Whether or not someone is familiar with Junji Ito’s work, anyone even vaguely familiar with J-horror and manga has likely encountered horror /ero-guro grotesque collection of non-conformist. Often dealing with cosmic and ancestral themes of doom and bodily horror like David Cronenberg, Ari Aster or John Carpenter, Ito’s stories are full of uncomfortable pages; they allow the mind to wander and the imagination to take shape in fear.
Junji has already produced works in the cinematographic or television vein. For example, Uzumaki has both TV and movie adaptations, not to mention the animated anthology series that divides Junji Ito Collection. Still, some of his other stories would undoubtedly make fantastic feature film adaptations.
ten Crushed
An intriguing cosmic horror short story about a city that is suddenly attacked by a mysterious, invisible force that literally crushes its victims, brutally flattening them into the ground. The mystery of the antagonist and the gruesome consequences are scary and would inevitably lead to a fantastic gore movie as well as some much anticipated and well-deserved leaps.
While this could very well be interpreted as cheesy, it wouldn’t be hard to visualize it as a fun and eerie mystery of body horror.
9 Thrill
One of Ito’s most elaborate short stories, Thrill handles several strange elements. A boy observes a strange girl who suffers from an unnamed illness, crying every night. As she begins her investigation of her strange neighbor, the rest of the story is sure to trigger anyone’s trypophobia as she reveals that a symptom of her illness involves holes spreading over her body.
The remainder of the mystery follows the story of a cursed object and how it affects those who come in contact with it, with horrific results. While the story might seem vague or cliché to some, the body horror reveal would be epic and fantastic, likely to be nauseous to see in a live-action setting.
8 Is no longer human
Based on Osamu Dazai’s autobiography about the troubled life of his friend Ōba Yōzō as they struggle with self-hatred, addiction, relationships, family, and suicide in early 20th century Japan.
Ito took great care to visualize their manic and depressive journeys by taking into account the psychological states of men. What they would experience and visualize in their dreams, nightmares and visions. Not to mention the gritty display of death and disease that gets dizzying as it lasts. Similar in subject and effect to films such as The lost weekend Where Krisha, Is no longer human takes it to a much darker level.
7 The long dream
A short but intriguing piece that leaves a lot to think about, the concept is relatively simple: In a mental hospital, a woman suffering from existential nightmares twists in terror every night as a man sleeps soundly, to the point of existing for many years. in his dreams. .
Scientists and doctors are struggling to study and diagnose both or cure them of their sleep disorders. Man is becoming more and more strange in appearance, becoming more and more withered and otherworldly. Each night he sleeps, he dreams further and further into the future, eventually becoming a more ethereal and otherworldly being. His appearance is absolutely unsettling as readers see the toll that endless time takes on a man, psychologically.
The director of the Uzumaki The film, Higuchinsky, made a television adaptation of this story in 2000. Notably, its ending is different from that of the source material.
6 top Model
More fun and funny but just as terrifying news, top Model is about the encounters of young aspiring models or men who meet a woman with a long, tall, horrible face with sharp teeth and shining eyes. The woman’s presence is both disorienting and mystifying as she ends up being praised and featured in magazines, despite her deep sadness.
In reality, the woman is also a murderer who will not hesitate to eat her help. A little like The neon demon meets the hallmarks of 80s creatures, this short will scare and delight any horror fan if adapted as a movie.
5 Airship suspended
Taking a much darker subject and subtext, Airship suspended presents another of Ito’s apocalyptic storylines worthy of films such as The thing or the J-Horror movie announced Impulse.
As there are a growing number of what appear to be tragic suicides among random individuals, Japan finds itself under attack as the dead are seen suspended from intimidating and paranormal alterations; massive versions of their heads that actively seek out the living to tear them off and kill them. This is extremely frightening as it appears that the heads are fully conscious and cannot be killed, or their living counterparts are horribly deflated as well. The imagery is bizarre and definitely nightmarish.
4 Tied to the earth
A more haunting play because suddenly, one by one, people become distressed at being “earthly”. Individuals essentially transform into living statues when they pose coldly in random areas.
The imagery itself is haunting, especially if taken in a more realistic context, and would be an absolute shock to see in real life. People stuck in the contagious state end up dying because they can’t or don’t want to move, maybe, like Airship suspended, also an allegory of depression and suicide.
3 fat
One of Ito’s most disgusting, if not the most nauseating, stories to fans of The fat strangler will understand the hilarity of the obsession with fat and slimy.
A girl lives in misery with her abusive father and brother as dirt takes over their lives, especially when adolescence takes over siblings. The brother takes an obsession with fat and starts consuming it without giving up. The following literally cannot be described on any formal platform, but is sure to make anyone gag even while reading. Making it into a movie might even exceed the rudeness of The fat strangler himself.
2 The Enigma of the Amigara Rift
Ito’s most mysterious and dark and poetic cosmic horror plays, people are drawn to person-shaped holes in a mountain. They find themselves drawn to holes that have the shape of themselves, and they fit perfectly into them, and although those who wander in their holes cannot be retrieved, people nonetheless gravitate around them, unable to fight against the urge to fit inside.
The meaning of the riddle can be highly interpretable, with one of the most gruesome and bizarre endings of an Ito story of all time that will particularly shake up those suffering from trypophobia and claustrophobia.
1 Remina
The latest version translated into English, Remina seems to be a bit of a spiritual sequel to films such as Melancholy inevitable masses in space coming crashing down on earth.
With eyes and tongues and everything, the living mass is named after the daughter of the scientist who discovered it. When Remina approaches Earth dangerously and is expected to strike her, people around the world manage to find someone to blame and become a collective cult as they pursue the daughter Remina to sacrifice her as a martyr to save herself. . It would probably be the most grandiose and productive adaptation of an Ito story, given the scale of the destruction.
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