Directed by Hideo Nakata • 1998 • Japan
Starring Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Miki Nakatani
The film that launched the craze for J-horror in the West, director Hideo Nakata’s international sensation melded traditional Japanese folklore with contemporary anxieties about the spread of technology for a chilling experience unlike anything that had come before. A group of teenage friends are found dead, their bodies grotesquely contorted, their faces twisted in terror. Reiko (Nanako Matsushima), a journalist and the aunt of one of the victims, sets out to investigate the shocking phenomenon, and in the process uncovers a creepy urban legend about a supposedly cursed videotape, the contents of which cause anyone who views it to die within a week—unless they can persuade someone else to watch it, and, in so doing, pass on the curse.
Up Next in VHS Forever
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Clerks
Directed by Kevin Smith • 1994 • United States
Starring Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn GhigliottiFamously shot on a shoestring budget of less than $30,000, CLERKS launched the career of indie legend Kevin Smith and won over audiences with its raw energy, irreverent humor, and proudly ...
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Bleeder
Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn • 1999 • Denmark
Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Kim Bodnia, Liv CorfixenOn the gritty margins of Copenhagen, two friends drift apart as violence and obsession take hold. Disaffected alcoholic Leo (Kim Bodnia) struggles with a crumbling relationship and growing rage, w...
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Re-Wind
Directed by Hisayasu Sato • 1988 • Japan
Starring Kiyomi Ito, Kazuhiro Sano, Sayaka HitomiOne of the most esteemed and transgressive filmmakers ever to work in Japan’s explosively popular pink film genre, Hisayasu Sato crafted erotic films that were both genre-defying and artful. While Sato’s w...
