Today, we'll cut straight to the review, as this will most definently run long, like the first review. Take it away Syndelin!
Warning: MAY contain spoliers. I apologize in advance. Gomen!!
Syndelin: This month's movie, albeit a lil late, will be "Ringu", the original Japanese version of "The Ring". For those who may have missed the premise to "Ring's" franchise, "The Ring" is a movie about a mysterious video tape that is rumored to kill anyone who watches it in exactly 7 days. A reporter, whose niece was purportedly killed by this tape watches it and then tries desperately to unravel its secrets before her time, as well as her estranged husband's and her oddly self-aware son's time as well. The reporter's search, Rachel Keller in the American remake, and Asakawa Reiko in the original, leads her through the sorrid life of a famed psychic and her daughter Sadako (Samara in the remake).
I have to say that, like most movies with remakes, it is almost required to view both movies. And, inevitably, the first one you watch is the one that will influence your views on the other movie. "Ring" is one of those movies that will influence your opinion one way or the other, depending on which order you watch it in. In this humble viewer's opinion, I would recommend watching the Japanese first, the remake second, especially if you're used to American horror and suspense more. I also recommend finding a very GOOD quality version of this film, as we obtained a Hong Kong VCD with mediocre sound, very washed out color, and painfully tiny, white subtitles that would often get cut off on the bottom of the screen.
Remember: Original Japanese first, American Remake second. You'll thank me for it.
Now, when I first watched the remake, I wasn't expecting much, except some horror jump movie like "Scream" or something. No, no, we were horribly wrong, as this turned out to be THE scariest movies I've ever seen, and that's counting "Resident Evil" (we hate zombies) and "Thir13en Ghosts" (as we hate vengeful ghosts). It was more than the scary and downright disturbing special effects (which *did* help), it was the realness that the characters had and the plot. It was paced quick in some places, as most Amerian films are, and in others, the pace was slow (ie, it took 5 mionute for someone to walk 2 feet). The hook in what made it so frightening was the fact that this could happen. Well, maybe not, but the plausiblity was good enough to keep me up for 7 nights straight, even turning the TV in my room (which faces my bed) towards my wall. ^^;;; Eh heh heh, so maybe I'm a lil gullible but it was that damned scary.
Now, the Japanese original was the closest of all the movies (American "Ring", Ring 2, Ring Virus, Ring 0, and Rasen) to the original novel by Suzuki Koji. Sometime this next month we will have obtained this book and will tell you if what we just wrote was true. But according to a very reliable source, its pretty close. So, whatever. XD "Ringu" starts out creepy, complete with a vague opening, creey text and unnervingly scary music. What the American movie lacked in set-up was ambiance; the creepy set-up created a mood that followed through the rest of the movie, wheras the American had to build it up quickly in the first scenes. Admittedly, when the first death occured, it wasn't anything more than a trippy color flash on the frozen screen and "Psycho" like music riffs, yet it was just enough to get us to jump a bit, despite our viewing this in broad daylight. ^^;;
The effects in the movie were of the usual Japanese horror fare, not too flashy or indeed impressive, yet it fit the mood perfectly. What I liked about "Ringu" was the fact that despite the remake's super-scary special FX, it still was a scary movie without them. Well-placed music riffs and quick and quirky camera angles, kept us guessing on what would happen and where. Plus there were tons of things that mystified us in terms of why that was there or what that small white thing was. Despite that many of these small details were left unexplained (the woman who met Ryuji, Amakusa's estranged husband, on the bench, or the hooded figure in the video), the story still followed through faithfully, solving some of the mysteries that the movie first presented us with. Consequently, the other mysteries had to be solved in the next few movies, something I assumed were all taken care of in the novel. But the details left unexplained were minor in size and could be left alone to enjoy the rest of the movie.
The characters were, for the most part, believeable. Except in the small instances where the acting fell through (to me, as they didn't seem real in certain situations), I was very impressed with it. Though Ryuji seemed really unemotional at some of the most dramatic points of the movie, I did end up liking him later, especially when he was trying to keep up Asakawa's spirits as her time inched ever closer. I also thought the boy who played Yoichi (Otaka Rikiya), Asakawa's self-aware son was very creepy, tey real at the same time. His calmness throughout the movie, despite having his mother fall apart in scenes, was creepy in itself, espcially when he said he'd viewed the tape simply because his cousin Tomoko (the niece) told him too. When I saw the remake, Aidan was just as scarily calm and composed, yet I wondered why both Yoichi and Aidan were so self-aware and in tune with the spiritial world, espcially with Sadako/Samara. While this never got explained in the remake, this idea was semi-addessed in the subsequent sequals of the movie in Japan. All in all, I enjoyed the acting and how real the fear and dejection felt as the movie progressed.
As a new fan of Daveigh Chase (aplogies fr misspelling her name in an earlier post, as corecting old posts on this is hellacious), I am amazed by her range, going from Samara to Chihiro (Miyazaki's "Sprited Away") to even loveable Lilo (Lilo and Stitch). For the first time in my life, she made me AFRAID of the TV; not even "Poltergiest" did that to me. That said, I must say that Chase did more than hold a candle to Inou Rie's portrayal of Sadako; she equalled in performace and in some ways surpassed. Besides an unearthly fear of zombies, decomposing ghosts and HP Lovecraft style monsters and demons, we here at Random Lunacy hate porcelain dolls and creepy little girls. Now, with the sequels, we see that Sadako was a teen/grown woman (don't ask how, I suppose you need to read the novel or watch the movies) with creepy make-up and the eye.... No no, let me rephrase that: she had the EYE. There is no concieveable way I can describe exactly what Sadako's EYE is, you'll hafta see it for yourself. Now, while I do find that immensely scary, escpecially with that walk-shuffle she has, Daveigh Chase had the make-up, minus the EYE, but had the creepy little girl aspect. Dunno why that scares the bejeezus out of me, but there's that certain jais ne c'est qua that scary little knee-biting girls have, especially ones that are DEAD. Anyway, bottom line is, in our opinion Chase was the better vengeful girl, yet Inou had the walk and the EYE that scared me into keeping a light on whilst I slept.
Another note: the hooded man also scared me, cuz I keep thhinking he's gonna pop out and stand there forbodingly. He never really did anything, just stood there and pointed but, damn it, anytime you can't see someone's face is cause for intense, pants-wetting fear. Thus, Sadako, Sanara, and the Hooded Man. I know I don't want no person stranding behind me with a towel over my head, pointing meancingly. Damn you Hooded Man, damn you.
The cursed footage is also different, though sharing similar shots. The remake had more disturbing visuals, like twitching severed fingers, writhing maggots, a corpse coughing up rope, and had more images of horses, as Samara was raised on a horse ranch. Yet the original had disturbing images in the odd and vague unexplainable department, with the sentence about erupting volcanos in different layers on the screen (as if the sentences were repeated and placed in different distances from the screen), people writhing in agony on some random beach, the Hooded Man pointing, and the infamous EYE with the kanji "sada" reflected in it. The original was substancially shorter. Both versions had the shot of the well at the end, yet throughout the original, it was longer, eventually showing that something was coming out of the well. The vagueness of the original and the unnerving-ness of the remake made us think twice about wanting to see this film all the way through. There was enough weird and scary footage to make one swear off scary movies for a long time.
The ending to the Japanese film was more disturbing and frightening. I can't tell you as it would be the biggest spoiler ver, yet I must say that it was a far better ending than the remake. The movie will just keep you guessing, especially if you'd never seen the movie before in any form. Despite me knowing how it'd end, I was still surpried by its final scene. It is something you just need to see.
I could rant on and on abbout more facts about the movies and franchise, but I'd just be ruining the experience for all of you, plus I'd be delving into the sequels, of which I haven't seen yet. There's so much to the story that you have to see everything, sequels, novel, etc. For a small bit of trivia, the character Zappa from Guilty Gear XX is a poor soul possessed by many malevolent spirits. One of them looks strangely like Sadako, and is in fact a parody character by the name of S-ko. See, we all knew it was her. ^_^; For all your "Ring" needs, and for my credits, check out the website "Ringworld" a fan site dedicated to the franchise:
http://ringworld.somrux.com/index.htm
and check out the site. There be spoilers, to I warn so tread carefully, and be sure to stop by the fanart section as there are some pretty neat (and sometimes humorous) takes on our favorite vengeful well spirit Samara/Sadako. Dark Horse is to be putting out the 2 volume manga soon and a sequel to the American remake, a totally fresh and original story, is in the works.
All in all, I enjoyed the movie, despite being scared out of my mind seeing it for at least a week. I'd say that it moves a little faster, yet doesn't have the punch that the remake has sometimes. But it still is more than a solid movie, its a great classic that I urge all fans of Japanese cinema or horror buffs to check out. We give "Ringu" 5 1/2 severed fingers up....or down whichever....^^; Check it out. I guarantee it'll make you jump at least once. Sweet dreams and happy viewing.
Samara: Congradulations are in order for you! You
are Samara. You are a dead child who can kill
people by having them view your disturbing
movie and then, over a period of 7 days, you
show them the scenes from the movie in
inconspicuous ways and on the 7th day, you
murder them! Your not harmful.. you just want
to be heard!
The Ring Character Quiz brought to you by QuizillaDo I? Do I just want to be heard? Or....
*Hell is real...Lunies....*
Labels: Ring Ringu
