Every American Japanese Horror Remake, Ranked Worst To Best – Screen Rant

In the early 2000s, The Ring(2002) set off a chain reaction and the American J-Horror remake craze began. Adapted from Hideo Nakata's 1998 film titledRingu and director Gore Verbinski was quick to pick it up for an American audience. Without the Verbinksi taking on this feat, the J-Horror craze would not have started and the subsequent films in the genre would not have seen the light of day.

Horror adaptations are immensely popular and appeal to the prospect of starting a potential franchise. OnceThe Ringreleased in theaters, directors turned to East-Asian horror films for inspiration. The 2000s generously transformed some of the most gruesome, gory, and disturbing Japanese horror films into Americanized works. It was a lucrative decision as the popularity of these remakes have spawned franchises such asThe Grudge(2004).

Related: The Ring: Who Created The Cursed Tape?

To this day, directors are remaking and rebooting popular films from the early 2000s J-Horror craze. Along withThe RingandThe Grudge,there are a total of seven films in total that remade some of the greatest in Japanese horror. While some never lived up to the potential of their source, others are known as essential films in the horror genre.

Releasing at the tale end of the J-Horror craze, Apartment 1303 3Dand the original followa young womanas she explores her sister's strange and untimely death. The longer she investigates her sister's passing, the stronger the malevolent spirit in her sister's apartment becomes. There are striking differences between these two films but the remake attempts to stick to the original with close attention to the plot's details. Film critics were exceptionally harsh towards the 2012 remake and the use of 3D worsened the overall viewing experience.

Over twenty years after Hideo Nakata'sDon't Look Upreleased, director Fruit Chan took on the original's use of the intricate supernatural story line for an American remake. Nakata's film focuses on a film crew as a dead actress haunts them while Chan's film creates a spirit that comes from celluloid to taunt a film crew. While the plots sound similar, the intricacies of Nakata'sDon't Look Upare muddled in the remake. Neither of them were a financial success, but Nakata went on to create more successful horror films such as 1998'sRingu(Ring).

In this 2006 remake, director Jim Sonzero with a screenplay written by horror legend Wes Craven transformed the 2001 moviePulsefor a contemporary American audience. The Japanese horror film was written and directed by Kiyoshi Kirosawa and features two groups of friends as they fear the attempts of spirits to conquer humanity. As the original was made in the earlier age of the internet, the remake spins the source's plot as an internet hacker releases a spirit that intends to take over the world. Besides the obvious differences in plot, the remake leaves more to be desired and relies on predictable jump scares. Kirosawa's film tackled internet horror with an immense sense of dread and nuance that has yet to be matched with a remake.

Takashi Miike's 2003 One Missed Call (ChakushinAri),opens on the main plot of the film when Yoko receives a call from herself and hears her own death. Director Eric Valette remade the film for American audiences in 2008 featuring the same plot and story line. As more people receive calls from their future selves, they continue to die by the hands of a vengeful spirit. While the original was followed by two sequels, the remake received terrible reviews. Despite following the original's exact story line, Valette'sOne Missed Callnever lived up to its potential. Regardless, the premise is unique and makes for an overall enjoyable experience.

Related: The Grudge: The Differences Between Japanese & American Versions

Only three years after the original released, Walter Salles remade Hideo Nakata's film with the same story line and plot. Both films follow a single mother as she struggles through her recent divorce. She lives with her young daughter in an apartment where the spirit of a dead child begin to haunt them. The two find water in every space of their home and begin to realize that it is caused by the entity. They discover the ghost has been searching for someone to be their mother, making the main character a prime target.

Salles and Nikata's film are a unique rendition of how spirits struggle with trauma and loneliness after a gruesome death. With close attention to detail, Salles'Dark Water successfully captures what is so great about the original film and the J-Horror craze.

Director Takashi Shimizu did not waste time to remake his popular 2002 filmJu-on: The Grudgein the United States. The two films are almost shot-by-shot similar, though Shimizu does alter the premise with introducing American characters into a Japanese setting. It follows a young nurse as she and her family move into a house where the brutal murders of an entire family took place.

The Grudgefocuses on a curse that latches onto an individual who has experienced deep sorrow or rage when they die. As the woman begins to unravel the story of how the curse was born, she finds that a jealous husband murdered his wife and their son. Now anyone that comes in the vicinity of the curse become victim to its wrath. The original and the remake spawned multiple sequels and, in January of this year, a reboot was released.

The Ring(2002) started it all. Taken from Hideo Nakata's 1998 filmRingu(Rings), Gore Verbinksi's remake flooded the horror world with its story of a video tape that has the power to kill a person in just seven days. As a journalist played by Naomi Watts discovers the film and watches it, she becomes plagued with the fear of death while being taunted by the entity of a little girl. She attempts to find a way to avoid death, finding that the only way is to have another person watch the tape.

It becomes a vicious cycle as more people watch the tape without knowing how to stop it entirely. Later, sh discovers that all of the tapes must be destroyed in order to contain the entity to the spirit realm. With Nakata's blessing and an airtight plan to follow the original source material,The Ringshowcases everything done right when an American remake of a Japanese horror film happens. It is an essential horror film and its subsequent sequels speak to its immense popularity.

More: The Grudge: How 2020 Remake Connects To Original Movies

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Marian Phillips is a writer, reader, and horror movie fan based out in Yonkers, New York. She is a dedicated historian, researcher, and content creator, and now works as a Horror Movie Features Writer for Valnet, Inc at ScreenRant. A graduate of the University of Kansas (BA) and Sarah Lawrence College (MA), she has worked diligently on crafting up-to-date and informative projects covering anything from horror films to punk musicians. Phillips travels throughout the United States presenting her research and learning more about the 21st century's "Horror Renaissance." Her hobbies include writing music, painting, reading comics, and hanging out with her cat Hero.

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Every American Japanese Horror Remake, Ranked Worst To Best - Screen Rant

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero