When Hideo Nakata's Ringu managed to impress itself upon the Western world in 1998 there was a massive surge in the popularity of Asian horror. Predominantly from Japan (J-Horror), Korea (K-Horror) and Hong Kong although many quality horror movies began to emerge from places such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Asian horror movies are heavily influenced by the folklore, religion and traditions of the society from which they emerge. Popular J-Horror tends to focus on psychological terror and the supernatural, K-Horror follows the same patterns but tends to be darker and more atmospheric than its Japanese counterpart.
Asian horror has revived the horror genre and Hollywood has noticed this resulting in a slew of remakes more accessible to a wider audience (most of which miss the point of the original). Remakes aside, it is apparent that the style of horror movies have been influenced by Asia with a number of scare tactics from Asian horror becoming commonplace in numerous Western horrors; contorted demons crawling towards their victims, apparitions with long black hair and the subtler "corner of the eye" scares.
Outside of the mainstream ghosts and haunting movies there is a very diverse, very creative and sometimes very disturbing array of Asian cinema. From the controversially sadistic Guinea Pig franchise through the bizarre creations of Takashi Miike to the over the top splatter in the likes of Tokyo Gore Police and The Machine Girl - there is something within this sub-genre to satisfy all horror needs.
