and just needs someone to speak of the positives for the flick. The Gate II (get it Here) is, well, it’s all of that. It’s a mostly underseen and unknown movie in a short horror series that is not really loved by the people who have seen it. With the first movie in the series being a spooky kids classic,...

Exclusive: Out of the Cannes market, Sony Pictures Classics has bought North American rights and a raft of international territories on Walter Salles’ anticipated first narrative feature in more than a decade: I’m Still Here.

In I’m Still Here, the acclaimed Brazilian filmmaker, known for critical hits such as Oscar nominee Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries, has tackled the emotional and powerful true story of a woman who is forced into activism after her husband is captured by the military regime in Brazil in the 1960s.

The film reunites Salles with his Oscar-nominated Central Station star Fernanda Montenegro, one of Brazil’s most acclaimed actors, and her daughter Fernanda Torres, with whom the filmmaker has worked multiple times. It also reunites the filmmaker with SPC who previously released 1998 hit Central Station, which won the Berlin Golden Bear and was also nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Montenegro...

Nakata Hideo’s Dark Water is a more muted study in melancholy than Ring, which four years earlier had brought the director fame and ushered in the J-horror film invasion. Where the earlier film’s most indelible image is a lank-haired ghost girl emerging from a television set, Dark Water largely keeps its most spectral imagery in the background and slightly out of focus, evoking the slow-burn technique of John Carpenter’s Halloween.

In the midst of a difficult divorce, Matsubura Yoshimi (Kuroki Hitomi) is forced to move into rather dilapidated digs with her young daughter, Ikuko (Kanno Rio). During the course of a divorce-related interview, it’s revealed that Yoshimi spent some time in a mental facility before her marriage, owing to overwork as a proofreader of “brutal and sadistic” literature. This of course opens up the possibility that subsequent experiences of a supernatural kind may be attributable to her unstable personality,...

“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...

Horror is iterative, but it just as regularly moves through the same cycles decade after decade, ostensibly breaking new ground, when in reality, the genre is simply doing what is has always done. Today's horror landscape, for as remarkable and diverse as it is, is principally a landscape of legacy sequels. The horror of yesterday is new again, and commonly, old faces and names are dredged up to headline the latest nostalgic bloodbath. Reasonably, the present iteration could be decried as Hollywood's lack of originality, though seasoned horror veterans have seen this cycle before.

The early aughts were replete with imported horrors. Hollywood studios regularly borrowed transnational scares, repackaged them, and presented them as the next big thing. They were successful, too. Gore Verbinski's "The Ring," a remake of Hideo Nakata's "Ring," grossed nearly $250 million when released in 2002. Hollywood studios also remade the likes of "A Tale of Two Sisters,...

The 2010 San Diego Comic-Con was not the biggest gathering in the event's history, but in terms of its importance as a movie marketing event, this was the freakin' year. The gargantuan, hangar-sized Hall H, christened in 2004 as the home for star-studded studio panels, was packed on both peak days as major stars and filmmakers shilled the next two years' most anticipated genre titles. Friday was all about "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," which, with all its major stars present, turned into a shriek-filled presentation as deafening as The Beatles' 1964 appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

And then there was Saturday.

Warner Bros. kicked off the Hall H festivities with a buzzy panel that could've matched the "Twilight" delirium had the main Harry Potter trio of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint showed up for the "Deathly Hallows: Part I" preview. The day threatened to descend into chaos when a...

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,...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week — and since we’re off next week, you get an extra item!

Ghoulies Plushes from Toynk

Who among us hasn’t wanted to cuddle with the Ghoulies? Your dream can come true in the end, thanks to Toynk.

Summon 14″ plush toys of Fish Ghoulie, Cat Ghoulie, and Rat Ghoulie for $30 each. They’re currently eligible for a Buy 3, Get 1 Free deal.

Creature from the Black Lagoon Figure from Super 7

Creature from the Black Lagoon is joining Super7’s Super Cyborg line of “x-ray” toys next month for $125. Shipping is free with the code WINTER79.

The 11″ action figure features three removable panels that expose the anatomy of Gillman’s head, arm, and torso. It has seven points of articulation.

Clockwise from top left: The Conjuring (Photo: Michael Tackett/Warner Bros.); The Shining (Screenshot: Warner Bros/YouTube); Beetlejuice (Screenshot: Warner Bros./YouTube); Poltergeist (Screenshot: MGM/YouTube)Graphic: The A.V. Club

This house … is clean. Or at least it should be. The enduring brilliance of the haunted house subgenre is its...

Asian horror films have a long history and cultural significance, originating as a creative outlet to comment on societal issues and traumas. The dominance of Japanese horror in the international market began with the success of Ring in 1998, leading to the popularization of other J-Horror films. Asian horror films can offer unique perspectives and storytelling and have the potential to continue influencing the global horror genre in the future.

As many reach the tail end of their Halloween movie marathons, ticking off one classic horror film after another, you would be pretty hard-pressed to find a list of thirty-one stellar scary movies without at least one title originating from Asia. You might even be able to create a list of thirty-one Asian horror films on its own. From Japan’s House (1977) and Ring (1998) to Korea’s A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) and India’s Tumbbad (2018), horror has long been one...

The episode of Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie? covering The Grudge (2004) was Written and Narrated by Adam Walton, Edited by Juan Jimenez, Produced by Andrew Hatfield and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

If there was one thing the early noughties had in an abundance, especially within the horror genre, it was remakes. We were graced with reboots, or re-imaginings, whatever you want to call them, of the likes of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead, The Hills Have Eyes, The Amityville Horror, House of Wax, Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake from 2007 and The Ring. However, despite the decent quality of those examples, well most of them, one thing that stands out in the film we’re focusing on today, The Grudge (watch it Here), is the fact that the original’s director, Takashi Shimizu, chose to also take on the remake. In 2002 the aforementioned The Ring,...

There are a few watershed moments in horror history, with the Asian horror movie boom of the late '90s and early 2000s being one of them. This was an era that saw the release of one classic after another. When you have movies like Ringu, Ju-On: The Grudge, Dark Water, and Audition dropping one after another, this was a time when audiences were being terrified at every turn in ways that they never had been. But what was it in particular that Asian filmmakers were tapping into at this time? How were they managing to capture fears that we didn't even know that we had, and what was inspiring them to go into these corners of the genre? Western filmmakers attempted to recapture this magic with an incredibly mediocre-to-garbage wave of remakes, but even they couldn't crack the code. Whatever it was, this time proved that horror wasn't dead...

Looking to up your Halloween horror game this October? Well, you’re in luck. Welcome to the October Streaming Guide 2023! We’ve scoured Netflix, Shudder, Max, Paramount+, Amazon Prime, Hulu and more to curate a bone-chilling collection of horror movies, series, and specials that are dropping this October. There’s enough paranormal TV to go into a couch coma, a Leprechaun marathon that’ll take you at least an entire Sunday to complete, an evil sloth movie set in a sorority house if you’re into that sort of thing, and tons more.

And if you’re hungry for even more Halloween entertainment, don’t forget to check out our essential Halloween TV Guide for 2023, where we’ve curated the spookiest TV marathons and chilling specials playing all through the month of October; like AMC’s Fearfest and Freeform’s 31 Nights of Halloween!

But if on-demand content is more your bag,...

Some may recall the early 2000's J-horror boom that saw the likes of “Ringu” and “Ju-On” gaining popularity in the west. “Apartment 1303” was released close to the end of this trend.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

Sayaka Midorikawa mysteriously plummets off the balcony of her new apartment. When her sister Mariko begins to investigate her sibling's death, she discovers multiple similar “suicides” over the last few years in the same room. Experiencing haunting encounters, Mariko must unravel the secret of Apartment 1303 before it is too late.

The cinematography by Tokusho Kikimura provides some appealing compositions, particularly when capturing the environment. This lies in part in the scenery which yields a gulf-based view of the ocean that draws the eyes into the distance. Regarding color grading, outdoor shots bear a degree of saturation that both appears natural and distinguishes environmental features. The indoor scenes on...

Revenant, like so many horror stories, begins on a rainy night. Disney+’s latest South Korean drama opens as Professor Gu Kang-mo (Jin Seon-kyu) hurries through his front door, past shelves piled with books, and barricades himself in the study. “What went wrong?” he asks himself, flipping through his notes. Behind him, visible through paper windows, flashes of lightning illuminate a shadowy figure — its hair writhing in a wide halo like snakes.

Moments later, Gu is dead and we cut to what appears to be an unrelated scene. Rushing from...

The original horror classic, Hideo Nakata’s Ring (1998) is crawling back to life on 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video, with the upcoming release just announced this morning.

Here in the United States, you’ll be able to grab Arrow’s Ring 4K Uhd release in two different versions: The Standard 4K Version and the Original Artwork Slipcover 4K Version.

Up for pre-order now, both versions will release on September 19, 2023.

Arrow Video presents Ring, the film that started the J-horror wave, restored from the original negative in glorious 4K and supplemented by a wealth of bonus materials.

In 1998, director Hideo Nakata (Dark Water) unleashed a chilling tale of technological terror on unsuspecting audiences, which redefined the horror genre, launched the J-horror boom in the West and introduced a generation of moviegoers to a creepy, dark-haired girl called Sadako. The film’s success spawned a slew of remakes, reimaginations and imitators,...

Clockwise from top left: Dune (Universal Pictures), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Tri-Star Pictures), The Ring (DreamWorks Pictures), Spider-Man 2 (Sony Pictures)Image: The A.V. Club

June marks a big moment for Netflix: it’s the first full month with the streaming platform’s new draconian rules on password sharing...

After receiving some Cnc Coin back in March of ’22, French filmmaker Lucie Prost is to begin production on what sounds like if you were to mix echo-drama Haynes’ Dark Water merged with Nichols’ Take Shelter. She has been able to lasso Finnegan Oldfield (Final Cut), Daphné Patakia (Benedetta) and Florent Loiret Caille for Les truites – the French word for trout. Production is set for June and July with cinematographer Noé Bach whose recent films include A-list film festival preemed Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s Anaïs in Love (2021), Guillaume Gouix’s Amore mio (2022) and Sofia Alaoui’s Animalia (2023) is onboard here.…...

Gothic castles and faraway cabins are classic genre fare, but there’s something to be said for scary movies that tell stories about claustrophobic urban environments and the horrors of being isolated despite being surrounded by densely packed neighbors. Not only are these stories more relatable for big-city folks like myself, but they’re also uniquely positioned to deliver down-to-earth scares with a social twist.

And in honor of Evil Dead Rise brilliantly relocating the action to an LA apartment building, we’ve decided to come up with a list celebrating six of the best Apartment Horror movies. After all, there’s nothing scarier than finding yourself trapped in a high rise with nowhere to go but down!

In the interest of keeping the list varied, we’ll be leaving out a few obvious entries like Candyman and Rosemary’s Baby, as I think we can assume that most of our readers have already seen these.

In New York, everyone can hear you scream. But will they really care? In the city that never sleeps, evil lurks around every corner, ready to strike whenever one's guard is let down for just a moment. Sure, it's a gorgeous, bustling metropolis, but if horror movies have taught audiences anything, it's that the Big Apple packs some big scares. Tyler Gillett & Matt Bettinelli-Olpin surprised fans with their very funny, very bloody 2022 "Scream" reboot. For the sixth entry, the duo have supplanted Woodsboro, California, in favor of New York City, letting Ghostface get bigger, meaner, and deadlier.

Shooting in the actual city can be costly, likely accounting for just how few true New York horror stories there really are. Often, Manhattan is merely used as a backdrop, the horror features never fully taking advantage of the distinct iconography or scale for something truly terrifying. Some have, however, and here, we'll...

Blamed by some, hailed as heroes by others, those involved with Fukushima Daiichi face a deadly, invisible threat – an unprecedented nuclear disaster. (Source: Netflix)

Netflix has released the first teaser trailer for its upcoming 8 episode drama on the Fukushima nuclear disaster. This series is tentatively set for release sometime in 2023. It is helmed by co-directors Hideo Nakata and Masaki Nishiura. The former is known for his horror movies Ring (1998), Ring 2 (1999) and Dark Water (2002); while the latter has extensive experience in Japanese dramas and TV movies including both seasons and the movie for Fuji TV’s Code Blue franchise. The Days will feature Koji Yakusho (13 Assassins), Yutaka Takenouchi (Shin Godzilla), Fumiyo Kohinata (The Confidence Man Jp movies). A subtitled trailer is available here.

In celebration of its 20th Anniversary, Waxwork Records releases The Ring Original Motion Picture Music by Hans Zimmer! This long-anticipated release marks the first time that The Ring will be available on vinyl!

The Ring is a 2002 supernatural horror film directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Naomi Watts and Brian Cox. It is a remake of Hideo Nakata’s 1998 Japanese horror film Ringu, based on Koji Suzuki’s 1991 eponymous novel. The plot follows a journalist who investigates an urban legend of a cursed videotape that seemingly kills the viewer seven days after watching it.

The Ring was released on October 18, 2002, to positive reviews praising its atmosphere, visuals, and Watt’s performance. It is one of the highest-grossing horror remakes and paved the way for English-language remakes of other Asian horror films such as The Grudge and Dark Water.

The score composed by Hans Zimmer is a dark symphonic orchestration that...

Caitlin Stasey in Parker Finn’s Smile. Photo: Paramount Make sure the liquor cabinet at home is well stocked, because you might just want a stiff drink after seeing Smile. The feature debut of writer-director Parker Finn, expanded from his SXSW award-nominated short Laura Hasn’t Slept, is designed to...

If you’ve been putting off watching the terrifically adventurous Brendan Fraser-led “The Mummy” again, now’s the time to prioritize it. The 1999 film is one of a bevy of movies leaving HBO Max in June, the full list of which you can read below.

Also leaving HBO and HBO Max this month is a bevy of Tyler Perry’s Madea movies, “Rounders,” “She’s All That” and “Real Steel.”

If you’re looking to prioritize some selections, “Presumed Innocent” is one of Harrison Ford’s most underrated films (featuring one of his best performances) and the Melissa McCarthy/Jason Bateman comedy “Identity Thief” is good for some solid laughs.

Check out the full list of what’s leaving HBO Max below.

Also Read:

Here’s What’s New on HBO and HBO Max in June 2022

June 9:

12 Strong, 2018

June 30:

2 Guns, 2013

20 Feet From Stardom, 2013 (HBO)

All Dogs Go To Heaven,...

Exclusive: Argentinian Distributor FilmSharks has taken on international sales of horror Karem the Possession from Dark Water creator Junichiro Hayashi and sold the Russian and Baltic Rights to Big Film at Cannes.

Discussions are underway with Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Spain, France and the UK over the film.

The pic follows a possessed young girl from an atheist family who refuses to let her new powers go and becomes more than a threat to everyone besides her.

FilmSharks took on sales after striking a deal with TelevisaUnivision-affiliated Videocine. FilmSharks has in the past sold Videocine’s El Habitante and Juega Conmigo.

FilmSharks CEO and Founder Guido Rud said: “It’s an honour to be chosen again to handle Videocine and TelevisaUnivision’s films and we are very thankful of working with them again.”...

Ghostwire: Tokyo isn’t just developer Tango Gameworks’ long-awaited return to the horror genre after 2017’s underrated The Evil Within 2; it’s a pretty great excuse to check out some of the greatest J-horror movies ever made.

While Japanese horror films enjoyed a global “boom period” in the late ’90s and early 2000s (and we’ll certainly be talking about some of the movies from that era very shortly), some of the best horror movies of the last 70+ years are J-Horror films. The long history of Japanese horror movies includes quite a few films that truly challenged viewers just as they challenged the common perceptions of what horror cinema is capable of.

So far as that goes, it’s important to realize that this isn’t a list of the absolute best J-Horror movies ever made. If it was, I can assure you Audition would be somewhere on it. Instead,...

Hollywood and the West in general have been remaking some of the greatest Asian movies since the 60s, picking the most commercially successful and the most adaptable productions to bring to both American and worldwide audiences. A number of them were of equal or at least similar quality, with John Sturges’s “The Magnificent Seven” (based on “Seven Samurai”) and Sergio Leone’s “A Fistful of Dollars” (based on Yojimbo”) being some of the most prominent samples. At the same time, however, and particularly after the 90s, the quality of remakes decreased significantly, resulting in a series of remakes that can only be described as truly awful, even though, on occasion, they were directed by the same filmmakers who shot the originals. Here, we have included 15 of the worst ones, in random order.

1. Ju-On: The Grudge Remake: The Grudge

Takashi Shimizu, who was also the screenwriter, puts the events in a non-chronological order,...

The first trailer for Adrian Lyne’s erotic psychological thriller “Deep Water” has debuted, bringing with it confirmation that the movie will go straight to streaming with a Hulu release next month. The movie, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, stars Ben Affleck and Ana De Armas as a married couple who play twisted mind games with each other. The supporting cast includes Tracy Letts, Lil Rel Howery, Dash Mihok, Finn Wittrock, Jacob Elordi, Rachel Blanchard and Michael Braun, among others.

The official synopsis for “Deep Water” from Hulu reads: “The film takes us inside the marriage of picture-perfect Vic (Affleck) and Melinda (de Armas) Van Allen to discover the dangerous mind games they play and what happens to the people that get caught up in them.”

“Deep Water” was originally set up at 20th Century Fox before the Disney-Fox merger. It had most recently been slated to open on Jan.

Released in 2002, Gore Verbinski's "The Ring" endures as a staple of teenage sleepover endurance testing. The very video that leaves a trail of deformed bodies in its wake is baked into the film itself, transforming the audience from impartial viewer to imminent victim of the cursed tape's supernatural powers. An adaptation of the 1998 Japanese film "Ringu" directed by Hideo Nakata (which itself is based on the 1991 Koji Suzuku novel of the same name), the critical and commercial success of "The Ring" paved the way for a slew of American J-horror remakes in the aughts, including "The Grudge," "Dark Water," "Shutter" and "The...

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