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Ringu

Ring

Japan 1998
produced by
Takashige Ichise, Shinya Kawai, Takenori Sento, Masato Hara (exetutive) for Kadokawa Shoten, Omega Project, Pony Canyon, Imagica, Asmik Ace Entertainment, Omega Project/Toho
directed by Hideo Nakata
starring Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Miki Nakatani, Yuko Takeuchi, Hitomi Sato, Yoichi Numata, Yutaka Matsushige, Katsumi Muramatsu, Rikiya Otaka, Masako, Daisuke Ban, Hiroshi Sakuma, Yurei Yanagi, Yoko Ohshima, Kiriko Shimizu, Makoto Kakeda, Rie Inoo, Hiroyuki Tanabe, Miwako Kaji, Yoko Honma, Asami Nagata, Yukiko Shimodaira, Keiko Yoshida, Yoshiko Matsumaru, Ayumu Naose, Maki Ikeda, Takashi Takayama, Chihiro Shirai, Toshihiko Takeda, Mantaro Koichi, Shinichi Noda, Shigefumi Nakai, Yuki Takahata, Mutsuko Oshima, Taku Kobayashi, Hiromi Murata, Kazuhiro Yokoyama, Mizuho Kinoshita, Toshinori Yoshino, Asami Ishikawa
screenplay by Hiroshi Takahashi, based on the novel by Koji Suzuki, music by Kenji Kawai

Ring

review by
Mike Haberfelner


Available on DVD !

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There is an urban legend that says that somewhere out there there is a video that kills you within 7 days after watching it. Nosey reporter Reiko (Nanako Matsushima), who had a death in her family linked to that video, wants to get to the bottom of it all, and soon finds the video, watches it, receives a phonecall immediately afterwards stating "You saw it" (part of the same urban legend), and suddenly knows she is doomed, with only 7 more days to live. Out of despair, she calls her ex-husbband Ryuji (Hiroyuki Sanada), who who has some psychic powers and who watches the video, too, before they try to find clues to end the video's deadly curse - though they have nothing to go on but the video itself, and to make matters worse, Yoichi (Rikiya Otaka), their son soon watches the video as well. Eventually, they come across the story of Shizuko (Masako), a mystic woman on remote island Oshima who predidcted volcanic eruptions 40 years ago and was soon abused as a media attraction by a professor (Daisuke Ban) and one day jumped into a volcano. As it turns out, she had a daughter, Sadako (Rie Inoo), though, who had much greater mystic powers than Shizuko and who could kill by thought alone. She was eventually thrown into a well and left there to die - but apparently her fury was manifested on the cursed videotape. With Reiko's death only hours away, she and Ryuji race to said well and try to set Sadako's spirit free after 40 years - but not only is time running out, they also only have a theory that this will work, and if not, they are all doomed ...

 

Based on a rather mediocre horror novel that had already been the source for a TV movie, Ringu proved itself to be one of the greatest horror movies of the 1990s as well as the movie that truly put J-horror on the map in the West - and that's achieved by trusting the impact of its premise and carrying it with atmospheric filmmaking and an emphasis on suspense and slowburn horror rather than a barrage of special effects and over-fancy camerawork, and it relies on a deliberately slow pace to let its story unfold to its full creepiness - and despite leaving many a thing unexplained, the story comes across as solid and air-tight. And of course, a strong key cast doesn't hurt one bit either to make this a must-see for all self respecting horror fans.

 

Eventually, the film did spawn (by 2019) 6 sequels (Rasen/Spiral, Ringu 2 and Ringu 0, and in the 2010s Sadako 3D, Sadako 3D 2 and Sadako vs. Kayako) plus a TV series as well as a Korean remake (Ring Virus) and of course the obligatory American one, none of it equalling this movie's quality, though.

 

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review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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Thanks for watching !!!

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!

 

 

 

On the same day
a Burglar wants to kill you
and your Ex wants
to make up ...
... and for the life of it,
you can't decide
WHICH IS WORSE!!!

 

A Killer Conversation

produced by and starring
Melanie Denholme
directed by
David V.G. Davies
written by
Michael Haberfelner
starring
Ryan Hunter and
Rudy Barrow

out now on DVD