The 40 most popular japanese thriller movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Perfect Blue
1998 · 1h 21m · JP
Rising pop star Mima Kirigoe quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia.


Exit 8
2025 · 1h 35m · JP
A man trapped in an endless sterile subway passageway sets out to find Exit 8. The rules of his quest are simple: do not overlook anything out of the ordinary. If you discover an anomaly, turn back immediately. If you don’t, carry on. Then leave from Exit 8. But even a single oversight will send him back to the beginning. Will he ever reach his goal and escape this infinite corridor?


High and Low
1963 · 2h 22m · JP
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.


Monster
2023 · 2h 5m · JP
After an outburst at school involving her son, a concerned single mother demands answers, triggering a sequence of deepening suspicion and turmoil.


Godzilla
1954 · 1h 36m · JP
Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by Dr. Kyohei Yamane soon discover something far more devastating than imagined in the form of a 50 meter tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well.


Ring
1998 · 1h 36m · JP
A mysterious video has been linked to a number of deaths, and when an inquisitive journalist finds the tape and views it herself, she sets in motion a chain of events that puts her own life in danger.


Shoplifters
2018 · 2h · JP
In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.


Paprika
2006 · 1h 30m · JP
Dr. Atsuko Chiba is a research psychologist who uses a device called the DC Mini to enter her patients' dreams, wherein she adopts the alter-ego "Paprika". When the device is stolen, she must stop rogue elements from merging the dream and waking worlds.


Battle Royale
2000 · 1h 54m · JP
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.


Woman in the Dunes
1964 · 2h 27m · JP
A vacationing entomologist suffers extreme physical and psychological trauma after being taken captive by the residents of a poor seaside village and made to live with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.


Brother
2000 · 1h 53m · JP
A Japanese Yakuza gangster's deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother's gang.


Taboo
1999 · 1h 40m · JP
Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering on a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.


Naruto Shippuden the Movie: Blood Prison
2011 · 1h 48m · JP
After his capture for attempted assassination of the Raikage, leader of Kumogakure, as well as killing Jōnin from Kirigakure and Iwagakure, Naruto is imprisoned in Hōzukijou: A criminal containment facility known as the Blood Prison. Mui, the castle master, uses the ultimate imprisonment technique to steal power from the prisoners, which is when Naruto notices his life has been targeted. Thus begins the battle to uncover the truth behind the mysterious murders and prove Naruto's innocence.


Pulse
2001 · 1h 59m · JP
In the immense city of Tokyo, the darkness of the afterlife lures some of its inhabitants desperately trying to escape the sadness and isolation of the modern world.


Yojimbo
1961 · 1h 50m · JP
A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.


Death Note
2006 · 2h 6m · JP
Light Yagami finds the "Death Note," a notebook with the power to kill, and decides to create a Utopia by killing the world's criminals, and soon the world's greatest detective, "L," is hired to find the mysterious murderer. An all out battle between the two greatest minds on earth begins and the winner will control the world.


Dark Water
2002 · 1h 41m · JP
A woman in the midst of an unpleasant divorce moves to an eerie apartment building with her young daughter. The ceiling of their apartment has a dark and active leak.


Godzilla: Final Wars
2004 · 2h 5m · JP
Humanity finally rids themselves of Godzilla, imprisoning him in an icy tomb in the South Pole. All is peaceful until various monsters emerge to lay waste to Earth's cities. Overwhelmed, humanity is seemingly saved by a race of benevolent aliens known as Xiliens. But not all is what it seems with these bizarre visitors. If humanity wishes to survive, they must reluctantly resurrect their most hated enemy, Godzilla.


Blindness
2008 · 2h 1m · BR
When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine.


Visitor Q
2001 · 1h 24m · JP
In a dysfunctional family where the mother is a heroin addict and prostitute, beaten by her son, and the father is an ex-TV reporter, sleeping with his daughter and filming his son being beaten up, ‘Q’, a complete stranger enters the bizarre family, changing their lives for the better, finding a balance in their disturbing natures.


Confessions
2010 · 1h 47m · JP
Devastated at the death of her four-year-old daughter, a grieving middle school teacher is horrified to discover that her students aren't as innocent as she thinks.


Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet
2021 · 1h 50m · JP
At the opening ceremony of the WSG (World Sports Games) Tokyo Games, a sports festival held once every four years, it is announced that the world's first vacuum superconducting maglev with a maximum speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour will open. While attracting attention from around the world, top executives of large companies are kidnapped from the party venue where WSG tournament sponsors gather. Conan moves toward a solution and eventually finds a connection with the WSG abduction case that occurred 15 years ago in Boston, USA.


Boiling Point
1990 · 1h 36m · JP
Masaki, a baseball player and gas-station attendant, gets into trouble with the local Yakuza and goes to Okinawa to get a gun to defend himself. There he meets Uehara, a tough gangster, who is in serious debt to the yakuza and planning revenge.


MFKZ
2018 · 1h 35m · FR
Angelino is just one of thousands of deadbeats living in Dark Meat City. But an otherwise unremarkable scooter accident caused by a beautiful, mysterious stranger is about to transform his life... into a waking nightmare! He starts seeing monstrous forms prowling around all over the city... Is Angelino losing his mind, or could an alien invasion really be happening this quietly...?


Dangerous Drugs of Sex
2020 · 1h 29m · JP
An elite salaryman drunkenly tries to die by suicide, but is saved by a mysterious stranger who holds him captive and sexually torments him.


Death Note Relight 1: Visions of a God
2007 · 2h 11m · JP
When rogue shinigami Ryuk leaves his Death Note in the human world, he has no idea how far the one who finds it will take his new-found power. With the Death Note in hand, brilliant high school student Light Yagami vows to rid the world of evil. A recap of Death Note episodes 1–26, with alternate footage.


The Bouncer
2018 · 1h 24m · BE
A tough nightclub bouncer struggling to raise his 8-year-old daughter is forced to go undercover after an unfortunate event.


Noroi: The Curse
2005 · 1h 55m · JP
A documentary filmmaker explores seemingly unrelated paranormal incidents connected by the legend of an ancient demon.


As the Gods Will
2014 · 1h 57m · JP
High school student Shun Takahata is bored. Bored with the day-to-day monotony of school and life, he prays for change, for something exciting. Suddenly, he and his classmates are forced to play deadly children's games and facing terrifying creatures from a talking Daruma doll to a sharp-clawed lucky cat.


Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser
2009 · 1h 51m · JP
A new member from the Black Organization that shrunk Shinichi's body manages to find out about Shinichi's transformation into Conan. This discovery starts to put those around him in danger as Gin and the other Black Organization members start to take action.


Demon City
2025 · 1h 46m · JP
Framed for his family's murder and left for dead, an ex-hitman will stop at nothing to exact revenge on the masked "demons" who have taken over his city.


Kite
1998 · 50m · JP
Sawa, orphaned as a child by murderous thugs, now targets the scourge of society as a trained killer for a mercenary syndicate. Coquettish and capable of unimaginable violence, she's grown into the perfect weapon — but doubt takes hold in Sawa's mind when her fellow assassin, Oburi, decides he wants out.


Cube
2021 · 1h 48m · JP
Six complete strangers with widely varying personalities are involuntarily placed in an endless maze of interlocking cube-shaped rooms containing deadly traps.


Bullet Train Explosion
2025 · 2h 17m · JP
When panic erupts on a Tokyo-bound bullet train that will explode if it slows below 100 kph, authorities race against time to save everyone on board.


Monster Island
2025 · 1h 23m · JP
In the Pacific, 1944, a Japanese soldier and a British prisoner of war are stranded on a deserted island, hunted by a deadly creature. Two mortal enemies must come together to survive the unknown.


Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
1999 · 1h 42m · JP
A member of an elite paramilitary counter-terrorism unit becomes traumatized after witnessing the suicide bombing of a young girl and is forced to undergo retraining. However, unbeknownst to him, he becomes a key player in a dispute between rival police divisions, as he finds himself increasingly involved with the sister of the girl he saw die.


Tokyo Ghoul
2017 · 1h 59m · JP
A Tokyo college student is attacked by a ghoul, a super-powered human who feeds on human flesh. He survives, but has become part ghoul and becomes a fugitive on the run.


Death Note: The Last Name
2006 · 2h 20m · JP
In the second installment of the Death Note film franchise, Light Yagami meets a second Kira and faithful follower Misa Amane and her Shinigami named Rem. Light attempts to defeat L along with Teru Mikami (a Kira follower) and Kiyomi Takada (another Kira follower) but in the end will Light win? or will a Shinigami named Ryuk make all the difference in Light's victory or his ultimate death?


Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
2000 · 1h 45m · JP
In an alternate timeline the original Godzilla is never defeated and repeatedly reemerges to feed on Japan's energy sources. A new inter-dimensional weapon called the Dimension Tide is created with the intent of eliminating Godzilla. However, the new weapon might also serve as a gateway to something far more sinister.


Butterfly on a Wheel
2007 · 1h 35m · CA
A sociopathic kidnapper methodically pushes a desperate pair of parents to their absolute breaking point.
Japanese cinema gave the world Kurosawa's samurai epics, Ozu's domestic dramas, Godzilla and the kaiju film, and the J-horror wave that Hollywood spent the 2000s remaking. It also sustains the most developed animation industry on earth.
Thrillers are engineered for tension: the pace, the withholding, the sense that something is closing in. The genre blends freely with crime, horror, and science fiction, and it's where a lot of the sharpest genre craft happens.