Best Japanese horror movies

Get ready to binge. We've found a collection of must-watch horror films from Japan, now streaming on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, and other top services!

  • Poster for Godzilla Minus One

    Godzilla Minus One 2023

    In postwar Japan, Godzilla brings new devastation to an already scorched landscape. With no military intervention or government help in sight, the survivors must join together in the face of despair and fight back against an unrelenting horror.

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  • Poster for Perfect Blue

    Perfect Blue 1998

    Encouraged by her managers, rising pop star Mima takes on a recurring role on a popular TV show, when suddenly her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered.

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  • Poster for Shin Godzilla

    Shin Godzilla 2016

    When a massive, gilled monster emerges from the deep and tears through the city, the government scrambles to save its citizens. A rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover the monster's weakness and its mysterious ties to a foreign superpower. But time is not on their side - the greatest catastrophe to ever befall the world is about to evolve right before their very eyes.

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  • Poster for Audition

    Audition 2000

    Seven years after the death of his wife, widower Shigeharu seeks advice on how to find a new wife from a colleague. Taking advantage of their position as a film company, they stage an audition. Interviewing a series of women, Shigeharu is enchanted by the quiet Asami. But soon things take a twisted turn as Asami isn’t what she seems to be.

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  • Poster for Resident Evil: Vendetta

    Resident Evil: Vendetta 2017

    BSAA Chris Redfield enlists the help of government agent Leon S. Kennedy and Professor Rebecca Chambers from Alexander Institute of Biotechnology to stop a death merchant with a vengeance from spreading a deadly virus in New York.

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  • Poster for Ring

    Ring 1998

    A mysterious video has been linked to a number of deaths, and when an inquisitive journalist finds the tape and views it herself, she sets in motion a chain of events that puts her own life in danger.

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  • Poster for One Cut of the Dead

    One Cut of the Dead 2017

    Real zombies arrive and terrorize the crew of a zombie film being shot in an abandoned warehouse, said to be the site of military experiments on humans.

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  • Poster for Resident Evil: Degeneration

    Resident Evil: Degeneration 2008

    Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield must battle a rogue warrior seeking revenge after unleashing the deadly G-Virus, whilst a mutated monster goes on a rampage.

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  • Poster for GANTZ:O

    GANTZ:O 2016

    After being brutally murdered in a subway station, a teen boy awakens to find himself resurrected by a strange computer named Gantz, and forced to fight a large force of invading aliens in Osaka.

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  • Poster for Ninja Scroll

    Ninja Scroll 1993

    Jubei is a masterless ninja who travels the land alone, lending his services to those with gold—or a worthy cause. His fearsome abilities have served him well, but a plot to overthrow the government threatens to end his wandering ways—and possibly his life.

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  • Poster for Resident Evil: Damnation

    Resident Evil: Damnation 2012

    U.S. federal agent Leon S. Kennedy sneaks into the "East Slavic Republic" to verify rumors that Bio-Organic Weapons (BOWs) are being used in the country's civil war, which the U.S. and Russia are making preparations to jointly intervene in. Right after his infiltration, the U.S. government orders him to leave immediately. Determined to uncover the truth, Leon ignores the order and enters the battlefield to end the chain of tragedies caused by the BOWs.

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  • Poster for Ichi the Killer

    Ichi the Killer 2001

    As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of.

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  • Poster for Godzilla

    Godzilla 1954

    Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by Dr. Kyohei Yamane soon discover something far more devastating than imagined in the form of a 50 meter tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well.

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  • Poster for Resident Evil: Death Island

    Resident Evil: Death Island 2023

    In San Francisco, Jill Valentine is dealing with a zombie outbreak and a new T-Virus, Leon Kennedy is on the trail of a kidnapped DARPA scientist, and Claire Redfield is investigating a monstrous fish that is killing whales in the bay. Joined by Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers, they discover the trail of clues from their separate cases all converge on the same location, Alcatraz Island, where a new evil has taken residence and awaits their arrival.

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  • Poster for Attack on Titan

    Attack on Titan 2015

    100 years ago, titans suddenly appeared on Earth. Soon, human civilization veered on collapse due to the titans. Humans then built a giant wall to defend themselves. Within the giant walls, humans lived in peace, but, 100 years later, the giant wall is broken.

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  • Poster for Ju-on: The Grudge

    Ju-on: The Grudge 2002

    When social worker Rika is sent to check on a traumatized old lady whose family have moved in at the site of the notorious Saeki family murder case, she unwittingly unleashes a cycle of terror that is transmitted via its victims further and further from its original source.

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  • Poster for House

    House 1977

    Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip to the countryside to visit her aunt at their ancestral house. She invites her six friends, Prof, Melody, Mac, Fantasy, Kung Fu, and Sweet, to join her. The girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye.

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  • Poster for Cure

    Cure 1997

    A detective starts spiraling out of control when a wave of gruesome murders with seemingly similar bizarre circumstances is sweeping Tokyo.

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  • Poster for Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

    Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust 2000

    D, a legendary dhampir competes with a motley family of bounty hunters to track down Charlotte Elbourne, a young woman who has seemingly been abducted by vampire nobleman Meier Link.

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  • Poster for Pulse

    Pulse 2001

    In the immense city of Tokyo, the darkness of the afterlife lures some of its inhabitants who are desperately trying to escape the sadness and isolation of the modern world.

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  • Poster for Berserk: The Golden Age Arc III - The Advent

    Berserk: The Golden Age Arc III - The Advent 2013

    A year has passed since Guts parted ways with the Band of the Hawks. Meanwhile, his former mercenary group is plotting a rescue mission to save an imprisoned Griffith.

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  • Poster for Tetsuo: The Iron Man

    Tetsuo: The Iron Man 1989

    A "metal fetishist", driven mad by the maggots wriggling in the wound he's made to embed metal into his flesh, runs out into the night and is accidentally run down by a Japanese businessman and his girlfriend. The pair dispose of the corpse in hopes of quietly moving on with their lives. However, the businessman soon finds that he is now plagued by a vicious curse that transforms his flesh into iron.

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  • Poster for Vampire Hunter D

    Vampire Hunter D 1985

    In a far-future time ruled by the supernatural, a young girl requests the help of a vampire hunter to kill the vampire who has bitten her and thus prevent her from becoming a vampire herself.

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  • Poster for Dark Water

    Dark Water 2002

    A woman in the midst of an unpleasant divorce moves to an eerie apartment building with her young daughter. The ceiling of their apartment has a dark and active leak.

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  • Poster for I Am a Hero

    I Am a Hero 2016

    Hideo Suzuki is a 35-year-old mangaka assistant, whose life seem to be stuck around his exhausting but low-paying job, unfulfilled dreams, strange hallucinations and unsatisfying relationships. He sees himself as a supporting character in his own life, has low self-esteem, resulting in frustration. One day, the world as Hideo knows it is shattered by the presence of a disease that turns people into homicidal maniacs, whose first instinct is to attack and devour the nearest human.

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  • Poster for Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

    Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead 2023

    Bullied by his boss, worked around the clock, he's nothing more than a corporate drone. All it takes is a zombie outbreak for him to finally feel alive!

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  • Poster for Noroi: The Curse

    Noroi: The Curse 2005

    A documentary filmmaker explores seemingly unrelated paranormal incidents connected by the legend of an ancient demon called the "kagutaba."

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  • Poster for Blood The Last Vampire

    Blood The Last Vampire 2000

    In Japan, the vampire-hunter Saya, who is a powerful original, is sent by her liaison with the government, David, posed as a teenage student to the Yokota High School on the eve of Halloween to hunt down vampires. Saya asks David to give a new katana to her. Soon she saves the school nurse Makiho Amano from two vampires disguised of classmates and Makiho witnesses her fight against the powerful demon.

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  • Poster for As the Gods Will

    As the Gods Will 2014

    High school student Shun Takahata is bored. Bored with the day-to-day monotony of school and life, he prays for change, for something exciting. Suddenly, he and his classmates are forced to play deadly children's games and facing terrifying creatures from a talking Daruma doll to a sharp-clawed lucky cat.

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  • Poster for Suicide Club

    Suicide Club 2001

    When 54 high school girls throw themselves in front of a subway train it appears to be only the beginning of a string of suicides around the country. Detective Kuroda tries to find the answer to this mystery, which isn't as simple as he had hoped.

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  • Poster for Gantz

    Gantz 2010

    After trying to rescue a man on the subway tracks, two teens wake up in a room dominated by a mysterious black sphere that sends them to hunt down and kill aliens hiding on Earth.

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  • Poster for Naruto Shippuden the Movie: Blood Prison

    Naruto Shippuden the Movie: Blood Prison 2011

    After his capture for attempted assassination of the Raikage, leader of Kumogakure, as well as killing Jōnin from Kirigakure and Iwagakure, Naruto is imprisoned in Hōzukijou: A criminal containment facility known as the Blood Prison. Mui, the castle master, uses the ultimate imprisonment technique to steal power from the prisoners, which is when Naruto notices his life has been targeted. Thus begins the battle to uncover the truth behind the mysterious murders and prove Naruto's innocence.

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  • Poster for Attack on Titan II: End of the World

    Attack on Titan II: End of the World 2015

    Eren Yeager leaves to restore a break in the wall destroyed by a Titan. He comes under attack by the Titans and is cornered. Shikishima comes to his aid. The titans never stops attacking. Eren is now injured and tries to protect Armin, but is swallowed by a titan. A Titan with black hair appears and begins to expel the other titans.

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  • Poster for Onibaba

    Onibaba 1964

    While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are devastated when they learn that Kichi has died, but his wife soon begins an affair with a neighbor who survived the war, Hachi. The mother disapproves and, when she can't steal Hachi for herself, tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.

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  • Poster for Cold Fish

    Cold Fish 2011

    Shamoto runs a small tropical fish shop. When his daughter Mitsuko is caught shoplifting at a grocery store a man named Murata steps in to settle things between the girl and the store manager. Murata also runs a tropical fish shop and he and Shamoto soon become friendly. However Murata hides many dark secrets behind his friendly face.

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  • Poster for One Missed Call

    One Missed Call 2003

    People mysteriously start receiving voicemail messages from their future selves, in the form of the sound of them reacting to their own violent deaths, along with the exact date and time of their future death, listed on the message log. The plot thickens as the surviving characters pursue the answers to this mystery which could save their lives.

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  • Poster for Tag

    Tag 2015

    Mitsuko, a young student, encounters a series of horrifying incidents set in alternate realities where people wind up dead in the most horrendous fashion.

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  • Poster for Tokyo Gore Police

    Tokyo Gore Police 2008

    In future Tokyo, a young woman in the privatized police force tracks down her father's killer while battling against mutant rebels known as engineers.

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  • Poster for Kwaidan

    Kwaidan 1965

    Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.

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  • Poster for Memories

    Memories 1995

    In this anime anthology, a salvage ship crew happens upon a haunted vessel in "Magnetic Rose"; a cold tablet turns a lab worker into a biological weapon in "Stink Bomb"; and an urban populace carries on an endless war with an unseen foe in "Cannon Fodder."

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  • Poster for Three... Extremes

    Three... Extremes 2004

    An Asian cross-cultural trilogy of horror films from accomplished indie directors: "Dumplings", directed by Fruit Chan of Hong Kong; "Cut", directed by Park Chan-Wook of Korea; "Box", directed by Miike Takashi of Japan. The first film "Dumplings" was extended and turned into a full-length theatrical film of the same name.

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  • Poster for Wicked City

    Wicked City 1987

    A peace treaty between the Earth and the Black World, a parallel universe of demons, is coming to an end. Two cops, Taki, a human male, and Maki, a female demon, are assigned to protect a diplomat who will help secure another treaty. A radical group of demons from the Black World are out to assassinate the diplomat and prevent the treaty; only the bond that forms between the two cops can save the Earth from destruction.

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  • Poster for Ring 2

    Ring 2 1999

    While investigating the horrifying death of her boyfriend, Mai Takano learns about a videotape haunted by the spirit of a disturbing girl named Sadako, which kills anyone who watches it exactly one week later. When her boyfriend’s son, Yoichi, starts to develop the same psychic abilities as Sadako, Takano must find a way to keep the boy and herself from becoming the next victims.

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  • Poster for Ju-on: The Grudge 2

    Ju-on: The Grudge 2 2003

    When the cast and crew of a paranormal TV reality program decide to shoot in the house of the original Saeki hauntings, a series of strange events unfold at the location.

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  • Poster for Godzilla Raids Again

    Godzilla Raids Again 1955

    Two fishing scout pilots make a horrifying discovery when they encounter a second Godzilla alongside a new monster named Anguirus. Without the weapon that killed the original, authorities attempt to lure Godzilla away from the mainland. But Anguirus soon arrives and the two monsters make their way towards Osaka as Japan braces for tragedy.

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  • Poster for Gantz: Perfect Answer

    Gantz: Perfect Answer 2011

    Summoned by the black sphere, Kei and Masaru fight against extraterrestrials until Masaru grows tired of fighting and refuses to continue.

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  • Poster for Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle

    Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle 1987

    Goku and Kuririn are given an assignment by Kame-Sen'nin: "Retrieve the sleeping princess from Lucifer and I will take you as my students." But the mission proves to be more perilous than originally thought.

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  • Poster for Parasyte: Part 1

    Parasyte: Part 1 2014

    Humanity is suffering from a series of mysterious murders across the globe, known as the 'Mincemeat murders'. High school student Izumi Shinichi has a parasite living off him, having replaced his right hand, and he might be the discoverer of truth.

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  • Poster for Casshern

    Casshern 2004

    Fifty years of war between the Great Eastern Federation and Europa - now merged as Eurasia - have taken their toll on planet Earth. As a result of the use of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, much of Earth has become uninhabitable and people have become prey to new diseases. Professor Azuma's "neo-cell" project, which is supposed to be the answer to mankind's hardships, becomes a nightmare come true when mutants spawned from the experiment escape and declare war on the human race. Azuma's son Tetsuya, who was killed during the previous war, is reborn into the cyborg Casshern as mankind's last hope against the new mutant threat. This live-action sci-fi movie based on a 1973 Japanese animé of the same name.

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  • Poster for The Machine Girl

    The Machine Girl 2008

    The life of a young, Japanese schoolgirl is destroyed when her family is killed by a Ninja-Yakuza family. Her hand cut off, she replaces it with various machines-of-death, and seeks revenge.

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  • Poster for Visitor Q

    Visitor Q 2001

    In a dysfunctional family where the mother is a heroin addict and prostitute, beaten by her son, and the father is an ex-TV reporter, sleeping with his daughter and filming his son being beaten up, ‘Q’, a complete stranger enters the bizarre family, changing their lives for the better, finding a balance in their disturbing natures.

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  • Poster for Re/Member

    Re/Member 2022

    Six high schoolers stuck in a murderous time loop must find the scattered remains of an unknown victim to break the curse and finally see another day.

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  • Poster for Paranormal Activity: Tokyo Night

    Paranormal Activity: Tokyo Night 2010

    Koichi takes care of his sister, who has recently returned from a trip abroad in the United States as she is not well. While caring for her, he records evidence of ghosts in their home.

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  • Poster for Blue Exorcist: The Movie

    Blue Exorcist: The Movie 2012

    The atmosphere in True Cross Academy is lively and boisterous in the days leading up to the grand festival held once every 11 years. During this time, Okumura Rin is entrusted with the responsibility of suppressing the berserk Phantom Train. In the midst of his mission, he meets a devil whose appearance is that of a young boy.

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  • Poster for Ju-on: The Curse

    Ju-on: The Curse 2000

    When elementary school teacher Kobayashi investigates the absence of one of his young pupils from the classroom, he finds himself at the doorstep of an anonymous suburban house that harbours a horrible secret, and into which all who enter are doomed.

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  • Poster for Uzumaki

    Uzumaki 2000

    The inhabitants of a small Japanese town become increasingly obsessed with and tormented by spirals.

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  • Poster for Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

    Godzilla vs. Destoroyah 1995

    A burning Godzilla, on the verge of meltdown, emerges to lay siege to Hong Kong. At the same time horrifying new organisms are discovered in Japan. These crustacean-like beings are seemingly born of the Oxygen Destroyer, the weapon that killed the original Godzilla.

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  • Poster for Godzilla, King of the Monsters!

    Godzilla, King of the Monsters! 1956

    During an assignment, foreign correspondent Steve Martin spends a layover in Tokyo and is caught amid the rampage of an unstoppable prehistoric monster the Japanese call 'Godzilla'. The only hope for both Japan and the world lies on a secret weapon, which may prove more destructive than the monster itself.

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  • Poster for Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

    Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack 2001

    Godzilla has become a distant memory for Japan when the destruction of a US submarine raises alarms for Admiral Tachibana. His estranged daughter Yuri investigates the legend of the guardian monsters, who must rise to protect Japan against the vengeful spirits within Godzilla that seek to destroy both the nation and its people for the suffering they inflicted in the Pacific conflict.

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  • Poster for Death Note: Light Up the NEW World

    Death Note: Light Up the NEW World 2016

    10 years has passed since the confrontation between Kira and L. Again, Shinigami sends death notes to the ground and due to this, the world soon falls into chaos. Tsukuru is a member of the Death Note special task force team with 6 other investigators including Matsuda who experienced the Kira case of 10 years ago. Mass murders caused by the death note takes place on Wall Street in the U.S., Shibuya in Japan and other places. World famous private investigator Ryuzaki, who is the rightful successor of L, also investigates the mass murders. They discover that 6 death notes exists in the world. A computer virus called Kira spreads in the world. A message in the Kira virus says to turn in 6 death notes. A person who has 6 death notes overwhelm the world. The confrontation begins between the person who wants Kira’s revival and the people who want to stop it.

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  • Poster for Godzilla vs. Biollante

    Godzilla vs. Biollante 1989

    After the previous Godzilla attack, a miniature arms race ensues to collect his cells. Concerned over Godzilla's possible return, the Japanese government uses the cells to create a new bio-weapon, ANEB (Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria). They seeks the aid of geneticist Genshiro Shiragami, who's experiments result in a new mutation.

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  • Poster for Sadako vs. Kayako

    Sadako vs. Kayako 2016

    A girl, Yūri Kurahashi, after watching a cursed videotape together with her friend in a haunted house, becomes trapped in a conflict between the two murderous ghosts: Sadako Yamamura and Kayako Saeki

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  • Poster for Godzilla vs. Hedorah

    Godzilla vs. Hedorah 1971

    An ever evolving alien life-form arrives on a comet from the Dark Gaseous Nebula and proceeds to consume pollution. Spewing mists of sulfuric acid and corrosive sludge, neither humanity nor Godzilla may be able to defeat this toxic menace.

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  • Poster for Lesson of the Evil

    Lesson of the Evil 2012

    Seiji Hasumi is a popular English teacher in a private high school. He is also a violent and sociopathic killer who concocts an extreme plan to deal with the rise of bullying and bad behavior among the student body.

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  • Poster for Ring 0

    Ring 0 2000

    Taking place thirty years before the events of Ringu, Ringu 0 provides the shocking background story of how the girl on the video became a deadly, vengeful spirit.

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  • Poster for Helter Skelter

    Helter Skelter 2012

    Top model Lilico, having recently undergone multiple cosmetic surgeries, begins to experience troubling side effects. As she desperately tries to retain her perfect image, Lilico descends into a world of nightmares and makes those around her miserable.

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