Since the dawn of cinema, Asia has produced some of the most captivating and effective horror films of all time. With cultural and folkloric specificities as well as a strong sense of tradition to draw from, the continent's horror films are as rich as they are terrifying.
Streaming service Shudder boasts one of the best selections of Asian horror films around and is filled with underrated and unseen gems as well as crowd-pleasing favorites. Below are ten of the best!
Tetsuo The Iron Man (1989)
A Japanese businessman (Tomorowo Taguchi) and his girlfriend (Kei Fujiwara) accidentally hit a lunatic "metal fetishist" with their car. After getting rid of the corpse, the two attempt to move on, but things take a nasty turn when the businessman discovers that his flesh is slowly transforming into iron.
A frantic and sick Eastern answer to David Lynch's Eraserhead, Tetsuo The Iron Man is a punk body-horror nightmare that has been described as "intense as a Novocainless [sic] tooth extraction."
Audition (1999)
Widower Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), decides that he's ready to move on with his life and begin dating again. With the help of a film-producer pal (Jun Kunimura), Aoyama stages auditions for a new girlfriend under the guise of a fake production. He's immediately drawn to the shy Asami (Eihi Shiina), but he has no idea what darkness hides behind her angelic appearance.
Takashi Miike's infamous and controversial piece of extreme cinema isn't just frightening for its unforgettable twists and grisly violence, but also for the frigid strain of existential anguish running through it.
Dark Water (2002)
While struggling through a bitter divorce, Yoshimi (Hitomi Kuroki) attempts to start over with her young daughter (Rio Kanno) in a new apartment complex. But the building isn't what it seems, and as strange occurrences begin to fray Yoshimi's nerves, she vows to protect her child from the supernatural entities tormenting them at all costs.
Ostensibly a part of the J-horror boom of the 2000s, Ringu director Hideo Nakata's ghost story is more family drama than supernatural thriller. Still, this small-scale, human focus gives the water-logged climax a powerful and emotional weight.
A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
Upon her release from a mental institution, Korean teen Su-mi (Yeom Jeong-ah) reconnects with her sister, Su-yeon (Su-jeong Lim) and father (Mun Geun-yeong) at the family's rural home. Discovering that her now-widowed father has remarried, Su-mi finds herself at odds with her stepmother (Kap-su Kim). To make matters worse, strange events rock their quiet home, but is her father's new bride to blame or is Su-mi's grip on reality slipping?
A complex Korean chiller in the gothic key, Kim Jee-woon's A Tale of Two Sisters rewards viewer's patience with a conclusion that lingers long after the credits roll.
The Wailing (2016)
A mysterious disease that causes those afflicted to commit brutal murder racks a small town in rural Kora. Jong-goo (Kwak Do-won), a dim-witted cop takes an active interest in the case when his young daughter begins exhibiting symptoms of the sickness. Believing that a mysterious Japanese hermit (Jun Kunimura) newly arrived and living in the nearby woods may know something about the killings, Jong-goo begins to uncover a disturbing mystery that may lay his very soul on the line.
A frighteningly ambiguous gumbo of folklore, Christian theology, ghosts, zombies, cannibals and more, Na Hong-jin's The Wailing is a puzzle that demands to be turned over in the mind again and again.
Train to Busan (2016)
Gong Yoo stars as an uptight executive traveling with his estranged daughter by train to the titular city as a zombie outbreak erupts. Though audiences have grown tired of zombie films in recent years, Train to Busan was something of a sleeper hit.
Director Yeon Sang-ho showed that there was still a bit of life left in the subgenre with this thrilling and heart-swelling story of parental devotion in the face of unfathomable adversity.
Satan's Slaves (2017)
Rini (Tara Basro) and her brothers live a difficult life on the outskirts of Jakarta with their ill mother (Ayu Lakshmi), wheelchair-bound grandmother (Elly D. Luthan) and father (Bront Palarae). Used to the hardship of poverty and living on what remains of her mother's money from her long-passed singing career, things get immeasurably worse for the family when she dies and evil beings begin to torment the family. Determined to protect her remaining family members, Rini delves into the roots of this unnamed evil and exposes the truth.
Western viewers may not get all the references in this loose remake/prequel of the 1980 film of the same name, but Satan's Slaves has put Indonesian horror on the map in a big way and will hopefully inspire audiences to seek out more of the country's fright output.
One Cut of the Dead (2017)
In an abandoned warehouse, a plucky filmmaking crew shoots a low-budget zombie film that goes wrong in this unpredictable and deliriously entertaining film from Shinichiro Ueda. One Cut of The Dead has become a cult sensation among horror fans and cinephiles not just for its madcap sense of fun and wild twists, but for its meta-theatrical narrative.
The less you know going in, the better, but one thing is certain: it's one of the best movies about movie-making ever made.
Mon Mon Mon Monsters (2017)
Wrongfully accused of theft, the outcast Lin Shu-wei (Deng Yu-kai) is forced to do community service alongside his class bullies. After ingratiating himself with the group, they stumble upon a pair of female monsters and take one captive. As the creature's bloodthirsty sister stalks the city in search of her kidnapped sibling, Lin Shu-wei and his new "friends" begin playing sadistic games that may have tragic consequences.
This Taiwanese shocker is a searing indictment of scapegoating and a summarily nasty piece of work about the monsters that lurk within us all.
The Wrath (2018)
A curse is killing the sons of Korea's highest-ranking leader in the 14th century. After his death and the death of his final living son, Ok-bun (Son Na-eun), the official's pregnant widow must contend with the truth of the curse and the ferocious family politics tearing her household apart.
This remake of the 1986 film Woman's Wail is a delicately wrought, good old-fashioned ghost story plastered in daubs of gore.