J-horror has long been among the most popular Japanese film genres to grab attention overseas, going back to the 1998 breakout hit “The Ring” (“Ringu”). Sadako, the long-haired female ghost haunting this Hideo Nakata shocker, has become as familiar to many around the world as that other Japanese pop culture icon, Godzilla.
But J-horror has deep roots in folk beliefs that go back centuries and still inform the horror flicks being made today. That is both a limitation — the genre is overpopulated with revenge-bent women spooks — and a strength, giving filmmakers a rich tradition to draw on.
In the spirit of Halloween, here are 10 J-horror films worth watching, one for each day leading up to the spookiest night of the year, in ascending (and entirely personal) order of scariness. Do you dare watch them all?