Asia is home to many classic horror movies. Japan, Korea, and Thailand are famous for their horror movies. Taiwan is beginning to develop its own catalog of great horror movies.
Taiwan’s horror movies use Taiwan’s culture and history to tell their tales. Some of these stories are well-known like the story of the Hospital. The Xing Lin Hospital is famous for being haunted. A few years ago I visited Xing Lin Hospital and recorded a video. You can check it out here. If you are interested in Taiwan’s haunted locations, I’ve written an article here.
Table of Contents
Incantation (咒)
Incantation (咒) took Taiwan over by storm. It is one of the few locally produced horror movies that became popular internationally and became the highest-grossing Taiwanese horror film.
Incantation is a found footage supernatural horror film that follows Li Ronin and her six- year old daughter, Dodo. Li’s daughter becomes possessed by a demonic deity after she broke a religious taboo six years earlier. Incantation uses local religious culture and is inspired by true events.
Detention (返校)
Detention (返校) is another classic Taiwanese horror film based on a video game with the same name. It takes place during the White Terror period of Taiwan when the military was in control and would arrest anyone accused of supporting communism or democracy.
It follows two book-club students who are trapped in their nightmarish school. As the students attempt to escape, flashbacks to their past begin to unravel a different story. Detention is not your average horror movie.
Get The Hell Out (逃出立法)
Get The Hell Out (逃出立法) is a Taiwan horror-comedy where a zombie virus breaks out in parliament. A team of activists, civilians, and politicians try to survive the virus and drama and comedy ensue.
Get The Hell Out takes the drama found in Taiwan’s real parliament to a new level. It also pokes fun at some of the more outrageous and eye-rolling parts of Taiwan’s democracy. Like when the parliamentarians started throwing pig guts at each other over a pork ban.
The Bridge Curse (女鬼橋)
The Bridge Curse (女鬼橋) is another Taiwanese horror movie based on a true events (Are you starting to see a pattern?). The movie follows a reporter re-visiting a haunted bridge on a university campus after a group of students mysteriously committed suicide after testing the bridge’s urban legend.
According to the urban legend, if you cross the bridge and begin climbing the stairs an extra step will appear. When that extra step appears don’t look back or a female ghost will kill you and whoever else looked back. The reporter and her colleague attempt to find out if the curse is real and what really happened to those students four years ago.
The Rope Curse 2 (馗降：粽邪2)
In The Rope Curse 2 (馗降：粽邪2), a group of Youtubers attempt to summon a powerful spirit using a local medium. Things quickly spiral out of control and the local medium has to quickly contain the spirit after a string of suicides occur in the village.
The movie blends Taiwanese folk and modern culture. Weaving the two and showing how those who don’t believe it get in the way of those trying to contain the evil spirit haunting the village.
Hospital (杏林醫院)
Hospital (杏林醫院) is based on a now-closed hospital in Tainan city. The hospital is famous for its hauntings and horror stories. After losing their family members in the hospital two women visit the now closed hospital to get information about their deceased relatives using a spirit medium. The father and son medium pair attempt to summon the spirit of the deceased relatives and consequently unlock the powerful spirits hiding in the hospital.