THE RING aka Ringu - 1998
Omega Project / Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Company, Ltd. (Japan) / Golden Scene
(Hong Kong)
Ratings: Hong Kong: IIB / Singapore: PG |
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THE RING is the most recent horror sensation in Japan and should become required viewing for anyone searching for the kind of scare few movies are able to provide. It has already spawned numerous sequels and
Japanese television spin-offs, broken records in Hong Kong and is fast
gathering a cult following in America despite its having no domestic DVD
or VHS release stateside. English-subtitled versions are available only
on DVD and VCD imports. Still, American horror fans are slowly becoming
aware of THE RING through traded copies of video dubs, ironically echoing one element of
the film's storyline. Rarely does a movie come along that is able to conjure
the level of atmospheric dread this film is more than able to sustain.
THE RING is best viewed late at night, in complete silence, with nothing but the television on. Pay close attention to what you see and hear - this movie will not let you down. Its unsettling mood is set at
the very beginning, before even the first scene - a portentous menace
of music roils up as the credits fade in over the black water of adark-beset
ocean. The chills come immediately. THE RING opens on two girls home alone. One is telling the other
of a ‘curse video’:
"A grade school boy was on holiday down in Izu with his family. He wanted
to go out and play, but there was a TV show he didn't want to miss, so
he recorded it on a VCR. But the channels in Izu are different from Tokyo.
No channel there uses the channel he set to record, so the tape should
have been blank, but when he played it back at home there was a woman
on the screen. 'You will die in one week.' she said. The kid stopped the
tape and then the phone rang - 'You saw it!' said a voice. A week later
he died."
The girls giggle at the story, but there is something wrong with Tomoko, the girl
who has been listening. She admits that a week earlier she had been down
in Izu with some friends and they watched this strange video they had
found. They look at each other and stop laughing. The phone rings . .
.
THE RING twists down a brooding path after a reporter named Reiko - sympathetically played by Nanaka Matsushima - finds and watches the strange video tape. She shows it to her ex-husband (Hiroyuki Sanada) who begins to discern clues from the cryptic collage of
bizarre images that seal the fate of anyone who views it. They are pulled
into a horrible secret that predates the video itself. THE RING requires the undivided attention of the audience, as Japanese
movies - like their Italian cousins- are usually strong on plot. This
film is, at its heart, a suspense/thriller that relies heavily on the
supernatural, though it is truly a horror movie in the most unnerving
sense. But you must be attentive to piece together the puzzle.
The entirety of THE RING is suffused with an atmosphere that only grows as the movie progresses. It
is filled with pregnant silences and quiet rooms, abruptly punctuated
by mundane sounds that are here used to chilling effect. The level of
tension THE RING creates is a subdued and ominous foreboding as the story's level of supernatural
horror is slowly unveiled. Throughout the movie the viewer's emotions
are buffeted expertly by the sublime pace of the film. The horror alternately
builds up to increasingly suspenseful scenes and then slowly shifts gears
as the mystery of the video is revealed.
Director Hideo Nakata (RINGU 2, THE GHOST ACTRESS)
gives you snatches of strange images that build the viewer's unease. This
film drips not a drop of blood nor is there any graphic violence, but
anyone wanting to be genuinely frightened will find few movies to surpass
the unsettling eeriness of THE RING and he does not let you down with the payoffs. Nakata
builds the otherworldly tension until the understated denouement (which
comes later than you think) leaves you with a Twilight-Zone-like
mental slackness.
THE
RING was brilliantly scored by Kenji Kawai, composer for the
Japanese anime movie GHOST IN THE SHELL. The music herein is as subtle
and disquieting as the spaces in between, as the mood is built with wildly
varying sounds, places and startlingly disturbing images. Nakata uses
all this to conjure a horror that will send chills down the stiffest spine.
The American
rights to THE RING have been picked up by Fine Line Features, a division of New Line, but
it is unclear if the intent is to release it (in
descending order) domestically subtitled, dubbed, or remake it
in English. Movies like THE
RING are a long time coming and should be savored for their
originality and expertise, so anyone interested in letting this movie
crawl up and breathe down their neck should seek out the original Japanese
version with the original sound intact, as sound is a fundamental part
of this movie’s power.
One true
test of a quality film is repeated viewings and THE
RING stands up to this test unflinchingly. The story is such
that one may need to view the film twice just to appreciate the sinewy
plot and foreshadowing. Hideo Nakata has created a movie that will fit
nicely into the tense, heavy breathing arena of horror cinema. Hopefully
the specter of THE RING will be able to creep into every wanting viewer's mind.
I give this
film five out of five Shriek Girls.
This review
copyright 2001 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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