Many films have been made off of the work of Junji Ito, but I am sad to say each attempt was half-hearted or botched. It all started when Ringu created somewhat of a boom in Asian horror and in 1999 the first Tomie movie was released. The ninth Tomie movie, Tomie Unlimited, was released in 2011. The Tomie films are universally atrocious and between them many of Ito's short stories were made into obscure films, some of which are impossible to find and most are a chore to get through.
The most recent adaption of Junji Ito's work was a low-budget anime version of Gyo, released February 15, 2012. Fifteen minutes into the movie there is an explicit double-penetration sex scene, safe to say the movie failed to adapt Ito's work.
For some reason any film based on Ito's work has a dismal pace. Even the ones which don't look like Garth Marenghi's Dark Place are slow, tedious and at best offer nothing more than a few glorified scenes of silly looking effects. The only one I could recommend watching is the film version of Uzumaki. It is slow and tedious but watchable, and it won't ruin the original manga because it deviates so heavily from it that it may well be said to be inspired by Junji Ito's Uzumaki rather than being based on it.
An honorable mention goes to Long Dream (film version of an Ito one-shot, more info, along with the one-shot, is found further down this post), but beyond Long Dream and Uzumaki the only reason to watch any film version of Ito's work is out of novelty and because you read the original manga and wonder how in goodness name they are going to pull it off. Sadly they never pull it off and indeed make a poor attempt at even trying.
Eastern horror is much like western horror, meaning it is a cesspool of films which are not scary but merely have a macabre theme. I wish I knew more of eastern horror films than I do but whenever I re-delve into the genre I find myself wishing I had not wasted my time. Whatever you do never touch the remakes until you've seen the original, and be wary because most ended up being remade even if they didn't have the publicity and success of Ringu.
I can recommend only five movies off the top of my head:
A Tale of Two Sisters (South Korean, made in 2003. The American remake was called The Uninvited).
Shutter (Taiwanese film from 2004, American remake was made in 2008 under the same title).
Loft (Japanese, made in 2005. Not a great movie but fairly interesting).
Hausu (Japanese, made in 1977. Horrifying but not scary. It is also funny, and will leave your brain feeling like it has been violated).
Matango (Japanese, made in 1963. Rather legendary this one, not scary or horrifying but interesting and at times rather funny).
I have on me a few of the short stories made into films. One has already been put up here; yes, The Face Burglar was actually made into a film, released in 2000. The rest which I have are found below.
The Hanging Balloons was a film released in 2000. It was an anthology of three short films based on three Ito short stories: Demonology, The Long Hair in the Attic (found above as the fifth story) and the story it is named after 'The Hanging Balloons'. The short movies were made for television broadcast and later released on a DVD which is hard to come across. I feel I have heard the name 'Demonology' as the title of some Ito story but can't seem to unearth it or recall what it could have been about; however, below you will find a delightful read in Junji Ito's 'The Hanging Balloons'.
The Groaning Drain was the name of the film version of an Ito story titled 'Slug Girl'. It was released in 2004 and went direct to video; however, below you'll find the comic it was based on.
Long Dream is a fantastic Ito story and one of the better attempts at adapting one. The film version was a one-hour made-for-tv drama and next to Uzumaki is the only film version of Ito's work worth ones time. Below is the original one-shot.
Further info and screens of some of the more obscure films based off of Ito's work can be found at the
Junji Ito Index, and recently some gracious soul put up a mediafire folder containing a glorious collection of Ito's work along with the movie version of Uzumaki and Long Dream along with the anime version of Gyo, it can be found
here.
