Ring (1998)

Having seen the Verbinski film first. I was not as scared as I likely would be otherwise. However, there is one advantage the Nakata film objectively has.The plot made more sense.For instance, take when the female leads learn about how Sadako/Samara ended up in the well. In the Verbinski film, we just have Rachel get a vision while looking for Samara's body. Without much explanation for how she could see a memory that wasn't her own. In the Nakata film, however, it was explained earlier that Reiko has ESP, as does Ryuji.Also, Sadako's story being less revealed than Samara's better feeds into the mystery of how the tape was made. Or for that matter, why Sadako does all the bad things she does. The lack of detail on her character also feeds into the idea of her being completely evil. Lastly, it doesn't explain who Rachel will show Aidan's copy to. (Though she does show it to a death row inmate in a deleted scene). In the Nakata film, Reiko plans to have her dad watch the tape for Yoichi's sake.In general, both are fine. But the plot of this one is much better.

I had already seen the USA version of the film before I got around to watching the original version. I am not one that is fond of watching foreign flicks in subtitles, however, I had heard that this version is far better than the USA remake. I strongly disagree.The story line was virtually the same with only a few changes made to the USA version. It isn't hard to see how the US screenplay writers for The Ring took this more simplified plot outline and was able to just run with creativity and mold it into the great classic that it has become. The acting in Ringu is sub-par and the story tends to drift rather than keeping the viewer engaged. The language/subtitles probably hinders the impact of the story for English only speakers, so I will cut some slack there.None the less, it truly is a phenomenal story- both versions, but "The Ring" is my easy choice.

There's something to be said about the strength of good, eerie, slowly- paced horror. Especially in a day and age as we are now, where horror is misinterpreted by filmmakers as loud, lazy jump-scares, buckets of gore, and nubile girls running around in next-to-nothing, fleeing from deranged murderers. There's something almost immediately admirable and exciting about a horror film that eschews these more modern (and decidedly not scary) tactics, and instead respects its audience, using atmosphere, a slowly building pace, subtlety and well-developed characters to draw us into a pervasive, overwhelming sense of dread.Think about some horror classics: John Carpenter's "Halloween" (or even more effectively, his remake "The Thing"), Hitchcock's "Psycho", Peter Medak's "The Changeling", etc. They all were respectful, subtle films that didn't rely on cheapness and laziness like so many other modern horror films. And I do believe that Hideo Nakata's "Ringu" (or "Ring"), a 1998 Japanese horror film inspired by the novels of Koji Suzuki, belongs on a list with those classics. It is a powerful film for it's quiet nature, subtle storytelling and well-developed characters, and they are what makes it so effective and frightening. (Although tragically, it's most recent sequel, "Sadako 3D" does eschew the classic, subtle storytelling for a more messy modern affair... more to come on that train-wreck in a later review.)We follow Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), a reporter who is investigating an increasingly popular urban legend regarding an alleged "haunted video", which supposedly causes the death of all who see it. After probing the recent death of her niece, Reiko decides to retrace their last few days, and discovers a mysterious video-tape in a cabin they had rented. Realizing that the urban legend of the haunted tape is true, Reiko and her ex husband Ryugi (Hiroyuki Sanada) are forced to try and solve the mystery of who created it and how to stop it.The performances are fantastic. Matsushima as our lead is brilliant and very well-developed, and is able to show both strength as well as draw the audience's sympathy. (Plus my piggish side does have to admit she is very easy on the eyes) Sanada shows a lot of talent and intensity as Ryugi, and he is able to balance well with Matsushima with their good chemistry on-screen. And other performances, including Rikiya Ōtaka as Yoichi, the son of Reiko and Ryugi, are all very well-played and elevate the film quite a bit. It's a phenomenal cast.Nakata's direction is quite a sight to behold. It's very subtle, simplistic and direct, which actually makes it all the more unsettling. He doesn't go out of his way to highlight the horror, or present the monsters with dramatic camera angles and musical stings- scenes are staged and shot simply, and it makes every feel very real. You get a sense that anything can happen at any time, causing non-stop dread later in the film. The script by Hiroshi Takahashi is fantastic, slowly building the tension and developing the characters over the 96 minute run-time in a way that puts many other films to shame, and makes us not only care about everyone, but have a very real, human fear for their safety.The rest of the production is fantastic and very true-to-life. The set design is great, giving us a world that feels like the same one we live in. Costume design is simple, real and effective. The editing is top- notch, giving us a slow-build. And the musical score by Kenji Kawai is amazing. It's very minimal, and only comes in when it's needed, giving us an occasional spine-tingling violin shriek, or an eerie scraping of strings in the background."Ringu" is easily not only one of the best horror films to come out of Japan in the past 20 years, but it's easily one of the best horror films worldwide to be released in the past 20 years. And it's cultural impact (spawing so far four sequels in Japan, an American remake and sequel, and countless other works inspired by it) is something to behold. I do believe that 50 years from now, it will still be looked at as a fantastic accomplishment in horror filmmaking. The only thing I don't like about it is one particularly bad sound-effects choice that caused me to laugh out loud during a fairly crucial moment (A cartoonish sound that comes near the end and sticks out like a sore thumb), but even that cannot diminish the film in any way whatsoever."Ringu" gets a perfect 10. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor... get it, turn off the lights, and have a spooky time watching it!

Either I'm stupid, the Japanese are stupid, or something was lost in translation. This was such a mixed bucket.Built around the weird and upsetting, Ringu combines supernatural elements with it's own original tape-horror aesthetic. It's unfortunate that the film is riddled with silliness, dumb character decisions, and chuckle-out-loud(?) conversations. Hell, it's also filled with quite a few incredibly eerie moments (I mean so eerie as to make me get up, turn on the lights, refill my tea, then sit down and hold on) that can make you forget it's earlier transgressions.Eerie is key here, it's not terrifying, but definitely a scary experience. I'm sure it was scarier when you actually watched the movie on VHS or with one sitting back at home. Now it's hard to make a connection. I mean, my blu-ray would NEVER do such a thing (his name is Franklin)!What brings most people to the film is it's touching on our collective anxiety with these newfangled VHS machines ( too cynical?). And it still applies to Franklin. I can't say much on this that hasn't already been said, but I can agree that the film tapped into a collective feeling, whether consciously or not, I'm sure the Japanese ( being the techno- infused cyberpunks they are) feel more than I ever will.Either way, give it a look. It's an hour-and-a-half well spent.