Top 10 Horror Anime Movies

Japanese horror fiction is unique, interesting, and different from classic horror movies. Japanese horror is had a conventional treatment and has a distinctive theme and focuses on psychological horror, suspense, tension building, and supernatural horrors, which include ghosts and poltergeists.

Horror anime contains themes based on folk religion, exorcism, possession, shamanism, yokai, and precognition.

This article has rounded up some of the best scary anime horror movies. This article contains movies that will scare both the nightlights and the daylights out of you because the film stays with you even after you’ve watched them, a true representation and hallmark of spooky anime.

Perfect Blue (1997)

Director Name: Satoshi Kon

Genre: Thriller/Horror

Where to Watch: Manga TV

It is a Japanese animated psychological thriller movie from 1997. Satoshi Kon directed it. This movie’s plot inspires by a novel of the same title by Yoshikazu Takeuchi. It revolves around a member of a Japanese idol. She retires from her music career to pursue her career in acting. 

Later in the film, she becomes a victim of stalking, unpleasant murders occur, and she starts to lose her mind and the difference between reality and fantasy.

Perfect blue is best known for its self-referential, twisted storyline that intercuts the real with fantasy so precisely that it forces the viewer to take the point of view of shattered Mima until the impressive conclusion. To know more, you must watch this movie.

Paprika (2006)

Director Name:  Satoshi Kon

Genre: Adventure/Sci-fi

Where to Watch: Netflix

Paprika is a science fiction Japanese animated psychological thriller directed by Satoshi Kon. The plot is based on a 1993 novel name paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui. The storyline revolves around the battle between a terrorist who stole a device that allows others to share their dream. 

So later, he can cause nightmares for those people, and a psychologist who allows himself to enter the dream world by changing himself into Paprika, a dream detective who will investigate the cases. The critic’s response to this film was quite positive. 

This movie seamlessly connects dreams and reality, making the boundaries between them indistinct in a very realistic manner. The assembling of the nightmares depicted in this movie was not in the novel but was entirely the director’s idea to maintain the contrast and duality within the person’s character. To know more, you must read this bind-blowing movie.

Spirited Away (2001)

Director Name: Hayao Miyazaki

Genre: Fantasy/Horror

Where to Watch: Netflix

Spirited away is an animated fantasy horror movie from 2001, directed and written by Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli animates this film. This movie tells us the story of a ten years old girl named Chihiro Ogino (Hiiragi), who is moving to a new neighborhood with her family, but unfortunately enters the world of Kami. 

Later her parents were turned into pigs by a witch named Yubaba (Natsuki). Then Chihiro has to take up the job in yubaba’s bathhouse and tries to find a way to free her parents and herself from the witch and return to her normal human world. 

It is inspired by the Japanese Shinto-Buddhist Folklore, the journey of Chihiro through the territory of spirits, and the folklore creatures who have no face as they reflect the character of whomever they consume. To know more, you must watch this movie.

The Empire Of Corpses (2015)

Director Name: Ryoutarou Makihara

Genre: Adventure/Sci-Fiction

Where to Watch: VUDU

The Empire of Corpses is a Japanese animated sci-fi adventure horror film directed by Ryoutarou Makihara and produced by Wit studio. This movie concept is based on a novel that Project Itoh wrote. 

The main cast of this movie is Yoshimasa Hosoya, Kana Hanazawa, Ayumu Murase, Taiten Kusunoki, Shinichiro Miki, and Daiki Yamashita. In the 19th century in London, Corpses were reanimated to be used as manual labor. A young medical student is invited to a secret society and had given the globetrotting espionage mission to find the missing writing of Dr. Victor Frankenstein. 

After breaking all the laws of reanimating corpses, Watson either has to work for the government or should face punishment. So he chose to find the notes of the Dr. who first rekindled humans with corpses. To know, you must watch this amazing movie.

Ninja Scroll (1993)

Director Name: Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Genre: Action/Adventure

Where to Watch: Manga TV

Ninja scroll is a Japanese animated jidaigeki-chanbara film directed and written by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. This movie is praised for its action scenes and animation, and the movie plot is regarded as one of the best influential animated films ever made. 

This movie takes place in Japan and follows the journey of Jubie Kibagami, a highly skilled ninja who is forced to murder his clan; after killing his fellow sworders, Jubei has become an itinerant hired assassin. 

While guarding the “DRAGON STONE” and protecting the barrier, he has to face a group of demonic ninjas known as THE DEVILS OF KIMON, who were planning to take the powers of the Japanese government. The demons will stop at nothing, and now it’s the responsibility of Junie and a spy named Dakuen to control them and protect the Priestess of Light. To know more, you must watch this splendid movie.

Grave Of The Fireflies (1988)

Director Name: Isao Takahata

Genre: War/Drama

Where to Watch: Manga TV, Vudu

This movie is a Japanese animated war tragedy film that deals with the spirit of young war orphans. This movie is based on a short story from 1967 written by Akiyuki Nosaka. This movie was directed and written by Isao Takahata and animated the Studio Ghibli. Grave of the fireflies is one of the greatest war films. 

This movie is set in Kobe, where the spirits of the sea and Setsuko Yokokawa reunite and gets on a ghostly train as they both recount their survival in the Bombing of Kobe in world war II. Seita was in charge of her younger sister after they were separated from their parents during the bombing. 

After that, the siblings have no one but each other to rely upon; their story of survival to stay alive to stay together is as heartbreaking as true to life. This movie is so emotional and powerful; its greatest gift is its patience and silence. It gives time to the viewer to rethink the character. To know more, you must see this amazing movie.

 

Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack (2021)

Director Name: Takayuki Hirao

Genre: Horror/Animation

Where to Watch: TV Guide

Gyo is a horror seinen manga illustrated and written by Junji Ito. This story centers around a couple, Kaori and Tadashi, as they fight against the mysterious mob of undead fish, which tends to have metal legs and is powered by an odor known as the death stench. 

This weird fish forces them to readdress everything they love and care about to stay alive. Kaori discovers the fish when she loses contact with Tadashi, who resides in Tokyo, so she decides to move to the city, only to find that the capital is taken over by bizarre walking fishes, who have left the ocean and headed towards the town. To know more, you must watch this thriller movie. 

Wicked City (1987)

Director Name: Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Genre: Fantasy/sci-fi

Where to Watch: HIDIVIE

The wicked city is a dark fantasy action horror film from 1987. This movie is based on the first novel of the series corrupt city by Hideyuki Kikuchi; this movie is solely directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, who also served as this movie character, storyboard artist, designer, and key animator. 

This movie revolves around the idea that this human word is secretly coexisting with the demon world, and there are secret police known as the Black Guard who protect the boundaries of these two worlds. A peace treaty has been in effect for hundreds of years to prevent war between these two worlds. 

A human named Taki Renzaburo and a demon named Maki are assigned to protect the diplomat. But this task won’t be easy with a multidimensional assassin in an army. To know more, you must watch this amazing movie.

Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek (2004)

Director Name: Shuhei Morita

Genre: Horror/Anime

Where to Watch: YouTube

Kakurenbo is a cel-shaded anime short film directed and written by Shuhei Morita. This movie scene is set in an abandoned old Kowloon-inspired town, where children used to play the game “Otokoyo” version of hide and seek, where they wear masks. 

The children who used to play this game tend to disappear and are believed to be spirited by demons. This movie centers on Sikora, a boy who hopes to find his sister Sorincha who is missing, by joining this game. 

The storyline of this movie concept is based on the idea that Tokyo has lost his Natural aesthetic, which includes children’s games such as hiding, and seeks to reinsure industrial progress, which means that to light the city, children’s lives have to be put online. To know more, you must watch this amazing movie.

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)

Director Name: Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Genre: Horror and Fantasy

Where to Watch: Manga Tv

This movie is a dark fantasy horror anime film from 2000. Yoshiaki Kawajiri has written and directed this film. This movie concept is inspired by a novel from Hideyuki Kikuchi’s Vampire Hunter D series, Demon Death chase. 

This movie cast Pamela Segall, Dwight Schultz, John DiMaggio, and Andy Philpot. This movie takes place in a distant and dark future, where the undead have risen from the apocalyptic ashes, and the original story unfolds. 

Many thousand years in the future, the vampires rule the night. They once rule wholly and completely, but their numbers tend to decrease, and now the vampires are in threat of extinction.

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