I'm a big Junji Ito fan, but I haven't really found any good anime that come close to matching the creepiness of his manga stories, including that one Junji Ito anime series that's out there. I think the closest I've seen is Mononoke, though honestly I haven't seen a ton of anime, so maybe I'm missing something. I thought I'd ask to see what you all might suggest in terms of genuinely creepy/unsettling/dark anime movies or series, either similar to Ito's stuff or whatever else you think is good.
Any suggestions?
That Mother’s Basement video is great, and I agree with most of their points, though I think they could have gone further with industry practices/structure as a reason for lack of good anime horror. Seems like a lot of it comes down to the fact that animation studios are pressured to generate standard popular anime content as cheaply as possible, and straying from that standard format is avoided for being too difficult/expensive, though there are some standouts like Mononoke.
Shiki and Higurashi I’ll definitely check out. I haven’t heard of the other two mentioned, but I’ll look into those as well.