Ring (Sometimes Referred To As Ringu)

Ring (1998)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: Hideo Nakata

Starring: Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani, Hiroyuki Sanada, Yuko Takeuchi, Hitomi Sato

From: Toho

Believe it or not, the first time I had ever seen any Ring movie. That goes for either timeline in the Japanese series, the American series or anything else. As this helped popularize J-Horror in the West and lead to all those American remakes of Asian horror-to varying degrees of success-about time I gave Ring a shot. Before I continue on, YEARS ago on a podcast I heard a huge Asian horror fan bemoan how this was known in the West as Ringu as in Japan it was just known as Ring. As bad as this sounds, I presume “Ringu” was used because that's what it sounded like to English ears when they heard the Japanese say the movie's title. Due to all that and the subtitles on the stream that Arrow has call it Ring...

All that out of the way, Ring is not about jump scares, scary creatures seen lurking about, loud noises or graphic carnage. Rather, it's all about tone and the creepy nature of why there is a girl named Sadako who is on a cursed videotape that causes those who view it to die within seven days, unless... then again I am sure most are familiar with the basics (even I was from cultural osmosis throughout the past two decades) so I won't dwell on that. Personally, it was very nice to get the backstory of why there is this cursed tape; the movie slowly unfurled as a reporter and her psychic professor ex-husband investigate and not only is it always compelling, it is always rather chilling.

Heck, the couple even have a young son and that character/performance was fine... although at one point he wore uncomfortably short shorts! I thought that trend involving young Japanese boys died out in Nippon cinema once the 70's hit. Anyway, I was relieved that the movie was still effective as a first time watch in 2020; it does get some bonus points for its impact on cinema and moviegoers around the world but if you are a horror fan like me and are also like me (up to last night) and hadn't viewed this yet...