Ari Aster names five of his favourite Japanese horror movies
The horror genre is one of the oldest in the world of cinema and literature, providing tales based on folkloric legends that imprint cultural value, as well as creating new urban legends for modern generations to fear and thrill in discussing. Ari Aster is undoubtedly one of the greatest contemporary horror storytellers, with his unique approach to the genre bringing such beloved favourites as Hereditary and Midsommar.
Representing the rise of A24 ‘elevated horror’, a controversial term used to describe the emergence of more thoughtful genre movies that tackle everything from mental health to the climate crisis, Aster’s films have encouraged a wider audience to get involved with the divisive form of filmmaking. Horror has, indeed, always been ‘elevated’ and tinged with political and social commentary, yet there’s no doubt that Aster brings such issues to the forefront of his work, making them more dramas with horror elements rather than straight-up genre flicks.
Sure, Hereditary is a terrifying film, but it’s first and foremost a movie about generational trauma and the hereditary troubles we may unknowingly and unwillingly inherit from our parents. Similarly, Midsommar is a creepy folk tale, but it’s also an analysis of grief, as well as an exploration of how a break-up can force us into a new state of self-reflection, making us consider who we are and want to be.
Aster is quick to express this, too, stating that he sees Midsommar as a break-up movie in the same vein as Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession: “I just wanted to write a breakup movie, and I saw a way of marrying the breakup movie that I was having at the time with the structure of a folk horror film”.
But, make no mistake, while Aster’s movies can span many genres, he is a fond lover of horror, once revealing in an interview with A-Frame a collection of some of his favourite Japanese horror films.
“There are so many Japanese horror films that I felt compelled to include,” he starts, referring to the list of favourite movies he’s compiling, “From Onibaba to Ugetsu to The Face of Another to Cure”. Fond of each of these four films, Aster eventually opts for 1964’s Kwaidan, stating, “Kobayashi’s grand anthology might be the most breathtakingly beautiful horror film ever made. Adapted from four of Lafcadio Hearn’s remarkable ghost stories, Kwaidan is ethereal and haunting and possessed of a totally devouring commitment to artifice”.
While Onibaba, Kwaidan, The Face of Another and Ugetsu are considered classics of Japanese horror, Cure is a more recent great that has been celebrated by contemporary fans of world cinema. Beloved also by fellow filmmaker Martin Scorsese, the film is a strange crime film that follows a detective trying to catch a serial killer who’s dispatching his victims using supernatural tactics.
Take a look at the full list of Aster’s favourite Japanese horror movies below.
Ari Aster’s five favourite Japanese horrors:
- Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997)
- The Face of Another (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1966)
- Kwaidan (Masaki Kobayashi, 1964)
- Onibaba (Kaneto Shindo, 1964)
- Ugetsu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953)
