6) Audition
There are several hugely disturbing J-horrors out there, but the one we’re going with here is 1999’s Audition, the finest work of highly prolific Japanese director Takashi Miike. Which is really saying something, considering he’s credited for helming about 90 productions over his career.
Audition follows an aging movie director who invents a duplicitous scheme to find himself a new lover – hold a casting call for an imaginary film and “browse” the young actresses that audition. Unfortunately for him, he chooses Asami, an emotionally-abused psychopath who endeavours to make his life a living hell.
The ingenuity of Audition is how the tension builds over the two hour runtime, from a slow-burning, even gently comic, first half until the – mild spoiler warning – intensely harrowing torture scene of the final act. That may make it sound like it ends just the same as any old overtly gory horror film, but it’s the dramatic weight and psychological depth of the movie as a whole that makes it far more powerful than any common example of the genre.
It gets so disturbing that you’ll be heavily tempted to turn it off at various points, but persevere with it, as this engrossing yet off-putting film needs to be seen.
