J-horror is over. The moment for the ghostly ladies with the long black hair has passed. But people still want to be scared at the movies — and among the Japanese films doing it most successfully now are the hybrids of the horror, mystery and thriller genres that treat murder as a game.
The trend started with Kinji Fukasaku's "Battle Royale" (2000), in which a repressive government in a near-future Japan forced a selected group of teens to play a deadly "survival game" on an uninhabited island. Propelled by its extreme violence and attractive cast, the film became a big, controversial, worldwide hit.
The 2003 followup by Fukasaku's son Kenta was a dud, but the 2006 smash "Death Note," based on a popular manga, revived the genre with an ingenious gimmick — a death-dealing notebook — and a tense contest of wits between the notebook's soul-sick owner and a sweet-addicted detective. A spate of films with similar themes has followed, including 2009's "Kaiji: Jinsei Gyakuten Gemu (Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler)" and "Liar Game — The Final Stage" (2010).