March 15, 2016

The late 90’s was a strange time for horror. Riding off the wave set about by Wes Craven’s smash success SCREAM, the Hollywood machine began churning out “slasher” whodunits, each one more intricate, slightly bonkers and more sarcastic & cynical than the last. But over in Japan, a cultural phenomenon was about to break that would inform the next several years of horror in America before SAW & HOSTEL ushered in a decade of “torture porn.” The J-horror cycle, as it pertains to American horror, started when Hideo Nakata unleashed RINGU (aka THE RING) to an unsuspecting Japanese audience in 1998, based upon the original Kôji Suzuki novel, which went on to spawn several sequels, remakes, a 3D movie and beyond!

Since THE RING / THE GRUDGE mash-up SADAKO VS KAYAKO is coming, for this “double take,” I wanted to go back and revisit RINGU, paired up with its sequel RINGU 2. I had seen both in the very early 2000’s prior to the American version of THE RING coming out, but here’s where things get a bit fuzzy.. RASEN (aka SPIRAL) was made and released at the same time as RINGU as a sequel. I have yet to see it, so I’m not sure how closely they relate, or how Japanese audiences wouldn’t be confused by two similar movies in theaters at the same time, but RINGU 2 is a direct continuation of the events we see in RINGU and it expands upon the mythology of Sadako, the lead “monster” of the legend, so those two paired up make for a perfect double feature.

RINGU opens with two teenage girls talking about a mysterious haunted VHS cassette. Apparently, it depicts a lot of bizarre imagery before closing on a shot of a secluded well and a long haired girl emerging from the well. You immediately get a phone call after the tape is over which warns you that you have one week to live. What starts out as a joke turns out to be legitimately serious as one of the girls Tomoko (Yūko Takeuchi), admits to having seen the tape while out with friends the previous weekend and later that night, she ends up dead in the most puzzling of circumstances. Her heart just abruptly stopped and the look of fear left on her face is unlike anything anyone has ever seen before.

A reporter named Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), is on the case trying to understand the fabled urban legend. It turns out that Tomoko was her niece and very close with her son. She interviews several teens to uncover the story behind the alleged killer tape and with the help of her ex-husband, they learn the backstories of the people on the tape. The woman combing her hair in the mirror is famed psychic Shizuko Yamamura, and the girl in the well is her daughter Sadako. But there is something terribly frightening about Sadako, who may have had even more genuine and dangerous psychic powers than her mother ever had. They set about a quest to find the well, and free her raging spirit, not only to save themselves but because they have watched the tape, and so has Reiko’s son!

It’s interesting how the myth and backstory slowly start to unfold. Utilizing modern technology (or at least modern at the time) by a cursed video tape was a stroke of brilliance and while the American remake got some things right in its reinterpretation, as is usually the case, you can’t top the original! In fact, Sadako’s final appearance in the conclusion was terrifying when I saw it upon release and it’s just as scary now.

RINGU 2 is where things start to get bat-shit crazy. For starters, although we don’t see it in the conclusion of RINGU, it’s implied that in order to save her son from the curse of Sadako, Reiko has her son show the tape to her elderly father! That’s just cold! Well, no more wondering. That’s exactly what happened as the body of Reiko’s father is found in the opening of the sequel, with Reiko and her son missing. Also, the remains of Sadako have been recovered from the bottom of the well with some strange, mysterious anomalies. For example, according to the forensics, she only died approximately 2 years prior to them finding her, which means she was sealed up and trapped in that well for 30 years!

One of the other creepy aspects is they recreate her face out of clay based upon her skeletal structure. The fake clay mold of her face is pretty creepy in its own right and then it becomes the face we see on Sadako later on.

Our lead character shifts to Mai Takano, who is investigating the sudden death of her professor Ryuji Takayama, who just happens to be Reiko’s ex-husband. I couldn’t quite tell why Mai has such an obsession with finding out what happened to her teacher. I suspect something more between their relationships, although it’s never confirmed? Regardless, she sets about following in Reiko’s footsteps, teams up with another reporter and discovers more of the backstory regarding Sadako, her mother and her untimely demise.

Even though this may sound like it’s following the same beats as the original, it definitely goes in its own radical direction. For example, the teenage girl that was in the opening of the first RINGU and witnessed her best friend’s death is in a mental hospital. She’s terrified to go anywhere near a TV set and at one point when she’s in front of one in the rec room, her and all the other patients start having bizarre seizures. Later, Reiko and her son do come out of hiding, but now her son has a strange bond with Sadako, as well as psychic abilities, proving they haven’t fully excised her or her vengeful spirit.

In one of the movie’s more mean-spirited bits, a teenage girl makes a copy of the video for the reporter and stupidly makes the mistake of watching it. She makes him swear he’ll make a copy and show it to someone so that she’ll escape the curse. She calls 7 days later, freaking out and he assures her he showed it to someone. But he was lying! This poor girl spent the last night of her life thinking she was safe before succumbing to a horrible death!

A lot of the characters are back, they expand upon the mythology a bit more and veer off in weird, crazy directions, which is what I expect out of a sequel. Together, the first 2 RINGU movies make one wacky, spooky double feature, and it’s quite a journey to go on. Next up, I’ll take a look at RASEN and the prequel film RINGU 0, followed by the American remake and its sequel!

Stay tuned! Unless there’s static on the TV. If there is, don’t look, just turn it off!