In the early 2000s, there was a new obsession Hollywood’s horror movie scene. We quickly saw the release of American remakes of several Japanese horror films, known as ‘J-Horror’.

We got “The Ring” (based on “Ringu”) and it was a big hit so it was not long before we got “The Grudge” (based on “Ju-On: The Grudge”), “Dark Water” and “One Missed Call”. All of these films were very similar with the use of ghostly women with long, dark hair. Why suddenly did America seem to be fixated on horror from Japan? Well, Hollywood remakes of Japanese films were nothing new.

Many Westerns were based on samurai films such as “The Magnificent Seven” (based on “Seven Samurai”) and “A Fistful Of Dollars” (based on “Yojimbo”). Hollywood had also remade other Japanese films such as “Godzilla”. The 1998 American remake significantly changed the monster and took place in New York instead of Tokyo.

However, unlike these other films, the horror films were very similar to their original counterparts. “The Grudge” was even set in Japan and used some of the same cast members. Some of these horror remakes felt essentially more like a chance for the same ideas to be given a larger budget. This is interesting as it also helped Japanese horror gain new audiences across the world. Suddenly, filmgoers from Europe and America flocked to check out other Japanese horror cinema offerings such as “Audition” and “Tokyo Gore Police”.

Ultimately, some of these remakes were disappointing but I’m glad that it helped make an important part of Japanese cinema more accessible to other audiences.