30 Scariest Non-English Films of All Time
As English-speaking fans of Japanese horror have known for decades, the genre is particularly well exported. Scary movies are often built around shocking visuals, meaning that when well-executed, horror doesn’t lose its power as it travels. And just as often, horror stories unique to the inhabitants of a particular country are simply nightmares that the rest of us have not yet dreamed of. (Before The Curse and The Ring went to America, I thought long, black, wet hair was only terrible in the sense that it could clog my drains. But now…)
Horror movies remind us that no matter what language we speak or what country we are born from, inside we are all the same: red, soft and so vulnerable. But if you want to explore new kinds of terror, you may have to go beyond your cultural experience. Here are 30 great horror movies that weren’t made in English.