The Origins of J-Horrror Blu-ray Box Set Limited Edition

Before Sadako crawled out of the well, before the Grudge took hold, before a missed call, sinister auditions, and leaking dark water… something was stirring in Japan: horror fans devoured straight-to-video releases, late-night television, and low-budget genre films that almost no one outside the country had seen. This special collection gathers the films and documents that laid the groundwork for one of the most influential movements in cinema history.

A culmination of years of effort, the centrepiece of this collection is 2023 feature documentary The J-Horror Virus, the work of frequent Imprint collaborators and Japanese cinema experts Sarah Appleton and Jasper Sharp. Making its worldwide Blu-ray debut in this set, the film charts the origins of J-Horror and incorporates interviews with filmmakers and experts to create a truly definitive picture of this unique sub-genre.

Alongside the documentary, dive into the disturbing films that defined J-Horror, each scavenged from the highest quality possible sources available and faithfully presented according to their native lo-fi intentions, all coming to Blu-ray for the first time worldwide:


Jaganrei: Psychic Vision (1989)
Scary True Stories: Ten Haunting Tales from the Japanese Underground (1991)
A Haunted School (1996)
Don't Look Up (1996)
Kokkuri (1997)

Alongside hours of brand NEW and exclusive Special Features, the set includes a 100-page Hardcover Booklet with brand NEW essays by Erica Shultz, Camille Zaurin, Tom Mes, Amber T, and Sarah Appleton, all housed in a Limited Edition 6-disc Hardbox, strictly limited to 1500 copies only.

The J-Horror Virus (2023) - Imprint Asia #100

Worldwide first on Blu-ray!

Charting the origins, evolution, and worldwide spread of Japan's supernatural chillers, this feature-length documentary explores a genre where vengeful ghosts manifest through modern technology against a backdrop of urban alienation and decay. Original J-Horror masters and critics reflect on how titles like Ring, Pulse and Ju-On: The Grudge infiltrated the world.

Special Features & Technical Specs:


1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray
NEW Undead Media – an interview with directors Sarah Appleton and Jasper Sharp
NEW Tech-Horror – video essay by Japanese horror scholar Lindsay Nelson on technology in J-Horror
NEW Cursed Video Tape – video essay by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes on V-Cinema origins of J-Horror
NEW A Fear of Technology – interview with director Shinya Tsukamoto
NEW Haunting Your TV Screen – interview with actress Rie Ino'o
NEW Personal Inspiration – interview with director Masayuki Ochiai
Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Stereo
Optional English Subtitles

Jaganrei: Psychic Vision (1989) - Imprint Asia #101

Worldwide first on Blu-ray, upscaled from a standard-definition source.

Idol Emi Kato is followed by a documentary crew while working on her fourth single release. Strange figures start appearing on the interview footage as we learn the truth about what happened to the original song’s composer, who haunts Emi and the song’s production, to an explosive end.

Special Features & Technical Specs:


1080p Upscaled standard-definition presentation on Blu-ray
NEW Audio commentary by filmmakers Sarah Appleton and Jasper Sharp, co-directors of The J-Horror Virus
NEW The Original Video - director Teruyoshi Ishii on Jaganrei: Psychic Vision
Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
Audio: Japanese LPCM 2.0 Mono
Optional English Subtitles

Scary True Stories: Ten Haunting Tales from the Japanese Underground (1991-1992) - Imprint Asia #102

Worldwide first on Blu-ray, upscaled from a standard-definition source.

A haunted school swimming pool. A cursed red earring. The ghost of a boy on a stairwell landing. Astral projection, exorcisms, ghost-hunters, and inexplicable supernatural terrors that lit the flame of the Japanese horror boom.


Includes Scary True Stories (1991), Scary True Stories; Night Two (1991), and All New Scary True Stories: Realm of the Specters (1992).

Special Features & Technical Specs:


1080p Upscaled standard-definition presentation on Blu-ray
NEW Audio commentary by writer and Japanese cult cinema specialist Naomi Monaghan on Scary True Stories: Night 2
NEW True Tales of Terror – director Norio Tsuruta on Scary True Stories
Trailers
Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
Audio: Japanese LPCM 2.0 Stereo
Optional English Subtitles

A Haunted School (Bōreigakkyū) (1996) - Imprint Asia #103

Worldwide first on Blu-ray!

Yuri, a lonely eleventh-grader, finds a horror comic someone left behind on the shelves: A Haunted School. Soon everything in its pages begins to come true. As her friends fall one by one under the school’s spell, Yuri uncovers the tragedy buried in its past – a girl who died there ten years ago, and a spirit that does not wait for nightfall.

Aka Bôrei gakkyû.

Special Features & Technical Specs:


1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray
NEW School Spirit – director Norio Tsuruta on A Haunted School
Post-screening Q&A with director Norio Tsuruta and actors Juri Miyazawa and Ryushi Mizukami
Comics of Jiro Tsunoda - interview with director Norio Tsuruta and horror manga artist Junji Ito
Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
Audio: Japanese LPCM 2.0 Stereo
Optional English Subtitles

Don't Look Up (1996) - Imprint Asia #104

Worldwide first on Blu-ray!

A young director’s debut feature is derailed when footage from a forgotten film begins appearing in his dailies. As the apparition begins to stalk the studio rafters, his obsession with the cursed footage uncovers a connection between his own past and an actress who died on this very stage – and never left.

Aka Ghost Actress / Joyū rei.

Special Features & Technical Specs:


1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray
NEW Audio commentary by film critic Julian Singleton
NEW A Ghost In The TV - writer Hiroshi Takahashi on Don't Look Up
NEW Horror In The Rafters - writer / director Hideo Nakata on Don't Look Up
The Origins of the Ghost Actress Story – featurette
Theatrical Trailer
Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
Audio: Japanese LPCM 2.0 Stereo
Optional English Subtitles

Kokkuri (1997) - Imprint Asia #105

Worldwide first on Blu-ray, upscaled from a standard-definition source.

Beginning with a late-night radio show, Mio, Hiroko and Masami get the idea to conjure up Kokkuri-san, a spirit who can answer any question. What appears to be a harmless pastime soon reveals dangerous secrets – secrets even good friends don’t know about each other.

Special Features & Technical Specs:


1080p Upscaled standard-definition presentation on Blu-ray
NEW The Ghost of Ouija - director Takahisa Zeze on Kokkuri
Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
Audio: Japanese LPCM 2.0 Stereo
Optional English Subtitles

Hardcover Booklet

An exclusive 100-page hardcover booklet featuring production stills and brand NEW essays:


The Origins of J-Horror by Camille Zaurin
Fear Is the Key: J-Horror’s Intellectual Bedrock by Tom Mes
Where Worlds Collide: The J-Horror and Found Footage Origins of Psychic Vision: Jaganrei by Sarah Appleton
The Wet Womanhood of Takahisa Zeze’s Kokkuri by Amber T
You’ll Die If You Stay A Virgin: Sexual Transmissions in Kokkuri by Erica Shultz