FrightFest Guide to Japanese Horror Movies (Paperback)

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.

Born in Rotterdam in 1974, Tom Mes teaches Japanese film history at Keio University in Tokyo. He has written books on directors Takashi Miike, Shinya Tsukamoto, Kinji Fukasaku and Tai Kato, as well as on iconic actress Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood) and on V-Cinema, Japan’s straight-to-video film industry. He was the co-founder and editor of MidnightEye.com. He is disc producer at UK Blu-ray label Radiance Films, overseeing most of their Japanese releases, including the highly praised Daiei Gothic collections. He is also a regular contributor to Blu-ray releases of Japanese films worldwide.

Considered one of the modern masters of the Japanese horror film, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is the celebrated director of Cure, Pulse, Creepy and many other films. Born in Kobe in 1955, he made his professional directing debut in 1983 with Kandagawa Wars. He directed the legendary Sweet Home (1989), often called the Poltergeist of Japan and with make-up effects by Dick Smith, before becoming one of the founding fathers of the J-horror style. He received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival for Wife of a Spy (2020).