Horror is one of the most popular genres in America, bringing droves to theaters and watching on streaming like the zombies it can depict. Audiences only sticking with horror in the English language are missing out though, because some of the scariest films to exist come from outside our borders.
These films will require subtitles, but damn are they worth it. Extreme horror, paranoia, curses, zombies, and more populate the world of horror outside the Americas, giving twists on old legends and new stories alike from their native countries. Branch out, turn on the subtitles, and pray nothing is watching while you check out these non-English horror films.
Martyrs
STRONG WARNING FOR GORE AND DISTURBING SEQUENCES.
Seriously. I consider Martyrs one of the most beautiful, disturbing, shockingly ambiguous films I’ve ever seen. A lot is going on under the surface with a narrative of PTSD and personal demons between the torture and blood. Anna’s quest for answers after being held captive as a child, along with her friend Lucie stumbling into the whirlwind of blood and revenge just make the start of Martyrs.
There’s a lot more at play than just gore and torture, as Anna fights her figurative demons from her past before the women find something much worse behind the torture. The end of this film will leave you haunted and staring at the dark screen, asking what the hell you just watched.
Rec/Rec 2
One of the standouts of foreign language and found footage films, plus another that was unfortunately lost in translation upon being remade as Quarantine in the US. While Quarantine itself was nearly a shot-for-shot remake of Rec, Rec 2 takes things in a whole different direction than Quarantine 2, picking up right where the first left off as a SWAT team enters the building next.
While the American counterpart never went in depth as to what was causing the infection, Rec 2 went all in and confirmed the infected were possessed by demons which leads to a survival/action/horror as the events escalate. Rec 3 is still okay but tends more toward comedy, while Rec 4 picked up where Rec 2 left off, making for a fun and bloody end to the series.
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum
I watched Gonjiam at eight in the morning as the sun was shining in. I still got freaked out and had to look away from the screen on more than one occasion. I don’t look away from a lot of things in movies but Gonjiam did it twice to damn good effect.
A team of paranormal researchers plans to break into one of Korea’s most haunted asylums where multiple people have gone missing. While the movie starts slow, it gives room for the cast to flesh out and creates some bonds that make it all the more shocking when things go south later.
Noroi: The Curse
There’s a character in Noroi that lives in an apartment completely lined with tinfoil, wearing a tinfoil hat and fully out of his damn mind. That’s how it feels to finish Noroi, another found footage horror but this time from Japan. Presented as a serious documentary by a paranormal researcher, Noroi quickly becomes a web of conspiracy and curses that goes out of control.
Everything in this movie is so intricately connected, and the presentation has the same lo-fi feel and voiceover of a local news report that almost makes it feel too real as people start dying and coincidences become too coincidental. There’s so much paranoia present that the end hits like a brick.
The Orphanage
Produced by Guillermo Del Toro and directed by JA Bayona, The Orphanage has a gothic dread all around it that feels magical yet terrifying, a lot like Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth from just a year before.
A mother returning to the orphanage she grew up in, hoping to turn it into a home for those that have none, only for her son to go missing and strange happenings happening around the decrepit place. The Orphanage is beautifully tragic and has an amazing story of undying love along with amazing performances from the main cast.
Zombi 2
This is Italian cinema at its finest. I mean that in every possible way. While some of it is in English, we’re letting this one slide because of the batshit insanity that happens and the story behind this movie.
Filmed and released as a sequel to Night of the Living Dead in Italy, Zombi 2 went back to the idea of resurrected voodoo zombies coming back to do evil deeds. There’s a mystery about a woman trying to find her dad who went missing in the Caribbean. That’s not what anyone likes this movie for though.
What we like it for is the zombie versus shark fight. A zombie bites a f*cking shark. I don’t know how else to convince you.
Terrified
Terrified has one of the most terrifying (nailed it) scenes in film. Two depending on what you find scary. The Argentinian film takes the idea of Pet Sematary style resurrections, Poltergeist hauntings, and plenty of strangeness before packing it all into a small neighborhood.
Probably one of the scariest films of the 2010s, Terrified was one of the early films to breathe life into Shudder too, gaining plenty of views after debuting through the service.
Kairo (Pulse)
If there’s a single movie you watch on this list then make it Pulse. There was a terrible American remake in the 2000s but don’t let Kristen Bell’s name in the credits fool you, it wasn’t good. No, the original Japanese film is pure dread from start to finish, and one of my top horror films of all time.
The afterlife runs low on vacancies, causing the dead to bleed over into our world through the internet. There’s so much that can be written about Pulse being even more relevant in the modern age of social media, as the ghosts bleeding into reality frequently cause anyone affected to become shadows and ghosts themselves or commit suicide in various ways.
The best part of Pulse though is the atmosphere it makes. At the start, a thriving Japan is taking up the background. The city teems and bustles, but as the spirits slowly gain hold the world of the movie starts to become ghostlike as well. Activity slows to a halt, with fewer and fewer people appearing and even more instances of the spirits showing up. It’s genuinely creepy and one of the earliest cyber horrors around.
Seriously, if you’re just watching English films you’re missing out. Not just on horror, but on so many different films from thriller to drama. Any of these films (except you, Martyrs) are a great starting point for dipping into foreign and non-English horror. Definitely don’t start with Martyrs unless you’re more accustomed to extreme horror though.
Maybe you’ll find some I haven’t heard of!