Disney is putting Japanese horror at the centre of its next international content push. Night Tales Club, a six-part supernatural anthology from Kurosawa Kiyoshi and Ju-on director Shimizu Takashi, will premiere on Disney+ and Hulu in January 2027.
The premise
Yamada Takayuki plays Hojo, a high-flying businessman convinced that ghosts, curses and other paranormal events are “bugs” — glitches exposing a hidden conspiracy. To find the truth, Hojo offers JPY20 million ($126,000) in gold to anyone who brings a firsthand supernatural account with proof. Six of those accounts become the episodes, while Hojo pursues the pattern behind them.
Author Sawamura Ichi’s short horror stories form the source material, and Sawamura adapted them for the screen. In a statement, Sawamura said the global release was a surprise and a joy, adding that the stories can now “scare audiences around the world.”
The director slate is the marketing hook
Seven filmmakers split the anthology. Each name gives the platform a different audience to target.
- Kurosawa Kiyoshi — Cure, Wife of a Spy
- Shimizu Takashi — Ju-on, The Inugami Family
- Katayama Shinzo — Gannibal, The Human Vapor
- Sode Yukiko — Aristocrats, All the Lovers in the Night
- Sakashita Yuichiro — I Can’t Cry With Your Face, Blonde
- Nakamura Yosuke — Higuma!!, Poison Girl
Nakajima Kenji, of The Naked Director and Tokyo Swindlers, directs the Hojo sequences that tie the stories together. Wakabayashi Yusuke and Yamamoto Teruhisa produce.
What it means for the streaming business
For Disney, the series is less a one-off than another building block in a Japanese slate that already includes Gannibal and Land of Tanabata, alongside lighter titles such as Merry Berry Love and The One Shot. Horror is one of the easiest genres to export: the scares translate, but the director names carry a built-in niche audience.
An anthology is also a lower-risk commissioning format. Disney can market each episode as its own horror event, use the six directors to reach distinct fan bases, and collect six different creative proofs of what travels internationally. The recurring Hojo frame gives the series a serialised reason to finish, not just sample.
For media planners and entertainment marketers, the launch is a useful signal. If Night Tales Club drives strong completion and multilingual viewing in January, expect more Japanese genre commissions and more director-led anthology packaging from global streamers.
Source: Variety
