I love horror movies. I love to be frightened and I love the adrenaline rush of sitting on the edge of your seat and knowing that there's nothing you can do to stop the beautiful young man/woman on the screen from meeting a terrible fate. But I must say, nobody does scary films better than Asia. The Japanese, Korean and Chinese directors of horror have a uniquely twisted vision that has not yet been replicated in the west. No imitators can quite capture the dark, bleak and unglamorous world that is the true horror in these films. Although there are a myriad of fantastic Asian horror films, these are what I would consider to be the top 5.

1. RINGU
This is, truly, one of the cleverest and most terrifying movies I have ever seen. A group of teenagers find a strange tape, filled with disturbing images, and 7 days after watching it they die of sheer terror after a gruesome woman in a white dress appears on the screen and crawls out of the TV. I challenge anyone to think of a scarier idea for a movie. To watch a film and be confronted with the idea that you could die in 7 days is terrifying,and I will admit that I suffered a few sleepless nights after watching it. Although there are both Korean and American versions of this film I would say that the Japanese version is by far the best.

2. AUDITION
Audition could be considered quite a "slow burner", but don't let that detract from its horror value. It's one of those films that a lot of people can only watch once. It starts of fairly lightly, with a lonely Japanese businessman who has lost his wife deciding to "audition" women to be his new girlfriend. He finds at these auditions a slightly melancholy but beautiful young woman who he quickly falls in love with. She turns out to be not quite what she first seemed, and the film has one of the most skin crawling endings ever committed to celluloid. This one is not for the faint of heart, or the weak of stomach.

3. A TALE OF TWO SISTERS
This Korean offering took me a good few watches to understand, but stick with it and you will be rewarded. Two teenage twins move with their father and step mother to a house in the country shortly after the death of their biological mother. soon after moving, strange things start happening in the house, and the family start hallucinating. It follows the good solid horror plot of "big scary house does bad stuff" but with an ingenious and spine chilling twist.

4. JU-ON (THE GRUDGE)
Sometimes I really wish the Japanese would just not use any more ghost children in their films. But then again, this film might not be so scary without a small ghost boy with black eyes scuttling around. This is a good, honest, jump out of your seat ghost story, which shows a group of beautiful young people terrorized by an angry spirit. perfect Halloween viewing.

5. DUMPLINGS
Last but not least we come to dumplings. While not a horror movie in the strictest sense, it makes the list simply for being so hideously disgusting. This film follows the life of a woman who claims to have a recipe for dumplings which causes women to stop aging. The "special" ingredient has to be seen to be believed, and I urge you not to watch this if you are easily shocked.

Learn more about this author, Roisi Proven.
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