7 scariest Asian horror films, from Ring to The Wailing, Japan to Korea – get into the Hungry Ghost Festival spirit

Asian horror films are some of the best in the business. Ever since Ring dropped in 1998, film fans have looked to this part of the world for their scares. Over the years the rights for many of the best horror films from Asia have been snapped up by Hollywood and remade for Western audiences, but – let’s be honest – they’ve usually resulted in an inferior product.

This year’s Hungry Ghost Festival takes place on September 2, the day when many people across East Asia believe that ghosts and spirits emerge from the underworld. If you’re looking to get in the mood, here are seven of the best Asian horror films guaranteed to raise the hairs on the back of your neck.

Ring

Let’s start with a classic: the film that helped propel Asian horror into the spotlight across the world. Although now more than 20 years old, Ring is still one of the best of its kind. Based on the novel by Koji Suzuki, the film’s premise is a simple one. Urban legend has it that there is a videotape that kills the viewer after watching it, and a reporter sets out to investigate the facts. The original masterfully builds up the suspense and dread leading to a truly unnerving climax.

The Wailing

A recent horror hit from South Korea, The Wailing is the third film by director Na Hong-jin, whose previous films The Chaser and The Yellow Sea plumbed the darkness of human souls without edging into horror territory. Giving an Eastern spin to Western horror classics like The Exorcist, The Wailing sees a young girl supposedly possessed, among other mysterious and gruesome goings-on in a usually quiet countryside town. Both a straightforward horror flick and a deceptively cerebral film, The Wailing has been one of the best Korean films – of any genre – of the last few years. It’s shocking ending will leave you breathless.

Rigor Mortis

A stunning reinvention of classic Hong Kong vampire films of the 1980s, Juno Mak’s directorial debut was a surprisingly accomplished one given the Hongkonger’s original background in the music industry. The film uses meta elements to engaging effect, such as featuring actor Chin Siu-ho, star of 1985 film Mr Vampire, as himself, a star whose glory days are now long behind him. Early in the film Chin tries to kill himself but witnesses two ghosts in the process and is eventually rescued from possession by a vampire hunter. From there, the film brings back to life a host of classic Hong Kong horror elements with considerable aplomb.

Ju-On: The Grudge

Another Japanese horror classic remade for Western audiences, Ju-On: The Grudge was actually the third in the franchise’s history. Previous instalments had been made as low budget straight-to-video efforts, which garnered a decent critical reception through word of mouth. Although director Takashi Shimizu does little to delve into the nature of the film’s titular curse, Ju-On’s steady procession of deaths and scares is nonetheless effective – all the more so as you wait in tense anticipation knowing that yet more are to come.