Japan Synopsis
らせん
A young pathologist seeks answers to the mysterious death of a friend and soon comes into contact with the same cursed videotape that caused the death of the friend's wife and son, which is haunted by the curse of Sadako, a relentless spirit.
Fantasy + Horror in Japan
61 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Fantasy and Horror genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding The Spiral itself).
The 1997–1999 Japan Window
In the crowded 1997-1999 Japan release window, The Spiral sits at #150 of 162. The leaderboard below contextualises its neighbours.
The 1990s Japan Landscape
1998 was the decade’s peak output year for Japan — 62 titles released, including The Spiral. Bars below show how the 1990s stacked up year by year (447 total).
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 1h 37m runtime, production spent $30K per minute on screen and earned $131K per minute back.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 61 other Japan films in 1998.
The 1136th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
121 audience reviews — more than 79% of Japan films in our index.
Review volume (79th percentile) outruns trending popularity (57th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on The Spiral, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- rebirth · 4
- murder hunt · 3
- code · 1
- pathology · 1
- videotape · 10
- car accident · 9
- sequel · 143
- serial killer · 42
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #4,311 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (6th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is -1.6 points below the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Fantasy productions specifically: #1,234 of 1,274 (top 97%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | Basara Pictures |
| Runtime | 1h 37m |
| Release Date | January 31, 1998 |
| IMDb | tt0134928 |