I had to think about this one for a few days, whether or not it made the list. But I think the fact that it has gripped my mind for so long tells me something. I ordinarily do not like straight out horror films, but there is something about Japanese horror films which lure me. They never try to pretty them up. Sometimes, as in Ju-On (The Grudge), they are a straightforward account of inevitable doom. There is no mystery to be solved, no way to fight the darkness, no way to win. *That* is horror.

That’s what Uzumaki is. But it also manages to throw in humor, imagination, and a puzzling entity that engages the mind like a David Lynch creation. If I had to pick a favorite horror movie, it would be Uzumaki.

1. Brick
2. Inside Man
3. Day Watch
4. Night Watch
5. Howl’s Moving Castle
6. The Departed
7. Crash
8. Uzumaki
9. The Chronicles of Riddick
10. The Illusionist