The Spiral (1998)

Dr. Mitsuo Andô - a local pathologist - is still coming to terms with losing his son after a drowning accident, and struggles to cope with the loss. It's during this time he learns that an old med school classmate and friend - Ryûji Takayama - has recently died and he has been assigned to do the autopsy. After recovering a cryptic message from Takayama's body, Andô also starts to see visions, and it's not long before he learns of a tape that's been linked with a spate of strange deaths, including Takayama's and his ex-wife, Reiko. With the help of Takayama's student, Mai Takano, Andô starts to look more into the origin of the tape and the mysterious Sadako. Unfortunately, time becomes a factor because Andô inadvertently watches the tape and, fearing for his own life, he must find away to break the curse before it's too late.Rasen isn't really that bad of a movie, but it is a pretty slow going film that's quite hard to get into and is actually more of a psychological drama than a horror. It definitely doesn't have the scare factor that the first film had either. I can understand why Ringu fans didn't like this one because even though it still involves the Sadako storyline, it doesn't have the same effect as Ringu.I've not read the book, but I have read reports that Rasen follows it and Ringu 2 doesn't, so for a film to be slated for actually following the book is quite ironic.Anyway, Rasen doesn't start off too bad but it doesn't ever really get going, and if you're looking for similar creepy moments that Ringu had then you'll be sorely disappointed. There are some well played out emotional moments, but other than that there's not much here.In saying that, however, if I had to recommend Rasen or Ringu 2, I'd choose Rasen because Ringu 2 was aiming to be scary but failed miserably and actually passed by slower than this film.Rasen is watchable if you can get into it from the start and stick with it but ultimately it is a bit of a disappointment.

You ought to know that in Japan, this movie was released simultaneously to Ring. The idea was that you saw the original, and then saw the sequel, a great idea for money. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great idea for two separate crews to work on these movies, because this one is complete trash, when compared to Nakata's "Ring".Though you might like it. A few people do. The characters are boring, the dialog is uninspired, and it's too complicated. However, people see through that and find the goodness this movie offers.You should watch Rasen with no anticipation for it to live up to "Ring" because both movies head in different directions. Nakata uses the setting to darken the mood, while Iida concentrates on using familiarity and stagnant settings to give feeling. Lastly, this movie approaches science to explain the curse. This is why people banish this film from its existence - it abandons Nakata's horror and feels like it was slapped together.But enough about comparison. Lets concentrate on the acting in this film. Sato Koichi (who takes on the role of Ando Mitsuo) acts well, overall. But his acting seems to get better, and then worse, and that is just no fun for anybody. Such as the sub-plot of his suicidal issues. Sometimes, you'll just feel edgy for how cheesy the situation, others, you'll feel compassionate about his issues. His character also feels undeveloped, but this is because this movie takes on different roles than the proper storyline in the novel. The main character, in essence, feels broken.Tsurumi Shingo plays Miyashita, who is just great. He really does feel like his counterpart, and it just makes me want to cry. Seeing him and Koichi on screen is just excellent. Those scenes are the ones to look forward to. Later on in the movie, he gets to show off his acting skills as his character becomes a major counterpart in the story.Saeki Hinako plays Sadako Yamamura, who delivers one of the best performances any Sadako/Samara has. Yes, there is things to like in this movie.Nakatami Miki plays Takano Mai, who is a mixed bag. When she is by herself, she is all over. You'll be impressed. When she's on screen with somebody else, she just looks like her mind is focused on other things, like as if she's staring at some crew equipment. But she does improve, at the end of the movie. (I did mention spoilers, and that will be the last three paragraphs. Don't worry, I'll warn you) This movie does have something to tell, but fails to execute it. I've questioned if the crew responsible for the movie even read the book properly, because it is so unfaithful to the source material (explained in spoilers) that it makes me sick. But after all, this is a movie adaptation, and it does not fail at that.So, what is this even about? Ando Mitsuo is a pathologist who has to perform an autopsy on Ryuji Takayama early in the movie (his fate is explained in proper fashion in "Ring", unless you haven't already guessed). They were classmates in medical school, and Mitsuo feels burdened with the task of cutting his body open. While investigating, he finds an unusual tumor in his neck as well as a slip of paper laying in his stomach, revealing a code. Mitsuo, with his partner Miyashita, explore and find out about four teenagers who died under suspicious circumstances. They also bear the same unknown virus as Takayama. Then Yoshino steps into the picture, claiming information about Sadako Yamamura and a copy of the cursed video with a ridiculous premise. Mitsuo watches the tape, and then is forced with a decision dealing with humanity's extinction with Sadako pulling the ropes in the background.**/***** SPOILERS! Below is spoilers to the movie. These last paragraphs reveal even more concerns with this movie, but are unnecessary to read. If you have not seen this movie, everything read until now should be satisfactory enoughYou should know the real story behind the cursed video. In short, 30% of it is Sadako's DNA, since she was the one who made the video. The other 70% is smallpox. The smallpox comes from the man who raped Sadako prior to her death. Therefore, the viewer can successfully become pregnant to Sadako if she is a woman and is ovulating while watching the tape.In fact, in the novel, it is clearly learned that Mai Takano was the first person to impregnate Sadako. One thing that irritates me is that when we see Sadako re-born on screen, she looks EXACTLY LIKE MAI TAKANO. What were they thinking? I was so confused when I watched it! I've never liked this decision, because it is so unthoughtful of the crew to have left something like this in the movie. It just doesn't make sense. Since the host, Mai, acts like the incubator for Sadako, and since Sadako's DNA is not modified in any way with Mai's... it is just too confusing. And this isn't the only movie guilty of this "crime"... the Rasen TV series has also built upon this idea.If you have read Rasen, you will probably enjoy it because it's an intelligent medical thriller, explaining the supernatural ways of Sadako with science. However, this movie makes the explanation feel like excuses. This is because Iida has destroyed the explanations and modified them... and god knows why. It would've just made more sense if he hadn't tampered with the formula.

Having eventually got round to watching the Ring's 'awkward, contradictory pseudo-sequel' I can honestly say that Spiral is more enjoyable than any of the other Ring sequels or remakes, thanks in part to the fact that it's completely different to the original film. It's a surrealist chiller in the David Lynch mould, with a little bit of a sci-fi edge. Also, much of the film is aimed squarely at a much older, more clued-in audience.Joji Iida's clever mature direction takes the whole Ring mythology away from the urban ghost story vibe of Ring and into a deeper horror, the true intent of Sadako and her world plan. In a similar fashion to Kairo, Spiral begins as a ghost story and develops into apocalyptic Sci-fi. Personally I found Spiral much more impactful than Ring, purely because you realise how clever and truly unstoppable Sadako is becoming. It's also interesting that a large portion of this movie was cannibalised for Nakata's own US Ring Two.Simply put, Spiral is a clever, smartly made and humane chiller that deals with deeper emotions and maturer themes than your average Joe horror flick. It isn't without it's shortcomings though. The version I watched had an awful transfer, making certain parts of the movie look like I was watching some kind of VCD knock-off, and I'm told this is the only print with English subtitles available. So, be prepared to put some work in to get your enjoyment out of it. Eyestrain could be a near certainty.The other key issue is that if you're a dyed-in-the-wool fan of the first series of movies, then this is, as they say, totally contradictory. Sadako is in her early twenties when she dies for instance, and is fully capable of communication. In a way, this makes her all the more frightening, as she is arrogant, manipulative and obviously in complete control of proceedings. Then there's the complete canyon of difference between the tapes and their effects. Still, it's understandable given that Spiral and Ring were actually made back to back with the only common factors being certain cast members and the books used for source material. Also, the erotic edge given to Sadako will probably make more prudish viewers very uncomfortable.Still, Iida has succeeded where many fail, in making a horror movie with a very strong plot and mature themes. Personally I loved Spiral, and was glad to find a movie that didn't treat me like a child because the main audience they envisaged for it wasn't out of high-school yet. Spiral is a creepy, atmospheric underground treat. Check it out.

I really won't go into the history too much about how this became the "forgotten" sequel to "Ring", because you should all knows this story by now. I WILL, however, say that it flopped and was quickly forgotten, because people who just sat through a long-haired spectre emerging from a television set with a huge eye and murdering a main character in cold blood had to then see her emerge from the television and make out with the main character this time, naked and hot.I didn't understand this movie at all at first, until I read the two Ring novels. I am completely obsessed with this franchise, and know everything there is to know about the character of Sadako- even how she is defeated in the fourth book, even though the third, fourth, and fifth books haven't come around to being translated yet.!!!*MAJOR SPOILERS*!!! Leaving out the fact that Sadako is a hermaphrodite and was raped by a man with smallpox makes little sense to the story, as this was a huge part of how it all happened. Much of the movie completely diverged from what happened in the novel. Like in this, Sadako is reborn as Mai Takano, not as herself, so the main character has sex with her thinking she is Mai's original self. In the book, Sadako was reborn as herself and said she was Mai's sister Masako. However, it never completely throws out the aspects of the novel that make the story complete- they just don't mention it. So, if you take these aspects into account, the story is great, and had the film been made with as much care as the novel, it would have greatly succeeded, and there would be no point in making "Ring 2", which in my opinion isn't as good as this movie, even though I enjoy that one, too. That one was sort of made as a prequel to this one, and even stole a few of "Spiral"'s plot points. Therefore, you know it can't be all THAT bad...8/10 Recommended only if you know the complete story about Sadako Yamamura and how her video curse/virus came to be.