In 2002, a movie called 'The Ring' was released, spawning prank-calls and urban legends galore.The film was a hit at the box office , and with me.
I didn't know there was an original Japanese version until a few days a go, when my boyfriend came back from his friends house with a selection of DVD's for us to watch.
Now, his friends a strange fella. He's the sort of person who carries nunchucks around with him to make the walk
from his house to ours, but, to give him his dues, he has some top notch horror movies, and this is one of them.
The Ring (or Ringu) is based on a 1991 novel written by a Japanese author named Koji Suzuki. It tells the story of single mother Asakawa Reiko (played by Nanako Matsushima) who works as a reporter.
She is working on a story about an increasingly popular local urban legend about a mysterious videotape that somehow causes the sudden unnatural death of whoever watches it a week later.The legend becomes personal when she finds out that one person who died through watching it is her recently dead niece Tomoko (Takeuchi), as well as five friends with whom she spent a holiday in a secluded cabin retreat precisely seven weeks before her sudden death.
Reiko then develops photographs taken by Tomoko on the holiday , and manages with a lot of clever investigative work, to trace not only the cabin where they stayed, but also the tape, which she then watches....
....Only after she does so, she recieves a chilling phone call, telling her that she will die in one week.
All scepticism swept away, she recruits her ex-husband, a psychic, to help her, and with only seven days to do it in before she becomes the tapes next victim, time is of the essence.
And thats as far as I'm taking you with the plot, I wouldn't want to ruin it for those of you who havent seen it.
Several things combine to make this film one of the most chillingly wonderful films I have seen in a long time.The complete and total absence of music throughout the entire film seems to make it feel more 'real', and without music, the twists and turns and scary moments are all the more surprising and unexpected, as you don't have the 'Scary music, somethings going to happen!' warning you do with so many other movies.
The movie is shot with simple, shaky camerawork which makes it all the more chillingly believeable. The fear this film instills comes from the long, slow build up, the waiting. It keeps you on your 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, maggots, or centipedes. Just some strange seemingly random images accompanied by a strange creaking noise which in my opinion MAKES the tape scary. It's all in the noise.
What really makes the movie in my opinion, has to be the character behind all the deaths, Yamura Sadako.Never have I been so terrified of a small child, even more so because she's on screen for so little time. Her american counterpart Samara might have been an abused child with a terrible past seeking revenge,but Sadako is just inherently evil.
The ending is much better in the original. Not wanting to ruin it for those of you not watching it, I can only go so far as to say the absense of hi tech camer trickery makes it so much scarier and more believeable.
But RINGU is not without it's flaws. Not so much the movie itself, but in the subtitling. White subtitles on top of Matsushima white clad bosom? It may be a nice bosom indeed, but for five minutes I had no idea what she was saying!
RINGU is a far superior horror/psychological thriller than the ring, for all the reasons above. The casting shines, the acting is believable, and the tension is palpable.Definately well worth the watch.
*phone rings*
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Production Year: 2000 - Horror - Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Carmen Electra, Anna Faris, Kurt Fuller, James Van Der Beek, Keenen Ivory Wayans
Sounds good, my friends got this on DVD, I've seen the re-make but havent got round to watching the original yet. Jayne x x
clownfoot 30.11.2004 11:47
Excellent review! Unlike China_Wolf below I found Ringu to be utterly terrorfying when I watched it in the dark on myself - the atmosphere and tension that Nakata fleshes out is far superior to the in your face and therefore redundent in the scares American version. The fact that everying isn't explained for you and all loose ends aren't tied up, allows you to think for yourself and the simple camerawork provides a more convincing reality than the worship of CGI in the remake. One thing though - I don't remember a voice saying seven days down the phone in Ringu, I'm pretty sure it was a simple, effective, yet very chillingly sound effect taht rounded off that particular scene so superbly. The seven day comment was from the remake, to ensure the American audience understood what was going on!! Alboy
Nov 14th, 2004
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