Curated by mantis · 6 books
Reading path
From cursed videotapes to body-horror manga — the essential descent into J-horror fiction.
Kōji Suzuki
The cursed videotape that started it all. The novel is stranger than the film.
Kōji Suzuki
Slow-dread ghost stories dripping with waterlogged atmosphere.
Ryū Murakami
A lonely widower's dating scheme curdles into nightmare. Quiet, then unbearable.
桐野夏生
Four women, one dismembered body, and Tokyo's underbelly. Crime-horror at its bleakest.
Junji Itō
A town obsessed with spirals. Manga horror's high-water mark for pure visual dread.
Kōshun Takami, Masayuki Taguchi
A class of schoolkids forced to kill each other. Brutal, relentless, unforgettable.
