The Ring, In All Its Forms

********SPOILERS (like there's anyone who hasn't seen The Ring)********

So I have this friend who is obsessed with The Ring. He's a big Japanese horror nut in general, but his specialty is The Ring Series. He's seen pretty much everything, and, little by little, Stu and I are catching up. There's a lot more in the series than you know, and he is the sole possessor of some of it.

I had been a longtime fan of The Ring when it came out in theaters. I had not seen the Japanese version yet, but I have to say that I think the American one is scarier. Number one, it makes more sense. I think the weakest thing about Japanese horror is the seemingly pervasive idea that "It doesn't have to make sense...it's creepy!" And definitely Ringu falls prey to that. The introduction of the psychic plotline an hour or more into the movie threw me for a loop. In The Ring, the writers added a lot of things that weren't in the original, but it was mostly for the purpose of having more things make sense. The video is scarier in the first movie partly because more of its images come back. One of the best moments in the film is when the lid of the well is closing down on Naomi Watts and you "see the ring". It gives "The Ring" a less metaphorical meaning than just the cycle of this curse. Which I approve of. Another thing that makes the American film scarier is the detail of the girl's hand coming out of the well. They hold back on that moment longer than in Ringu, making it a better surprise. Also, in The Ring, when she comes out of the tv, she has VHS tracking lines all over her, which is pretty freaking sweet. It's a nice touch.

Just this week, though, I saw Ringu 2. Not only does it clear up nearly every unanswered question in Ringu, it makes a ton of sense, explaining things that you had already conceded to, like how the tape was created in the first place. That answer made me really happy, and I'll hold back just in case someone wants to see it. It has its share of senselessness, but in general made more sense and stayed on track better than a lot of Japanese horror films I've seen. It starts up 10 days after the first film, and they revisit most of the locations and bring back all the actors excluding the little boy. Even with years between the filming of the two, the details are all there. Lesser characters from the first film have to explore its consequences and dig deeper than the other characters could. It is fascinating and works almost like a second half. You could watch the two films back to back with an "Intermission" title, and I think it could work. I saw the two within a couple weeks of each other, and it didn't seem too redundant. As Stu said, "That was one of the most necessary sequels ever."

Good job.

This does not entirely document the films of The Ring. First there was a book with a very different storyline. Then there was a made-for-tv movie referred to as Ring: Kanzen-ban. My friend Jared tracked down a tv recording of this film, had it translated and subtitled. He is one of the only people to own a non-Japanese viewable version of this film. Anyone else who has it bought it from Jared. This movie is a pleasant surprise, more of a mystery than a horror flick. It goes in some weird places and is a nice comparison to the later versions.

There is also a Japanese sequel, Rasen, that was so bad they pretended it didn't exist and made another sequel. There's also a Korean remake called The Ring Virus, a television series, Ringu: Saishûshô, and a prequel, Ringu 0. I have yet to see any of these or the American sequel.

All in all an interesting franchise, although I think I prefer the American movie, simply because it's scarier. They're horror movies, after all.