Ringu

Rating:
Summary: Attractive Characters, Engaging Mystery & a Creepy Curse.
Review: "Ringu" is a supernatural thriller based on Koji Suzuki's novel of the same name. This film adaptation has spawned two Japanese sequels and an American remake, with more to come, and was a seminal work in the ongoing Asian horror film craze that began in the late 1990s. "Ringu" is more a paranormal mystery than a horror film, though. It's not even remotely a splatter film, so those who like creepy but don't like blood may enjoy it.

A story about a cursed video is making the rounds of high schools. Supposedly, anyone who watches it dies one week later. The video has become the stuff of urban legend. A reporter, Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), who is investigating the rumors, intensifies her research when she learns that a young relative of hers has died mysteriously after seeing the legendary video. In the course of her investigation, Reiko watches the video and begins to fear for her own life and that of her young son. She enlists the help of her ex-husband, Ryuji (Hiroyuki Sanada), in analyzing the cryptic film. Together, they race against the clock, searching for clues to the video's origin.

"Ringu" is spooky rather than scary. It sometimes relies on gimmicks -such as the expiration date placed on anyone who sees the video- and on inconsistencies to move the story forward. It's not sophisticated. But the characters are likable. And "Ringu" succeeds in engaging the audience's interest in discovering the mysteries of the video. The film has a slow middle section, when Reiko and Ryuji are analyzing the tape. But the tedium lends the story a bit of realism, so may actually help create a sense of plausibility. "Ringu" recycles elements from other films and books, but it does a pretty good job of it. It's not innovative, but "Ringu" is an entertaining thriller with an attractive cast. In Japanese with a choice of English, Spanish, or French subtitles.

Rating:
Summary: Scared me for days
Review: I'm not much for horror movies. They usually strike me
as rather simple-minded, relying on gore and Psycho-like
music to instill fear. Ringu, on the other hand, scared
me in a more subtle, hair-raising way--through the story
itself. There were no axe-murderers or masked crazies
coming after scantily clad teenagers, but an unknown terror
that comes after anyone... Well, anyone who... Oh, nevermind.

I have not yet seen "The Ring", so I won't recommend one
over the other. However, for an intelligent and interesting
horror flick that'll leave you turning the lights on and
looking under your bed for days, definitely give Ringu a look.

Rating:
Summary: Liked the Ring better.
Review: Monday, February 07, 2005 / 3 of 5 / Liked the Ring better.
This is the Japanese predecessor to the Ring here in the states. I had just watched Ju-on and had this one as well. I felt it wasn't quite the film that Ring would become. It lacked the visceral terror, creepy atmosphere, and production values of the Ring. Still taken on its own it's fairly effective, although again I didn't even enjoy it as much as Ju-on. I think in the US version the mystery was handled with more panache instead of exposition by a `psychic' boyfriend who explains the girls power in a lump sum finish up ending. I also preferred the grainy, monochromatic gloom of the Ring locales vs Ringu. Ah well, still somewhat entertaining to watch.

Rating:
Summary: The original movie stands heads above its successors
Review: The first theatrical version of Koji Suzuki's novel, as there was Ringu Kanzenban, a 1995 TV movie, is the one that inspired two Japanese sequels, a prequel, the South Korean version, Ring Virus, and oh yes, the pitiful American version with Naomi Watts. Needless to say, Ringu stands head above them.

The story's well-told by now, but let me relate it one more time. Following the death of her niece, high school student Tomoko, Reiko Asakawa, a journalist, investigates the cause. Seems like there's a cursed video that'll kill someone within a week of that person watching it. As a cute high school student tells her in a videocamera interview, "I heard that suddenly, there's this scary woman who says, `you'll die in one week." Well, in the opening moments of the movie, Tomoko tells her friend Masami that she and her friends saw a weird video while vacationing at Izu Pacific Island. It turns out that Tomoko's vacationing friends also died on the exact same day and time as her, and that one of the girls died with the same look of sheer shock that Tomoko did.

Reiko goes to the same resort, discovers a video in a nondescript blank case, watches it, and, well, gets the curse. The imagery of the video has a surreal yet eerie look, the woman combing her hair, the man with white cloth on his head pointing, the dancing Chinese characters, and that eerie scraping metal sound. To that end, she enlists the aid of Ryuji Takayama, her ex-husband who teaches either math or physics at a university. It's his analytical and logical mind that she feels can help her in this dilemma.

Ryuji watches the video and after getting Reiko to copy the video, analyzes weird sounds, images of an erupting volcano, and the character "Sada" seen in someone's eye. Their investigation leads to Mount Miharajima on Izu Oshima, which is an island inbetween the two peninsulas which encircle Tokyo Bay, Izu Hanto and Boso Hanto.

I'd call this more a suspense thriller with supernatural overtones rather than an outright horror flick. And it's a balance of appealing characters, an interesting and unique story, and low-key rather than Hollywood-style overblown style that place this over The Ring. Other than the images of the video, flashback techniques in B&W help advance the story. So does the technique used in Tomoko's death, a close-up of her fear-stricken face, a sudden reverse image, then nothing.

The tension keeps building as the date is presented onscreen, followed by a low and eerie sound, counting down the days Reiko has to live. There is hardly any incidental music to speak of, as much of the sounds are of the same low and haunting sounds. However, the thing that'll guarantee Ringu its immortality is the sight of Sadako, long black hair covering her face, dressed in a white robe, creeping out of the TV, hands with fingernails torn out, stalking her prey. This spectre has been copied or revised in Japanese films like The Hypnotist, Ju-On, its American remake The Grudge, and the Scary Movie 3 parody.

Another thing to note is the change of Asakawa to a female character, as opposed to the male Kazuyuki Asakawa in the original novel. And the distorted photographs and marks on arms is something in both the manga and here.

As Reiko Asakawa, Nanako Matsushima balances an amiable, hard-working employee and loving single mother who wants to spend more time with her son. She's definitely warmer than the Korean version's Eun Kyung Shin, who played Hong Sun-Ju as somewhat of a cold fish. Hiroyuki Sanada plays Ryuji with a stolid, curt, rational man who's intelligent enough to suss out the clues from the video. And Rikiya Otaka also does well as Yoichi, who's cute and likeable rather than creepy.

Hopefully, the original movie Ringu 2 and the original sequel, Rasen (Spiral) will come out soon on DVD to see how the Ring story continues movie-wise.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I think this is probably the best horror movie I have ever been scared in my life, I jumped out of the sofa and just walked out of the room! If you plan to watch and be scared, don't read the plots of the movies, it will spoil the effect.

The movie is not as fast-paced as the western movies, no gory scenes, a good horror movie doesn't need to scare people anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant & original
Review: After reading some of the reviews here, I just had to say that the original Ringu is far superior to the remake. I saw Ringu a couple of years before The Ring, & was very excited about the remake. However, I spent most of the time in the cinema getting really angry at how butchered the story was (& sadly, how awful Naomi Watts, a fellow Aussie, was - overacting at its best!). I could actually go on for hours about this, but the thing I want to point out is the ridiculous horse story (& how a certain stupid character causes one to kill itself, because for some reason, she could not just leave it alone!!!). My main problem is all the ridiculous extra "scary" bits the remake threw in, like the hairball, the fly on the screen - totally unnecessary. And we should NEVER see Sadako/Samara's face - she was much scarier when all we could see was hair & eye! Do yourself a huge favour - see the original. By the way, I loved the remake of Ju-On, so I am not against them at all - just keep them faithful & coherent!

Rating:
Summary: A well done foreign film!
Review: "Ringu" is a 1998 film that set the stage for the American remake, "The Ring". The story is this, a reporter in Japan looks for clues after people watch this weird videotape that says that they will die in a week. Then they die after 7 days. What she discovers is quite shocking.

This film is not as scary as The Ring, and it only has one curse word. [The D-word]Since it was made in Japan, it has Japanese talking with English subtitles. This movie will freeze your blood!

Rating:
Summary: Original
Review: This is a pretty creative story, and although I did see the American version first, I credit this for it's originality and eeriness. One thing that affects all of us is we like to watch videos, so to suggest that to do something so simple could be horrorfying is pretty cool. Although the American version is more visually detailed, the faces of the victims resembling drowned victims is much more clever than the scared to death faces of Ringu since the girl did drown to death, also the video tape in the American version was more disturbing, however the American version left more holes in the actual story that Ringu cleared up for me. For instance the reason the little girl was... the way she was. Ringu is a little more scientific, explaining the girl to be protective of her Mother where in The Ring the girl seemed to be simply pure evil. I've found Ringu to be more interesting and less horrorfying than The Ring. But there is one thing that both movies were equal about and begged the question, where is DHS?

Rating:
Summary: I had high expectations for this movie
Review: Too bad they weren't met. After recently having the wits scared out of me by "Ju-On" (the Japanese original of the American remake, "The Grudge."), I couldn't wait to watch "Ringu." Unfortunately, I was left bewildered by all the praise for this movie. Apart from a few shocking moments--especially the ending), it just wasn't scary. I'm surprised to say, the Hollywood remake was much more effective--even though it's not that great of a movie itself. If you want an example of truly chilling Japanese horror, pick up "Ju-On." That film is flat out terrifying.

Rating:
Summary: A Japanese Horror Classic
Review: I think it's difficult to write a review for this movie without comparing and contrasting it with the US remake, but I will do my best. In my opinion, neither film is perfect. Some things worked better in Ringu, and some things worked better in The Ring. But what I loved about both films is the way that both stories are different from each other, so that you can watch both and get something out of each one.

The new trend of remaking Asian horror films seems to come from this movie. I can't understand why people get so upset about it, though. For one thing, before the remake, it was impossible to get the original in America. If you think this is such a great movie, why wouldn't you want more people to see it? Also, with all the films Hideo Nakata has made, this is by no means his best work. Most people I hear complaining about the American remake have never even seen anything else he's ever done. Most importantly, with this film in particular, a remake is a very fitting choice, because it actually fits into the context of the story. I can't elaborate on that, but when you see it, you'll understand what I mean.

The story centers around Asakawa, her son Yoichi, and her ex-husband Ryuji. Asakawa is a reporter investigating rumors surrounding a mysterious video tape that local youths have been saying will kill the viewer one week after watcing it. The inquiries take on a more personal meaning for her when her niece turns up dead under unexplained circumstances. After a bit of poking around, Asakawa finds herself in the presence of the killer videotape. So what does she do? Of course she watches it! Now that may not sound like the smart thing to do in a situation like this. At least the other unsuspecting victims watched it by mistake. But you know how those snoopy reporters are. If you found a copy of a videotape that killed people, wouldn't you at least want to know what was on it?

Unfortnunately, the payoff isn't that great. The videotape is a mishmash of weird yet boring images, and if I had turned in something like that for my experimental film project in "Film Analysis: Formalist and Feminist" class, I would not have passed. Once Asakawa has gotten over her initial curiosity, she freaks out and calls Ryuji to help her find out what she can do to break that curse.

The main problem I have with this film is the character of Ryuji. He is fascinating, and the actor playing him is very talented. However, his character has had such a great arc from the novel, to the film, to the remake, that it seems that the screenwriter didn't know what to do with him. In the novel, Asakawa is a man, and Ryuji is his detestable friend. He despises humankind, and entertains Asakawa with stories about breaking into women's houses and raping them. I think making Asakawa a female, and Ryuji her ex was a brilliant move. They've got seven days to find the origin of the video tape, which is not nearly long enough to reconcile their personal differences. However, his character had to undergo a great transformation between the novel and the film. If they had him be as reprehensible as he was in the book, a strong female like Asakawa never would have had anything to do with him. However, they had to keep some of his jerkiness in tact, because they were filming the sequel at the same time, and his evil nature played a part in it. (This is "Rasen," not "Ring 2." "Rasen" is based on the second novel, but the movie turned out so crappy that Nakata had to make his own alternate sequel, "Ring 2," which was a completely new idea.)

So Ryuji appears here as somewhat of a contradiction between two selves. And for some reason, they chose to give him psychic powers. His psychic abilities were not in the novel, and I don't think they added anything to the story. His powers allow the villian, a young woman named Sadako, to appear right in front of him when he's sitting on a park bench. He remains calm, and actually speaks to her. Then later, when they want to make him be scared, he is so scared that he can't move. The character is interesting, but disjointed. In the remake, the writer seemed to consider all of this, and made Noah, the ex, a complete flake, and somewhat of a coward. His contribution was his expertise in video equipment, not a staggering intellect.

It is difficult to say too much more about this film, as there is so much more to learn that I don't want to give away too soon. But what works here is that the story makes use of modern technology intertwined with a traditional ghost story. Televisions, VCR's, telephones, these are all modern inventions not usually associated with ghosts. We don't typically put ghosts and technology together because they are otherworldly in death, and it is assumed that they came from a more primitive time in life, before these things were invented. That's why a techno update of the ghost story works, because it scares us with things we never thought of as scary before.

If you are a fan of the recent wave of Japanese horror, or the American version of The Ring, you owe it to yourself to see this film. It should be noted that the famous scene near the end that everyone remembers from The Ring was not in the novel, but was an invention of Hideo Nakata.