Dark Tales of Japan
Dark Tales of Japan is a collection of five short horror films that are directed by five notable Japanese film directors. Produced by the Tokyo Broadcasting System.
Takashi Shimizu
Norio Tsuruta
Masayuki Ochiai
Yoshihiro Nakamura
Kôji Shiraishi
Casts & Crew
Kayoko Shiraishi
Shôzô Endô
Yoshinori Okada
Kanako Fukaura
Anri Sugihara
Yoko Maki
Shunsuke Nakamura
Shigenori Yamazaki
Yu Yamada
Morooka Moro
Megumi Asaoka
Tetta Sugimoto
Teruyuki Kagawa
Hijiri Kojima
Seminosuke Murasugi
Kyusaku Shimada
Also Directed by Takashi Shimizu
Horror, gag, entertainment by Keisuke Toyoshima of "Heller master Shimizu Takashi ×" "Kaidan New Ear Bag Nobuhiro" !! "Kaidanui watching me ..." and "My alien" are included.
One of Takashi Shimizu's two short films made for horror portmanteau Gakkô no kaidan G.
Sam, a young boy in vacation on a cozy cruise with his mother, is tormented by the cursed spirit of a dead woman armed with a giant pair of scissors. Nightmare visions bring him to discover the real nature of this terrifying presence, a sacrifice ritual and a true death menace on aboard the cruise.
Flight 7500 departs Los Angeles International Airport bound for Tokyo. As the overnight flight makes its way over the Pacific Ocean during its ten-hour course, the passengers encounter what appears to be a supernatural force in the cabin.
To his mute sister's dismay, a young boy puts a dying rabbit out of its misery with a brick -- and soon the siblings end up in a world of nightmares.
A young woman encounters a malevolent supernatural force while searching for her missing sister in Tokyo, a mean high school prank goes horribly wrong, and strange things begin happening in a Chicago apartment building.
The third movie in the “Horror Village” series by Takashi Shimizu, following “Howling Village” and “Suicide Forest Village”.
A two-part feature directed separately by Shimizu and his colleague Keisuke Toyoshima. Unrelated to each other, both have a common goal: to bring ghosts and aliens together in pure, referential and absurdistic delirium, including neo-Nazi specters, zombie yakuzas, and nasty aliens.
Based on renowned Japanese writer Natsume Soseki's same-titled short story collection, Ten Nights of Dreams brings ten fantastical dream sequences to film with great visual and psychological panache. Representing the combined efforts of eleven directors, this outstanding anthology delves into the surreal subconscious with ten madly imaginative, reality-subverting visions that range from wonderfully wacky to nightmarishly unsettling.
Many horror stories exist about Inunaki Village. The village is now completely deserted. Kanae is a clinical psychologist, who can see spirits. Her older brother Yuma and Yuma’s girlfriend Akina go to Inunaki Village. Due to that, Kanae becomes involved in a mysterious case.
Also Directed by Norio Tsuruta
A young girl wanders into a wing of her elementary school that has been abandoned for years and is rumored to be haunted. When she doesn't come back, a group of her classmates go looking for her, only to find that they, too, are trapped inside. They must somehow find their way to safety, and quickly, because the rumors of ghosts are turning out to be true..
Absolutely terrified of the sea, an American lawyer reluctantly goes on an ocean cruise to be near the wife of a client, with no idea of the grim situation that awaits them all.
Based on the comic of the same name that ran in Manga Pachinkā.
An omnibus film of four stories based on horror experiences submitted by readers of the occult magazine "Mu Monthly".
J-Pop Girl Group Giri Giri Girls star in a series of low budget horror films, the second of the series focuses on a quiet town where a mysterious incident happens. What is the bloody history of this place and the legend of fresh blood sucking that drips from its history.
J-Pop Girl Group Giri Giri Girls star in a series of low budget horror films, the third of the series focuses on a mysterious voice luring one of the girls into another dimension.
The search for her vanished brother Tsuyoshi leads Kaoru to the lonesome village Kozukata in the Japanese back-land. The locals react repelling to her, which the exception of the Chinese girl Sally. As her car breaks down Kaoru is trapped in the village; will she have to repay for something she has done in the past?
While Suzaki Saika (Ashida Mana) is hospitalised for poor health, her father, Tamotsu (Totsugi Shigeyuki) feels torn that he has to leave here and go on a business trip. A portrait of Saika’s late mother is placed beside her bed. Her mother had died in exchange for bringing her into this world. Tamotsu puts a paper with his mobile phone number written on it inside an amulet and hands it to Saika. He asks the nurse Tokunaga Maki (Minamisawa Nao) to keep an eye on Saika, and leaves for his trip. One night, a young girl calls out to a lonely Saika who cannot get to sleep. A long-haired girl in a wheelchair in the old wing befriends Saika and plays with her everyday. However, by the time Saika realises it, she has awaken from her sleep. Was that a dream? When she talks about the girl in the wheelchair, Maki’s expression freezes. What had happened at this hospital?
~Honto ni Atta Kowai Hanashi~ returns with more scary tales said to be based from actual experiences. This year, five stories are told via reenactments from Yamashita Tomohisa, Okada Masaki, Karina, Goriki Ayame, and Sugi-chan.
True ghost stories described and/or narrated by the survivor involved and commences with the name and location of the one submitting the story. Each of the three collections begins with a series of creepy real-life photographs in which strange appendages or faces appear while a rather ominous narrator suggests you are now entering the highway to HELL. Three stories in the first TV-movie: The Lonely Girl Spiritual Flight Mystery of the Red Earring
Also Directed by Masayuki Ochiai
Drama Legend Special Yo nimo Kimyou na Monogatari SMAP Special is a 2001's rerun version, consisting of 5 stories: 1. Extra Synopsis: A man decides to go against a society whose every action and exchange of dialogue has already been prewritten in the screenplay of life. 2. 13-banme no Kyaku (Guest no. 13) Synopsis: A short-tempered man gets his hair cut at a strange barber shop only to find that he cannot leave before going through a certain process. 3. Black Room Synopsis: A son returns home from America to find his hometown shrouded in black and his parents behaving very strangely. 4. Boku wa Tabi o Suru (I'm Taking a Trip) Synopsis: A man’s older sister goes on a trip without realizing the terrifying truth. 5. Otona Juken (Adult Test) Synopsis: A young man must prove that he is truly an adult through a series of real life scenario tests.
A school teacher visits the home of a boy who's been absent from school for a long period of time, unaware of the horrific tragedy which occurred in the boy's household many years ago.
The drama has Okada playing the part of Shiba Kengo, a pure-hearted young surgeon who is dedicated to his work. He gets transferred from a prestigious university hospital to a financially troubled hospital, but there he meets a capable and cool-headed chief nurse named Kasugai Yuka (Nakatani), who teaches him the reality of the medical world. The pure Kengo must face various obstacles and challenges as he tears off the “masks” of respected professionals – doctors, nurses, and educators – and uncovers their true natures.
Three apparently unrelated suicides occur on the same day in Tokyo. One involves a young athlete, one a groom at his wedding reception, and the third an elderly man celebrating his wife's birthday. A middle aged detective investigating one of the cases begins to suspect a connection between the three when he discovers that each person mentioned a "green monkey" before they died. With the help of a young psychiatrist he formulates the theory that hypnosis is somehow involved. In the mean time other bizarre "suicides" are reported and the mystery intensifies. Who will be next? What is the truth? Can more deaths be prevented?
Infection takes place in a dark, isolated hospital, where one doctors mistake has led to dire consequences for a patient. In a hospital death is just a breath away.
Following the events of Ju-on: The Beginning of the End, Mai, the older sister of elementary schoolteacher Yui Shono, goes to look for her sister, who disappeared after a year while working in an elementary school. Mai soon discovers the Teriyaki household who tells her about what happened to her sister. Mai will now uncover the dark secrets of Ju-on and will try to end the curse once and for all.
A four-part anthology in the spirit of The Twilight Zone, this film starts off with a group of commuters stranded at a train station in the rain, listening to stories told by one of the group. These include tales of a group stranded in the mountains and haunted by guilt over a death they inadvertantly caused, an emotionally broken chessmaster pressed into playing a real-life game for an eccentric millionaire, a wandering medieval samurai who finds a modern-day cell phone on the ground and a person on the other end asking questions about the past, and a young couple who agree to try a computer simulation of what their future as husband and wife would be like.
A newly married couple discovers disturbing, ghostly images in photographs they develop after a tragic accident. Fearing the manifestations may be connected, they investigate and learn that some mysteries are better left unsolved.
Ayano, Miyu, Yuri and Mei are high school students. They learn about a fatal gas accident which occurred at a school in the past. The girls then experience unusual occurrences like hearing breathing from closed classrooms and seeing a person's shadow. Hitomi then sneaks into an abandoned school to shoot a horror video for the internet. Hitomi hears from her colleague Kimio about a fox's window which leads to the spirit world.
Utagawa Kotoha is a bright 25-year-old woman. She is sometimes timid, but she is also a curious person. Through her friend's introduction, Kotoha Utagawa moves to apartment #7 in an apartment building exclusively for women. There, she gets involved with weird phenomenons. She happens to meet Nakame Reishi. He introduces himself as a psychic, but he doesn’t have psychic abilities. This is in spite of Reishi Nakame's grandmother being an itako (blind women who are trained to become a spiritual medium). His aunt Iwato Shima is also the head of a Shinto shrine. Kotoha Utagawa and Reishi Nakame ask Shima Iwato to perform an exorcism.
Also Directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura
After Satoru Watarai graduated from elementary school, he dropped out of school and decided to live within his apartment complex, never to venture outside. Satoru Watari then meets his old friends as they are coming back from their middle school classes. Satoru has now gotten a job at a cake shop within the apartment complex and eventually gets engaged to one of his friends. Satoru, still lives within the apartment complex only, but, as time passes, more of his friends leave ..
Kaibutsukun is the young prince of Kaibutsu land who decides to go to Earth to prove to his people that he is worthy of becoming king. Kaibutsukun is accompanied by his friends Dracula, Wolfman, and Franken. The Prince decides to go to Japan to visit his friends Utako and Hiroshi. The Prince, Dracula, Wolfman and Franken are in for a surprise.
Beautiful Noriko Miki works at a cosmetic company. One day, Noriko is murdered. People begin to suspect her co-worker Miki Shirono might have killed her. Television begins to cover her story. A TV show interviews Miki Shirono's colleagues, family, people from her hometown. Rumors turn into fear. Is she a wicked a woman?
Raised suckling poison arrows among the sparring Iga ninja factions, Mumon (Satoshi Ohno, of idol group Arashi) is a carefree 16th-century mercenary. When the ninja council makes a power play to defeat the young Nobukatsu Oda struggling to step into his father’s warlord shoes as they expand rule across the country, Mumon jumps into the fray to satisfy his new bride Okuni’s (Satomi Ishihara of Shin Godzilla, Attack on Titan) demand that he make good on his promises of wealth. Yet Mumon soon finds what is worth fighting for beyond money or nation. A longtime JAPAN CUTS favorite known for his offbeat dramas, Yoshihiro Nakamura (Fish Story, Golden Slumber) takes on the jidaigeki epic with his signature sense of play featuring a jazzy soundtrack and fantastical ninja tricks. -JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film
Horror screenwriter, Umeki, has writer's block. He goes with his pregnant wife, Akiko, to a check-up and is struck with an incredible idea - a horror story about a woman who gives birth to a reptile! Despite his wife's disgust, Umeki goes ahead with the screenplay, which the critics love. But the horrible prophecy fulfills itself, as his wife gives birth to a freak of nature. His baby is born half human, half lizard! The reptilian baby slithers on the floor, leaving a wet trail of slime behind [it]. To his horror, his wife, Akiko, holds it lovingly in her arms. His movie has become a mirror image of his own life as Umeki slips slowly into madness.
Akinori Kimura (Sadao Abe) and his wife Mieko (Miho Kanno) opens an apple orchard in their hometown of Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture. Due to Meiko's allergic reaction to pesticides, Akinori Kimura has to grow his apples without the aid of chemicals. Because of this challenge, his family endures hardships and suffers severe financial difficulties. Akinori Kimura even contemplates suicide. A miracle then happens...
"Based on Fuyumi Ono's best-selling books, these 10 tales of spookiness by six Japanese horror directors are designed to chill viewers to the bone." - Netflix
Shogo (Ryuta Sato), the arrogant and condescending star of a popular call-in radio-show must temporarily broadcast out of Studio 6, a creepy and dilapidated booth abandoned since its last DJ committed suicide several years ago. Suddenly, Shogo begins receiving disturbing calls, the voice on the line whispers "Liar" over and over. Is the joke on him, has someone discovered the truth about his sinister past, or has the curse of Studio 6 been unleashed again? In this Booth, all sins will be atoned for.
Toho university hospital has established an outstanding coronary surgery team under the leadership of a up and coming, star, U.S. trained surgeon (Kiji Kikkawa) that specializes in the highly risky "Batista" procedure to shrink the size of enlarged hearts. Normally this procedure has only a 60% success rate, but "Team Batista" has achieved a run of 26 straight successes....when suddenly 3 patients in a row die on the operating table. Very disturbed, the lead surgeon requests an independent investigation. The hospital turns to Dr. Taguchi (Yoko Takeuchi) who is a specialist in psychosomatic disorders who is shocked to at the assignment because she knows nothing in particular about surgery. Assured, however, that this very lack of insider specialized knowledge is in fact the "objectivity" required, she diligently begins to investigate in her own polite, but persistent manner.
A year after the celebrated cracking of “The Glorious Team Batista” case, the talented medical staff at Tojo University Hospital once again finds itself embroiled in a web of intrigue and scandal.The scandal occurs this time in the ER when a mysterious letter arrives for Dr. Kimiko Taguichi (Yuko Takeuchi). The letter reads: “Chief Surgeon Hayami of the Emergency Center has a collusive relationship with a medical supplies maker. And the head nurse is in on it with him.” An unimaginable truth then awaits.
Also Directed by Kôji Shiraishi
At a certain park, there is a mysterious man, who has red eyes and a black suit, that people can go to and request him to kill someone. His assassinations can never be blamed on him because he takes no illegal action. His strength is in the power of suggestion and the arrangement of events. He accepts these requests, all the while privately mocking the foolishness of those whose unwise wishes he grants.
Park Sang-Joon (Yeon Je-Wook) was held in a psychiatric facility and charged for a string of bizarre serial murders. Park Sang-Joon then runs away from the facility. He then contacts childhood friend and now journalist Kim So-Yeon (Kim Kkobbi). Park Sang-Joon promises to give her an exclusive if she meets him at an abandoned apartment with a Japanese cameraman. She is in for a horrific shock.
New mocumentary series following up on director Shiraishi Koji‘s Senritsu kaiki file cho kowasugi. POV style depiction of the TV crew from the previous series as they cover a psychic phenomenon known as "Kokkuri-san." Director Kudo (Osako Shigeo), assistant director Ichikawa (Kuboyama Chika) and cameraman Tashiro (Shiraishi) work at a video production company and set off to sell a DVD called "Way Too Scary!" to boost their profits. They decide their first piece will be about Kokkuri-san, and they interview the high school girl who tipped them off on the story, but…
The story of Teke Teke, the ghost woman with no legs, continues. Conflict arises between a group of high school classmates, and Teke Teke starts hunting them down one by one.
The upper torso of a female, claws her way around Japan searching for her lower half. The person's lower half was severed in a train accident in Hokkaido. Anyone that hears of this story will see Teke-Teke's lower half walking aimlessly around the countryside within three days.
Found footage horror by Shiraishi Kôji.
Tormented and bullied people can access a special website, run by a Hell Girl who will enable them to take revenge on their torturers. The price for such a service is only that the person must join their torturer in damnation.
Hitoshi Kudo is a journalist who covers various murder cases. One day, his daughter is kidnapped by the frog man. In order to safely rescue her, Kudo is cornered by one unreasonable instruction after another.
Kudo receives a video shot by a job-hopper named Sakurai. The video shows a beautiful woman who visits the side of a river in the countryside. Sakurai has fallen in love with her and visits her home, but it's there he witnesses a terrifying scene.
Following a film shoot gone wrong, director Kôji Shiraishi finds himself forced to employ two violent criminals in his future productions.