Colette's picks:

Ringu 

As I mentioned in my intro, it really all started here. Not J-horror in general, but the craze was definitely spurred by this classic film. Made by Hideo Nakata and based on a novel by Koji Suzuki (an excellent novel worth reading, in fact), Ringu still stands as Japan's highest grossing horror film of all time. It got so huge, in fact, that you likely already know the key part of the story: there's a cursed videotape, and if you watch it, you die within a week. Sounds like the rumors schoolgirls whisper to each other on the walk home after class, doesn't it?

Just like its remake, Ringu executes its story by making strong use of singular, unforgettable images. Unlike the average American horror film that feels the need to explain everything down to the last detail, Ringu is quite comfortable not explaining all kinds of things. Like the content of the famous videotape itself, for instance. This really cranks up that awesome feeling of unease you feel while watching it.

The story of poor doomed Sadako and all her victims is unconventional and certainly cerebral, especially at the film's conclusion. But incredibly solid acting from Nanako Matsushima, who plays the detective who finds herself wrapped up in the mystery, really nails this one. It's not a jumper, more of a suspense-festival -- but it executes that with the utmost elegance.

Cure

There's not a single one of the hallmark of J-horror to be found in Cure. No long black hair with a single eye peering out, no curses, no pleas of "help me" whispered under anyone's breath. Even so, it remains among the most chilling Asian films I have ever seen, and it accomplishes this in such a stark and absolutely unique way that you will likely never forget it. If you're the type to remember a director after a film really punches you in the gut, you're sure to never forget who Kiyoshi Kurosawa is after this.

Cure tells the story of Kenichi Takabe, a detective investigating a case where a series of seemingly normal people have committed murder but all claim they had no control over their actions. As Takabe plunges further and further into the case, it becomes maddeningly clear that the solution is more complex than he ever could have realized.

Cure's standout is the use of sound, which is going to mess with you big time. I've never felt like my skin was crawling so much while listening to a single sound as I did while watching this film. Kurosawa is an expert in creating an atmosphere of dread out of something entirely commonplace, and this one will certainly leave you thinking long after it's over.

The Host

This Korean film is a true creature feature, and while it has many introspective moments, it's much better suited for fans of action. Everything about The Host feels brutally real, even though the entire film focuses on a creature that can't possibly be. It tells the story of a family and what happens to them after the youngest is taken by this monster. I'm not going to elaborate on this one too much. I will say, it is on Blu-Ray, and if you have a player, watch it that way with all the lights out.

Three Extremes

Three Extremes is like an Asian horror snob's dream come true. Featuring short films from directors Takashi Miike, Chan-Wook Park and Fruit Chan, the collection is like a sampler and definitely worth watching if you like this kind of creepy shit. Out of the three, my favorite by far is "Dumplings", which is actually a shortened version of a longer film from Fruit Chan.  It tells the tale of a woman desperate to regain youth no matter what the means, so she goes to see a "specialist" (played by Bai Ling) who makes her dumplings she claims will help restore her youth. What she cooks with, however, is another conversation entirely.

You also have the popular Takashi Miike here with "Box", which is much less show-offy than his usual work and quite interesting, and Chan-Wook Park's "Cut" places a director captive in the hands of a disgruntled extra who is determined to coax out his evil side. This last film is the murkiest of the three, but overall they are all a lot of fun to watch, and will surely cause at least a few chills.

Audition

Sometimes Takashi Miike films are great, and sometimes they are wildly over the top, pretentious and downright disgusting. Luckily, Audition falls in the first category. It starts simply as the tale of a guy who decides to use a talent audition as a cover to hide his real motive of looking for a wife. He finds one, but he gets more than he bargained for ... much, much more.

The important thing you must know about Audition is that if you cannot watch extremely brutal scenes of violence, you cannot watch this movie. The things that happen in the latter half of the film are so f*cked that I've read they made people throw up, freak out, whatever. To me, they weren't that bad, but after you've seen Faces of Death nothing else ever really is.

Zac's Picks:

Ju-On (aka The Grudge)

My first exposure to J-horror was exactly the same as Colette's. I just thought The Ring looked like a really cool horror movie. I had no idea of its origins. But as soon as I found out, I started digging furiously for more. Ju-on, directed by Takashi Shimizu, was one of my first finds.

Of course it's a lot like Ringu in that it has a creepy long-haired female ghost thing in it, but the main "bad guy" in Ju-on is actually a little blue boy who makes cat noises. Yet the blue guy isn't really what's scary about Ju-on. It's the little things. In fact, even though Ju-on is at the bottom of my list, it has one of the most harrowing scenes of any of them. At one point, there is a CCTV shot of a security guard doing his rounds inside a building. He passes a room and turns a corner. Then, very very slowly, a fuzzy black shape walks out of the room. It turns toward the camera, still walking slowly. It finally walkes under the camera and out of frame. The picture glitches and jumps, and very very slowly the black shape rises back up, right in front the of camera! EEYAH!

Ju-on is full of these quiet moments that are totally shit-pants making. Also, avoid any of the western remakes like the plague.

The Eye

The Eye, directed by the Pang Brothers, is more of your standard "jump" horror than some of the more slow-burning moments in Ju-on. In this one, a woman gets an eye transplant and *poof*, starts seeing ghosts. But the ghosts are all awesomely well done. Since she's just starting to get her vision back, she doesn't even know the first ghost she encounters is a ghost. She talks to it like it's someone in the room, only to find out that someone near her for the past few days has recently died. Another ghost with a bashed-in face floats silently behind her in an elevator. Other ghosts are a bit more noisy.

In one ghost-free scene, she sees a section of the room she's in transform back and forth into a totally different room, like a swinging flashlight swinging back and forth, only the light is...another room.

One huge problem with The Eye is the last act which goes totally off into left field and isn't scary at all. It's just fine, but after the oh-so amazing stuff that comes before, it leaves a bitter aftertaste.

 Kairo (aka Pulse)

In the world of Kairo, people are getting lethargic, remote, then vanishing, and ghosts are taking their place. Black, shadowy, indistinct ghosts. Some of them seem to know what's going on, others seem to be trying to remember what it was like to be alive.

It's a little tough trying describe the film, since it moves slowly and it's deliberately mysterious. It has something to do with the Internet...but not really. There are also several doors shut with red tape around the edges. When one character peels off the tape and goes inside, a women runs at him down a hallway, very slowly, slipping at one point (again, in slow motion) before resuming her run. That might not sound like much, but it is incredibly creepy. There's not much else to say without giving it all away. But if you're a frog who likes to sit in a pot of water while it slowly heats up and then boils you before you know it, then Kairo is for you.

Uzumaki

Uzumaki is the film adaptation of horror master Junji Ito's manga of the same name. A small rural town is slowly being overtaken by uzumaki, or spirals. The school-girl protagonist Kirie seems to be the only one able to see the patterns of what is going on..too late, naturally. The film manages to pack in just about all of the manga's chapters, which include spiral hair, spiral ears, snails, spiral pottery and many other weird tales. It's actually amazing how much is crammed into the film, which might make it feel a bit disconnected overall, but a wild ride just the same. Plus, it kind of sort of just ends, far short of the manga's ending.

The look of the film is a bit silly and over the top, which is very much in keeping with Ito's style. Think Beetlejuice, only less comedy and much more weird horror. If you want something "fun" to watch, get this immediately. 

A Tale of Two Sisters

The Korean A Tale of Two Sisters, directed by Kim Ji-woon, is not only my favorite horror film of all time, but is also just plain one of my favorite films. That's mostly because yeah, it's very creepy and jumpy at times, but for the most part it's just engrossing and mesmerizing. It looks incredible, which is saying something since it takes place almost entirely within a rather ordinary house. Well, ordinary except for the crazy wallpaper and luxurious woodwork.

A Tale of Two Sisters is indeed a tale about two sisters, Su-Mi (older) and Su-Yeong (younger), their father and step mother. The film opens with Su-Mi in a hospital being questioned by a psychiatrist. The scene dissolves into Su-Mi's memories of her time at the house, which, in the interest of being totally spoiler free, seems to be haunted. But it's a quiet sort of haunting that slowly spirals into something truly disorienting, much like the relationship between all of the members of the house.

Again, I really wish I could tell you what makes this film so amazing, but I just can't. I'll say, it looks great, has perfect pacing, is very subtle and almost calm before going bonkers. If you really want a film that will give you something to talk about afterward, watch A Tale of Two Sisters.

And that's it! Make sure to share your own top horror movie picks on the comments or you will die in seven days!