Movie

The J-Horror Virus

100%Critics7 reviews

8.5average critics score, out of 1020231h 35m

Documentary

The J-Horror Virus aims to address how a new strain of horror emerged at the turn of the millennium in Japan and went on to take over the world. Beginning with looking back at the horror films which came before J-Horror such as The Ghost of Yotsuya, Kaidan and Jigoku, as well as their influences, the origins of the ideas present within J-horror films will be discussed and explored before we look at direct inspirations. Moving into the late 80s early 90s with Kurosawa's Sweet Home and True Scary Stories. The film will look at the career beginnings for Nakata, Takahashi and Kurosawa as they developed ideas together and separately which collectively kicked off the massive J-horror successes moving into the late 1990s and early 2000s. Hideo Nakata's Ring (1998) and Takashi Shimizu's JuOn: The Grudge (2002) became massive global sensations and the documentary will track their origins, trajectory as well as their massive impact and legacy, spanning multiple sequels and remakes including a recent reboot in 2020. Ultimately The J-Horror Virus will be asking why the long black-haired ghosts haunted the entire world at the turn of the millennium and how they gave Japan multiple horror film franchises the likes of which they had not known before.

Directed by:

Sarah Appleton, Jasper Sharp