Ringu

Rating:
Summary: Ringu genki ja nai des
Review: Well here I am, just starting to watch The Ring, and already the teenager count is not good. The flick is a few seconds in and we're at two teenage girls and counting. And so I decide I'm gonna flip on Ringu and do a scene by scene comparison to see if maybe I should start watching Ringu instead.
So I flip on Ringu on the VCR while I still got The Ring cooking on pause in the DVD. I watch the first scene of Ringu, switch back to The Ring, watch another scene from Ringu, ditto for The Ring... you get the idea. So pretty soon I come to the conclusion that the pictures are pretty much the same except the Japanese version is set in Japan and full of Japanese people speaking Japanese. And another difference is that the teenage girl that gets worked over in the first scene, you know, after some shenanigans with the TV after she claims to her friend she saw the killer videotape and then changes her story and says she didn't? Well, in the Japanese version, the nameless menace that kills her off seems to come out of her refrigerator. And in both versions it is utterly unclear what the frig is going on. I mean you have these teenage girls claiming first that they saw the killer tape, then making like it was all a put on, then they keel over and you're left with the feeling that maybe they were sincere when they said they saw the killer video but then started backpedaling for reasons unknown. In the american version, the moribund girl has some bad dealings with the TV, then goes upstairs in search of her friend and opens the door to a bedroom to find the killer tape playing on the TV. She drops dead. Which is strange to me, since according to the legend, the tape is watched and then you keel over seven days later, mysteriously. There was no mention of being subjected to the tape yet again. So maybe it makes more sense for the Japanese chick to get taken out by her refrigerator.

Rating:
Summary: Ringu vs. The Ring
Review: What is the matter with all you Scaredy-Cats? Ringu was not sheer terror and niether was The Ring! Ringu was a pretty cool movie because it did not have as much disturbing images or disturbing music like The Ring! The Ring sucked! Every single review about The Ring babbled about how terrifying it was! One guy even said:"I went to go see this with all my friends and it scared me to where I smashed my televsion so Samara could not come get me!" Well, maybe he said something a little different but most people were that dramatic!! Ringu was not scary either! It was an interesting and fun suspense film! I mean it did not even show the thing running towards the teenager girl at the first part and The Ring did but I loved Ringu and I hated The Ring!...I think they are silly... Except for Ringu! If you want a movie that might scare you do not get The Ring or Ringu- get Stephen King's Carrie! But if you want a good suspense film get Ringu not The disturbing movie called The Ring! I mean the commercial even said this stupid qoute! "Before you die, You see the ring!" How stupid is that?

Rating:
Summary: Ringu, The Ring, and Tatsuo
Review: Ringu, the Japanese precursor to The Ring, is perhaps the scariest movie made so far in the 21st century. Combining the typical lore of an urban legend with extrasensory manipulation of modern media, the theme is well-geared for our times.

Many people will want to compare Ringu with The Ring, and in all fairness - and without giving away entire plot points (yet) - there are some pros and cons to each. The Ring adds more background and psychological motive than Ringu does. Ringu is less graphic in its horror, yet somehow manages to be scarier. And several circumstances are different between The Ring and Ringu, but most differences are primarily to suit the countries and environments each takes place in, and these are entirely reasonable differences.

But ultimately, I must cast my lot with Ringu, and for me it was not so much from comparing The Ring and Ringu, but finding some more abstract parallels between Ringu and another Japanese film called Tatsuo (The Iron Man), made in 1989.

I am not recommending Tatsuo to all viewers of Ringu or The Ring, but if you are an adult who can stomach subtitles, black-and-white art films, gothic horror, and a lot of dizzying stop-motion, and you have a sense of humor, you might rent Tatsuo just to see an uncanny foreshadowing of Ringu.

Tatsuo concerns a male main character who attempts to flee, and to stave off the attacks of, a female entity who seems to be half human and half technological/robotic nightmare...perhaps part demon, too. The male character starts the movie by cramming a metal rod into his leg, perhaps as a sort of anti-venom to temporarily ward off the mechanical "infection" that the female is spreading. The female entity's aggression is vaguely vampiric, and even takes on blatantly sexual overtones as she attempts to infect the male character. She eventually succeeds, and the male character gradually devolves out of humanity (or evolves to a higher state, from the machines' standpoint). None of this is clearly defined or articulated for the viewer, so most people will not enjoy this movie. But there are those of you (and you know who you are) who will ...

But Tatsuo, Ringu, and The Ring all center around themes where evil is a plague of sorts, spread by mechanism. Technology becomes the vector for infection, and these plagues have their victims - and their carriers. But the other important connection is that in each film, the most successful and horrific moments are also the least well-explained. For most people, the lack of clear logical plotline and explanation makes Tetsuo unwatchable. But for many others, The Ring will come across as trying too hard to go the other way, applying a science and rationale to what unfolds, so much so that its own "rules" trip it up in a few places. Ringu seems to stand in the balance; its ultimate strength is in giving us a sufficiently coherent plot, but not telling us too much about how things work, or even why. Events are largely left to unfold as they will.

Rating:
Summary: scratchscratch
Review: While investigating the death of a relative, a reporter uncovers a bizarre video that causes the viewee's death 7 days later.
The imagery of the video lays out a bizarre mystery, uncovered piece by piece as the movie goes on (perhaps the crowning difference between this film and the American remake, "The Ring")
The use of subtle horror, extremely effective audio scoring, and the odd jump scene are all grounded well behind an essentially character driven story. As the clock kicks down, the two protagonsists hurredly attempt to solve the mystery of the video and avert whatever fate awaits them, but as time gets shorter, we see an increased desperation and really start to feel the pressure along with them. Alot of implied horror (ie; nothing *too* shocking ever gets shown onscreen) but suspense, and generaly aura of discomfort and fear, are almost unbearable at times. And you may never sleep in the same room with a televsion again.
The less you know about this film (or "The Ring") before watching it, the more effective it will be.

Rating:
Summary: scary...
Review: Words can't explain the unsettling paranoia that this movie gave me. Don't read other reviews if you want to regret watching it as I have. Watch it alone too if you want to regret doing so. I hated this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Better than the Ring
Review: As everyone knows by now due to the marketing efforts of Dreamworks and associates Ringu was the Japanese film upon which the American film The Ring was based. I rented both one evening and watched them back to back. On the recommendation of my friendly video rental person I watched The Ring first (his preference) and then Ringu.

The Ring was a very good movie; atmospherically wet and moody, and wonderfully shot. However I had several unanswered questions at the end and I was transfixed but never really frightened.

Ringu on the other hand provided a complete story and left no holes unexplored or unexplained. And while not as well shot it left me oddly uneasy with that delicious better-look-under-the-bed feeling as all good horror films do.

So of the two films Ringu would get my vote for a purchase, and The Ring would remain a rental.

Rating:
Summary: I almost wet my pants
Review: Ok, just to give a little background. I love horror, I indulge in horror, I read horror, watch horror films, etc etc. I don't get scared in movies...ever. I watched a cheap copy of this movie that I friend gave me a year or so ago. Within minutes, I had the lights on, my hands over my eyes and the volume muted. The atmosphere created in this film had me almost blubbering. I'm not exagerating. I know some people will be like "whatever", but if you have an attention span longer than that of your usual mindless MTV addict, then maybe you can feel the tingling thrill of terror creeping up and down your spine. The opening scene alone set the mood for the entire film. And simple sounds and visuals can jolt you into panic. See the film, show your friends.

Rating:
Summary: The Ring is better for English speakers
Review: I watched The Ring with two of my friends. By the end of the first scene, my friends (college guys) were holding each other. And I was genuinely creeped out, which was a first for me. In fact, I went home that night and spent the hours until sunrise researching Ringu. Every review I read said it was scarier than The Ring. Now, considering that I was reading this at 4 AM because The Ring convinced me that closing my eyes meant certain death, scarier than that seemed pretty durn scary. So we watched Ringu. I fell asleep halfway through.

Here's the problem: Ringu might be great for a Japanese audience that's never seen it before, but for an English speaker that's already seen The Ring, Ringu couldn't compare.

* The Ring captured all the creepiness of Ringu but with some great effects to drive it home. I mean, the *title menu* on The Ring DVD freaked me out. And the hidden feature is probably the best use of DVD technology to date

* Setting the mood for a scary movie is hard enough when the audience and the creators speak the same language.Adding the extra layer of translation and the fact that your eyes are always constanly glued to the subtitles at the bottom of the screen really kept me out of the movie. For that matter, the American cursed video was much weirder than Japanese one. Maybe Japanese people are scared by guys with towels over their heads, but I don't think the average American is.

* The story is more involving in The Ring - you have to earn clues along with the characters. None of this "This guy is a psychic, just follow him."

So in conclusion, anyone who tells you Ringu is better is leaning toward being an arthouse snob, the type that thinks that because a movie is made in a different country it is automatically better. Don't believe the hype. Ringu may have been the scariest movie ever made in Japan, but The Ring is the scariest movie ever made.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best horror movies - ever
Review: No special effects, no bloodshed, no overt violence of any kind in this film, a sense of menace in every scene all the way throughout. I made the mistake of watching this alone in the dark at night by myself, and it scared me enough to keep me up for a while. I don't recommend you do this. Watch the film during the day, with plenty of sunshine around you. And after you do, stay away from the TV!

Ringu (remade as The Ring in the US in 2002) is frightening becasue of what can happen more than what is actually shown. It's basically a detective story with an ellusive supernatural foe. It got to me, this film, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes films like The Exorcist, The Omen, films that make you think.

Ringu spawned two sequels and was a huge hit in Japan before making its way for an inevitable sequel over here. If you've seen the remake, take a look at the original and compare. If you haven't seen either, then you're in for a real treat.

Rating:
Summary: scariest movie I've ever seen....
Review: I wanted to see The Ring and the video-store worker informed me it was a remake, so being a purist, I rented this Japanese film from 1998. I'd heard from a number of people that The Ring (remake, released last fall) was pretty lame, so I wasn't expecting much from this.

Needless to say, I couldn't sleep a wink last night. Perhaps my imagination is too impressionable, but Ringu affected me pretty strongly and from what I gather in my reseach on the Web today, a number of others have had the same experience! I don't think I really have any interest in seeing the American version--see this one instead if you want it to have a lasting impression!