( CNN ) -- Japanese writer and director Hideo Nakata has been hailed as the modern master of macabre . The master of macabre , Hideo Nakata did n't start out in film aiming to make horror movies . His 1998 film `` Ringu '' -- adapted from a novel by Suzuki Koji , the Japanese Steven King -- redefined the horror genre , propelled Nakata into the international spotlight and soon had Hollywood calling . Born in Okayama , Japan , in 1961 , Nakata enrolled at the University of Tokyo to study journalism . On graduating he went on to work in Japan 's Nikkatsu Studios , the same place where renowned director Akira Kurosawa started out . He did n't ' start out aiming to make horror films , but it was Nikkatsu Studios that Nakata met Hiroshi Takahashi , the screenplay writer for `` Ringu . '' An international hit , `` Ringu '' centers on a cursed videotape that kills whoever watches it . It appeared in cinemas at the same time mainstream western horror films were churning out gruesome violence as the means to get audiences hiding behind their popcorn . Nakata 's artfully directed and terrifying film was a nether-world away from these schlock horror and slasher flicks , instead utilizing suspense and a pervading sense of dread . Western audiences expecting to watch good-looking teenagers getting chopped up in a blizzard of gore were treated to something much creepier . For Hollywood producers , Nakata has been a gold-mine of remake material . If dread is the word that has become synonymous with Nakata 's work , there was a great sense of it among many of Nakata 's fans when it was announced that there would be a Hollywood remake of `` Ringu , '' starring Naomi Watts . Despite fans claiming that the terror of the original was lost in translation , Nakata himself was given the opportunity to direct the Hollywood sequel , `` The Ring 2 , '' in 2005 . The series ' success has spawned a third installment , due to be released in 2009 that Nakata will also be directing . Shunning computer generated monsters or gallons of fake-blood and guts , `` Ringu '' and other Nakata films including `` Dark Water , '' which was also remade by Hollywood in 2005 , use glimpses of mysterious abstract images -- a reflection in a TV screen , an unsettling , spreading damp patch of water -- to ratchet up the terror . Fans and critics have compared the chilling atmosphere of his films with that of Roman Polanski 's work , in `` Rosemary 's Baby '' and `` The Tenant . '' Nakata then has been credited with turning on a whole new audience to Asian horror films with an altogether more subtle approach to scaring the wits out of people . He reveals the finer points of his scare tactics to Anjali Rao on Talk Asia this weekend . E-mail to a friend .
Director of Japanese horror film ` ` [UNK] '' has created a genre . Working as a doctor , he did not start out aiming to make horror films . Has remade a number of his films for Hollywood to mixed reviews .