Ringu (1998) > Reviews

Advantages: Scary, in the old fashioned sense
Disadvantages: Subtitles and Asian style storytelling

Horror films seem to be getting worse these days. Ok, so it’s a sweeping statement but the world of horror in director and screenwriter’s eyes these days seems to be made up of quick jumps and lots of blood. This, in my humble opinion, is what’s known as a ‘bad move’. I was reminded about this the other day when I had a chance to catch the showing of Ring and Ring 2 on Channel 4 over the last week. The first of these ... Read review

Advantages: It'll scare ya
Disadvantages: You might not like that...and its subtitled

It has been a while since I watched a horror movie which actually managed to freak me out. Western horror movies seemed to go through a stage of either being ultra gory(before being clamped down on), then slipping into self-parody and have now spun full circle back to the old, tired slasher movie genre which has even made someone believe the 9th sequel to Friday the 13th was a great idea(it wasn't - arrgh!). Hollywood seems almost completely devoid ... Read review

Advantages: -
Disadvantages: -

...toes,alert and guessing.Unlike THE RING, Ringu avoids cheap scares.No chasing,no bathtub electrocutions, no gore, no physical battles and no mad suicidal horses in this version. While the remake was big on swish camera action, strange noises, and scary psychiatric assemssment videos, Ringu is much more simple, streamlined and uncluttered.The tape in the original is shorter than in the remake, with much less yuck in it. No fingers pierced on nails, ... Read review

Advantages: Very atmospheric,more psychological than gore-fest.
Disadvantages: Rushed ending,patchy plot in places

...who don't know the story, Ringu is set around a kind of urban myth-a cursed videotape-which causes the viewer to die seven days after watching it (no Batman & Robin jokes,please!). Of course, it is not just a myth, as we find out within the first five,excruciatingly tense minutes, as two girls sit alone in a house talking about the tape. One of them, as it turns out,watched the tape the previous week,and the girls get edgy when the phone rings ... Read review

Advantages: terrifying visuals and soundtrack
Disadvantages: not as good as the remake in my opinion

It was inevitable that I would watch this original version of ‘The Ring’ (reviewed last week), if only to compare and contrast the two different treatments of the same story. I was surprised by the big differences in story line, as I expected the American version to be a frame-by-frame remake, when it actually changes a lot of the story by a fair bit. I’m going to try and review the film as a stand alone, and then try and compare the two afterwards, ... Read review

Advantages: genuinely scary, original concept,
Disadvantages: subtitled, specific japanese culture references

Do you like scary movies? No, really. After the self knowing, irony by numbers of Scream I truly thought that horror as a genre had had its day and I'd never be scared by a film ever again. The dull art school posturing of Blair Witch Project only served to re-enforce that belief. So whats gone wrong? Well, we're all so knowing these days, safe in our 21st century homes - we just don't scare that easy. Monsters, zombies, vampires, even serial killers ... Read review

Advantages: a gem and a plus
Disadvantages: subtitles

Sometimes there is a lot to be said about those rare films that not only can rattle a person, but even do it while being made in another country. This very proper distinction is for the film "Ringu", made by Hideo Nakata, and also is one of the most bone rattling films I have ever seen. The way it starts is as this. At its beginning,there are 2 girls who are chatting, enjoying each others company, until one of them tells her friend about seeing ... Read review

Advantages: Scary, very entertaining, good for a night in with pals
Disadvantages: poor special effects

Well, If you know me and have read my opinions, then you know I am not squeamish when it comes to horror films but this one gave me the shivers. This is probably the first film since the exorcist that actually scared me deep down, call me a wimp but it really did. After seeing the 2003 version on a plane about 6 times all the way through, no kidding, I was on a journey to Australia so I had a lot of time to kill. I loved the film and it did shock ... Read review

Advantages: very spooky
Disadvantages: quite slow between scares

Ring is a supernatural Japanese horror film that has only recently arrived in England, despite being made nearly three years ago. Its success in Japan was such that it has already spawned two sequels. The story centres around an schoolkids Urband Myth about a weird video tape. Anyone who sees it dies exactly one week later. After a group of young friends die after allegedly seeing just such a video, a young female reporter and her ex-husband try ... Read review

Advantages: Great plot, genuinely spooky
Disadvantages: People might be put off by subtitles

Contrary to what the title suggests, The Ring (or Ringu, from the Japanese) does not focus on a ring, but on a videotape. It begins with a rumour that there is an evil videotape that kills you seven days after you watch it. A reporter watches it and, with her ex-husband, sets out to work out how and why it kills people, before she too dies. The film is beautfilly simple in it's premise and the plot remains coherant and intriguing, by the use of ... Read review

Advantages: Will scare the living bejesus out of you
Disadvantages: Will leave you unable to function as a proper human being for some time

It's long been apparent that American cinema is suffocating in its own stagnation and lack of new ideas... so, to Japan we must turn. Originally released in 1998, Ring has long had cult status as the scariest film ever, even more so now the Americans have filmed their tribute to it (for that is all it is... a pale mockery of this film). Yes, it is in Japanese, and if you're a relaxed moviewatcher who likes to relax to films, this probably isn' worth ... Read review

Advantages: A very tight plot, with a well thought out twist
Disadvantages: Losing sleep over it.

The story was originally from a popular Japanese novel, which subsequently released as a horror comic, then finally as a film. The story is about the lead actress Reiko (a reporter) inverstigating a rumoured tape which lead to deaths for its viewer. Those who viewed it will receive a phone call (hence the title RING) telling them they will die within 7 days. Reiko and her husband got hold of a copy, watched it, and the phone predictablly rang. ... Read review