The Ring (2001)
Anyone who watches a strange videotape dies one week later. A reporter (Naomi Watts/Matsushima Nanako/Shin Eun-Kyung) and her ex search for the origins of the tape, and how to stop the curse before it kills them and their child .
Horror films are rarely actually frightening. They can be sickening, repulsive, suspenseful, exciting, and funny, but rarely scary. Oh, some can startle, but that’s a cheap thrill (if thrill at all) that is gone as quickly as it came. Fright lasts longer. It builds, putting your nerves on end and causing your hair to standup, and stay that way. I am a hard case, as few people are scared less often than I am by movies. Only three have done it, and none in the last twenty years. The Ring didn’t change that, but it came close. For lack of a better word, I’ll say it made me apprehensive and it felt creepy (I don’t want to downplay the more adrenalin-filled effects of those other 3 films—you’ll just have to read my reviews to find what they are). If you are more easily frightened, then The Ring should send you over the edge. For nine-tenths of the film, it follows the haunting standard, with our heroes, who had nothing to do with the original event, trying to unlock the secret in order to end the ghostly assaults. It does this excellently, and I was ready to label this a successful, “creepy” picture, but then it all changes. Its ending is something new, and contains the most chilling scene in any horror film.
Ringu (1998)
Ringu is the Japanese original (not really the original as there was a TV version first). It was so successful with its stylish terror that it started a movement known as J-Horror (including sequels and prequels to Ringu, Dark Water and the Ju-On series). These films are highly atmospheric, seldom explain everything, and not for the faint of heart. They have been a welcome source of inspiration for Hollywood which is remaking many of them. The Ring changed little of Ringu besides putting it in English and raising the production values a bit. It is the same excellent story. Which is better? Well, as I don’t speak Japanese, that’s hard to say. I can’t tell if the dialog in the original is clever or emotional as sub-titles do not give me the nuances that a native speaker would get. If I was Japanese, I would switch my ratings. Ignoring language, a silly thing to do with a talking picture, I’d give the edge to The Ring. One difference between the films is in the character of the ex-husband/boyfriend. In The Ring he is a video expert, which is one of the reasons he’s brought into the mystery. In Ringu he’s asked to help because he is psychic. This adds something else I have to suspend my disbelief about, and pulls me away from the story as it is much harder to picture myself in the situation (you see, none of my friends can read minds). His powers are there just to speed the plot. Instead of spending time questioning people and looking through files, the ex just grabs people and gets the answers from their mind. The detective work is more satisfying. Either way, these are movies to see.
The Ring Virus (1999)
Ring Virus is the English name given to the Korean version. It varies more from Ringu than The Ring did, but still tells a good tale. I would rate it higher if the others didn’t exist as better choices. Even if I understood Korean, I would suggest one of the others first. Ring Virus increases the psychic activity of our heroes (which leads to statements like “The tape was made telekinetically; I can feel it.”). The main character’s associate is neither an ex-husband nor ex-boyfriend, and may have no connection to her at all; it is unclear. His behavior is inexplicable at times, no matter what he is. There’s a subplot dealing with one of the characters being a hermaphrodite, but it is not explored enough to be interesting. Less care has been shown with the English sub-titles than in Ringu and spelling errors and twisted grammar abound. If you view the DVD, be sure to switch the audio track to Korean (there is no English) as it defaults to the Chinese dubbed track, which was even more amateurishly done than the sub-titles.