Review- リング (Ringu)

There's been a recent trend of Japanese horror (or J-horror) in movies, with plenty of remakes coming out of Hollywood; some good, some not so good.

The one movie that set the wagon rolling was リング (Ringu) meaning 'Ring', made in 1998 with a low budget of $1.2 million. It went on to become the highest grossing horror from in Japan, spawned several sequels and remakes in Korea and Hollywood.

The first thing that got me interested was the premise, which quite unique for a movie of this particular type. Basically, there's a video going around that has strange images on it, once the video ends the phone rings. You then have one week before you die.


Reiko Asakawa (the beautiful Nanako Matsushima) is a reporter who is investigating the story of this rumoured video that all the teenagers are talking about. Her niece, Tomoko, is seen in the first scene telling her friend that she and a few others took a trip to Izu and ended up watching a weird video and got a call saying that they would die in one week, which just happens to end that night. Sure enough, she mysteriously dies and her friend goes loony and ends up in a hospital.

At the funeral Reiko discovers that Tomoko's friends also died that night in separate incidents. She comes across some photos that Tomoko had taken on their trip to Izu the week before and as she flips through them notices one where all their faces are blurred and distorted. She decides to take a trip to Izu and, with the aid of the photos, finds the cabin in which they stayed in and also the video. As she watches it there is a woman coming her hair in a mirror, which quickly jumps revealing a little girl, a man pointing with a cloth over his head, the word 'eruption', and eye with 'Sada' written in it and several other images, ending on a well before cutting to static noise. Immediately afterwards the phone rings and Reiko answers, though we do not hear what is on the other side. Reiko now now assumes she only has a week left. The time is 7:10 pm.

The next day she calls her ex-husband over. Ryuji Takayama (the excellent and awesome Hiroyuki Sanada) comes over and takes Reiko's picture with a polaroid. It comes out blurred and distorted, just like the one of the teenagers. Ryuji watches the video but apparently there is no phone call.

'Hopefully not another chick flick'

Reiko makes a copy of the tape for them to study and they find clues within the video which leads them Oshima island, although Reiko's son, Yoichi has also watched the video.

The pair discover the story of a woman named Shizuko who claimed to have psychic powers, but at a demonstration of her talent the press turned on her and she eventually ended up killing herself. Shizuko appears to be the woman in the video combing her hair in the video and it seems that her daughter Sadako may have made the video, she too has powers it seems.

With one day left, Reiko and Ryuji head back to the cabin and discover a well underneath it, as well as the shocking truth behind Sadako. Are they both cursed to die one week after watching the tape? If so can this curse be broken?

Now Ringu is described as a horror and as such, many people sit down to watch this movie and be terrified. I don't class it as a horror, but it works more as a suspense/mystery/thriller type thing. You see, a typical horror movie will give you a nice scare at the beginning and then sprinkle scares throughout as more teenagers gets killed off etc. But, Ringu works a lot differently. Sure, you get the great first scene with the two teenage girls, one worried that she has seen the video. Is the whole thing a joke or not? We're not sure until the end of the scene when Tomoko is killed. However, the rest of the movie is unraveling the mystery of the video and who made it. We do not know if Reiko will die after one week or not, but signs point to the possibility. Her husband is skeptical at first but then he too is lead to believe that they are both cursed after watching it. The whole plot is a gradual build up to the end scenes, raising the tension and the mystery. We only find out things as our protagonists do, we are drawn into this investigation with them.

I believe this is why a lot of people are let down by this, because the structure is so different from what they were expecting when they heard this was a horror movie. If you approach this as a suspense then you are prepared for the slow build up. This movie doesn't rely on cheap scares, most of the movie in fact doesn't contain anything scary or creepy at all. The clock is ticking for Reiko (or is it?) and the clues come slowly and you don't know where all of it is leading to. You have to sit through it and experience what she does as she contemplates her fate and worries about her son.

Hideo Nakata directs this and does a good job, there are a couple of short scenes in particular which are done really well. One example is when Ryuji is sat on a bench and is approached by a mysterious woman (Ryuji is psychic and what he sees is a vision). The scene goes from having the bustle of a busy part of the city to suddenly fading away to silence leaving only her footsteps. We only see her feet and legs and Ryuji never looks up, we get a great bit of camera work as it sweeps around him and then the scene is back to normal. The whole thing only lasts 30 seconds and is a 'what the hell?' type of scene for a lot of people.

The great Hiroyuki Sanada; his spidey sense is tingling

Yes, Ryuji is psychic but it is not revealed outright in an obvious way. The aforementioned scene, though, is the first time this is confirmed although a lot of people didn't pick up on it. It is not uncommon in a lot of Japanese movies of this genre to include someone who is psychic.

This brings me onto the second reason why I think a lot of people were either disappointed or didn't quite 'get' Ringu, not the plot but how it was told. It is essential to understand that Eastern stories are told a lot differently than they are in the West. A typical legendary Chinese or Japanese ghost story will have elements that would be completely alien in a Western ghost story. Even the way they sometimes structure stories, and as such tell these in cinema and television, can be quite different from what Westerners are used to. This can lead to some people being a bit put off in watching Eastern cinema as there are elements they don't understand.

Thankfully, anime is very popular among Western youths and hopefully this will mean that new generations will be more willing to explore, not just anime, but Eastern cinema as a whole, being used to how they tell stories and portray characters. The biggest advantage that I feel Eastern Cinema is over Hollywood is that it rarely dumbs down. It doesn't usually hand-feed the audience with what is going on, it doesn't worry that the audience may not get something in the story. Instead it, mostly, concentrates on keeping the script at a point were it is written well enough for anyone patient and willing to work things out for themselves.

Now I mentioned there aren't any cheap scares, but the movie does come close to it on a couple of occasions. When Reiko finishes watching the video we see a reflection of someone in the TV, but nobody is actually there. This is very similar to how a Hollywood horror would work, but instead of an huge burst from the score to say 'jump now' it is slightly more restrained so that, rather than jumping, you begin to catch your breath but then it is over as quickly as it began.

Kenji Kawai does the score which mostly comprises of a dread-inspiring sound of strings being stretched, plucked and stroked whenever something scary happens. This again puts the movie into a different tone. We rarely jump when this happens, instead we get a sense of dread and unease which lasts up until the great ending of the movie.

Watching the video gives you a good poker face

Nanako Matsushima is wonderfully cast as the female lead, she is full of grace at the start, but as the week progresses she becomes desperate for herself and for her son. Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays her ex-husband is one of my favourite Japanese actors, he is just fantastic in this and, rightfully so, is slowly getting roles in Hollywood movies. He has appeared in The Last Samurai and was the great Kaneda in Danny Boyle's Sunshine (best death ever). I hope he continues to gain more roles so that a larger audience can appreciate just how good he is.

Ringu is a great piece of Japanese suspense and, if approached as such and not as horror, the audience should have a great hour and half.

A quick note on the remake

In 2002 there was a remake of this. I would like to state that on the whole this remake is very good. It is, however, a proper horror movie, with more intense images and plenty of 'jumpy' moments which are all very effective and well done, and has a completely different feel to Ringu.

There is a problem that anyone who has seen this remake first may not get as much out of Ringu as they should. It is a mystery movie, but as The Ring shares a similar plot and conclusion, viewers will already know the outcome, let alone the surprise ending. I would recommend that both version of the movie be watched as they are both good in their own right and style, but if possible watch Ringu first and then The Ring. The Ring, with its horror based structure can be easily enjoyed when knowing the basic storyline, whereas Ringu would be ruined a lot by this foreknowledge.

Best Line:
This kind of thing... it doesn't start by one person telling a story. It's more like everyone's fear just takes on a life of its own.

Star Turn:
Hiroyuki Sanada, I could watch him all day, a great actor.

Best Moment:
THE scene