On the subject of horror, Hollywood tends to dominate the dialog. However the fact is, among the scariest horror movies I’ve ever watched weren’t made within the US in any respect. They got here from Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, and past, bringing with them new myths, unfamiliar rhythms, and a willingness to really unsettle.
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Noroi: The Curse (2005, Japan)
Watch Noroi: The Curse on SHUDDER
The primary movie I noticed utilizing “discovered footage” was The Blair Witch Venture. I’d assume it is the identical for a lot of of us. And whereas the thought of discovered footage has been utilized in numerous different movies, some have aged properly, like Cloverfield, and others have not, like Paranormal Exercise.
Noroi: The Curse is among the many finest discovered footage movies. Shot as a pretend documentary, it follows journalist Masafumi Kobayashi as he items collectively an online of unusual occasions: lacking youngsters, psychic experiments gone incorrect, and a lady who hears terrifying noises in her residence. Every thing appears unconnected—till it isn’t.
What makes Noroi particular is its pacing. It by no means resorts to low cost scares. As a substitute, it builds layer upon layer of unease till you are feeling as if the curse has began leaking out of the movie and into your lounge. The “discovered footage” model feels disturbingly genuine, and it is one of many few movies that actually feels scary.
6
Prepare to Busan (2016, South Korea)
Watch Prepare to Busan on Netflix or Kanopy
Zombie movies are all over the place, and I’ll admit, I went into Prepare to Busan anticipating simply one other massacre. As a substitute, I received one of the intense, heartbreaking horror movies of the final decade.
The setup is straightforward: a father and his younger daughter board a prepare simply as a zombie outbreak grips South Korea. Because the an infection spreads carriage by carriage, the survivors don’t have any alternative however to struggle or sacrifice themselves. Director Yeon Sang-ho makes use of the confined setting brilliantly, turning the prepare right into a claustrophobic nightmare the place there’s nowhere to run.
5
Shutter (2004, Thailand)
Watch Shutter on Kanopy
I’ve seen a variety of ghost movies, however Shutter unnerved me in a method few others have. After a automobile accident, photographer Tun and his girlfriend Jane begin noticing ghostly figures showing of their pictures. Because the hauntings intensify, the reality about Tun’s previous begins to floor, and it’s darker than both of them imagined.
The movie makes use of pictures as an ideal horror machine. There’s one thing inherently eerie about pictures capturing what the human eye misses, and Shutter wrings each ounce of concern from that concept. The bounce scares land laborious, however it’s the oppressive ambiance that actually will get below your pores and skin.
Hollywood tried to remake Shutter in 2008, however it couldn’t match the slow-burn terror of the unique.
4
Below the Shadow (2016, Iran)
Watch Below the Shadow on Netflix
Below the Shadow is a kind of uncommon horror movies that feels each supernatural and painfully actual. Set in Tehran throughout the Iran–Iraq Struggle, it follows Shideh, a mom making an attempt to guard her daughter, Dorsa, as unusual occurrences plague their house.
At first, you marvel if the stress of dwelling below fixed bombardment is making Shideh paranoid. However quickly, the road between psychological trauma and real haunting blurs. The “djinn” that stalks them could also be supernatural, however it’s additionally a metaphor for concern, repression, and powerlessness.
What makes this movie hit laborious is the sense of claustrophobia. They’re trapped not simply by the haunting, however by battle itself. There’s actually nowhere protected to run. Each creak of the constructing, each flicker of shadow, feels prefer it could be the top.
That is completely a kind of horror movies you could watch, however no one ever talks about them.
3
Verónica (2017, Spain)
Watch Verónica on Netflix
The scariest horror movies are these with a grounding in an actual story, and that is precisely what Verónica brings to the desk.
It is loosely based mostly on an actual case documented by Spanish police in 1991, following the story of a teenage woman who, whereas babysitting her youthful siblings, tries to contact her deceased father utilizing a Ouija board.
Director Paco Plaza ([REC]) builds pressure masterfully, and Verónica is filled with terrifying set-pieces. In that, the bounce scares aren’t delicate. But, what grounds Verónica is how plausible its characters are. As a substitute of pushing into basic horror archetypes, she’s simply a teen making an attempt to take care of her siblings whereas dealing with grief.
2
Incantation (2022, Taiwan)
Watch Incantation on Netflix
Incantion combines two of the kinds and subjects I’ve already talked about: discovered footage and inspiration from real-world occasions. And in Incantation, this mixture delivers an intense, unsettling expertise.
It follows Li Ronan, a lady who broke a taboo years earlier and is now making an attempt to guard her younger daughter from the ensuing curse. What actually brings the horrors unfolding to life are the Taiwanese spiritual beliefs, which infuse the movie with particular cultural references that lend a degree of realism to the occasions.
Right here and there, it additionally breaks the fourth wall and actually makes you a part of the ritual, such as you’re complicit in what you are viewing. It truly is troubling.
There’s a motive this turned Taiwan’s highest-grossing horror movie of all time.
1
The Wailing (2016, South Korea)
Watch The Wailing on Amazon Prime Video
The Wailing is a whole horror expertise, from begin to end. At two and a half hours, it’s not a fast watch, however that’s a part of its energy.
Set in a rural Korean village, it begins as a police investigation right into a string of violent murders and mysterious diseases. However as suspicion falls on an odd outsider, the movie spirals right into a hallucinatory nightmare of possession, paranoia, and historic evil.
It mixes crime drama, spiritual horror, and folklore in a method Hollywood not often dares. I’ve watched it twice, and every time I got here away with new questions and new theories. And because the movie winds its method by means of the horror, slowly tightening its noose, your feeling of disorientation will solely develop.
Hollywood is aware of how you can make a scary film, positive. However overseas horror pushes boundaries in methods mainstream US movies not often try. A number of the subjects explored by these movies would not get the time of day.
In fact, it is a tiny sliver of the very best foreign-language horror movies. Fortunately, lately, streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, SHUDDER, and even Kanopy (accessible with a US library card!) are bringing these superb movies to US audiences.
