After a mild result in the audiences with Ringu 2 and the original part two Rasen, Hideo Nakata didn't continue his work as the director of the Ringu saga. However, changing the director proved to be the right choice in order to give the saga a new fresh air fans would thank. Norio Tsurata a relatively unknown film maker was the go to director for releasing the next movie in the apparently finished Ringu saga. Tsurata took some elements from the previous films as well as some portions from the original novel written by Koji Suzuki (the Japanese Stephen King) He also added some elements from a short story written by Suzuki as well. Tsurata knew what fans have been looking forward to: an origin story of Sadako Yamamura, and so he made a movie fans would love for sure.
Released in the year 2000 the movie takes us back 30 years before the first film from the saga. Tsurata is determined to accomplish a big goal: to let us enter into the world of a teenage Sadako, victim of herself & her strange family. Opposed to what we know of Sadako Yamamura from the previous movies, in Ringu 0: Bâsudei We are to enter unknown territories in the life of the ultimate killing girl from J-Horror. Sadako used to be a very shy girl whith an almost ethereal personality. The plot of the movie wants ust to know that sometimes, evil can be manipulated up to the point of building killing machines that lack all sort of emotions. So, basically Norio Tsurata and his wonderful cast have one goal in mind, a goal that would seem impossible: to turn viewers Sadako's point of view upside down. The first two entries in the saga taught us to fear the unstoppable Sadako, a girl in the looks but a monster in the inside. Part III wants us to learn the human side this girl used to have. Soon we learn that Sadako Yamamura was born with psychic powers just like her mother. The problem was that Sadako couldn't control them and as soon as her state of mind was altered people would die in the most horrible ways you can think of. Unfortunately Sadako's mother also had those abilities and yeah, she went nuts and killed herself by jumping into an exploding volcano (this is discovered in part 1)So young Sadako is trying hard to avoid such a horrible future.
Sadako Yamamura's sweet side.
Drama served her well.
"Sadako I'm the only one who believes you. Let me have you doggy style"
Sadako's popular dark side.
If comparisons were any good, I would say that Ringu 0 is the Asian equivalent story/movie of the American Carrie flick. Sadako suffers from being shy and different just like Carrie White did in her movie. Essentialy we are told a compassion story in 90 minutes because Sadako can't control her abilities, they just take over herself and turn her into pure evil. Sadako is constantly haunted by
frightening visions of ghosts and bloody omens of the future. She has found some happiness
in a small drama troupe, despite the fact that few of her fellow actors
like her - Sadako is too quiet, a little creepy, and always seems to
have something or someone standing behind her back - something that no one can quite
see. The cast of an upcoming play all begin to have similar dreams in
which an old house, a forest by the sea and a crumbling well all make
an appearance. When the star of the play dies unexpectedly, and Sadako
is given her role, suspicion mounts. Odd occurrences plague the set, a
news reporter with a secret agenda begins to investigate poor Sadako Yamamura and
Sadako herself falls in love with a handsome sound engineer named
Toyama, the only one who believes that Sadako is innocent from all the mess around her. But if she
is, then what is causing the poltergeist-like activity in the theater? What
is the source of the strange, eerie sound that everyone can hear? And
whose voice said "You will die" on a recording made at the time of a
young woman's death?
Sadako's real dad.
Sadako's wacko mum.
The well.
Sadako's only friend.
Grand Finale.
This is a strong entry in the Ringu series, more of a psychological
drama than anything else. Sadako, is a girl with no
self-esteem, wandering through the film in pale dumpy clothes with her long black hair covering her face. She is truly a good, sweet girl who is simply pushed too far. There are some creepy moments scattered through the film
featuring grainy dream sequences, stricken corpses and a very creepy
shot of Sadako's insane mother during a flashback. There's also a great
climax featuring Sadako as we all remember her - hair in her face and
clad in a long white dress - literally jumping into view and then
creeping up on her two victims in a scene that was clearly shot
backwards and then run forwards, giving her movements a hideous
jerkiness. Yukie Nakama is very good as Sadako, giving us a tragic
heroine who is good and pure and possesses the power to heal the sick.
Your sympathy will lie with Sadako, even as her dark past is revealed.
The good Sadako suffers unbearably and you will suffer with her, right
up to the chilling, but inevitable, ending.
Overall, the origin story of Sadako Yamamura is nothing too far from our reality: an abused girl since her earliest upbringings, abused in the worst way: by her family. After we're done watching it, we leave the movie thinking "nobody told her she could make it someday" This part III fits quite good as the climax for the trilogy, although we're never told every single fact about Sadako's life and the people and facts around her. For instance we meet her twin sister, but that's it, no further explanations. Some other references to her mum and dad seem a bit incomplete and are only understood clearly by those who watched the previous films. I guess they didn't wanted to tell the whole story, so that we could fantasize and hope for a part IV in the near future.
Before we set our minds to talk about Ringu 2, we have to remember a few key elements that were revealed in part I. First, we now know that Sadako is a victim of her parents. She developed the same psychic abilities her late mother had, so his dad wanted to use her for his science research. However as Sadako's powers went beyond imaginable his dad had no choice but kill her himself. The videotape was made with the abilities Sadako had, so once you saw it you had the chance to look at her miserable life: Her mother who predicted an eruption and kill herself jumping into the volcano; the well where his father took her to kill her and other minor elements. Why am I remembering all of these elements? because we are to review part II, which continues were part I left us...
Taking place immediately after the events of the original Ringu (1998), Ringu 2
features Mai Takano (Miki Nakatani) continuing the investigation into
the events of part I. At the beginning of the film, Reiko and his little son Yoichi Asakawa are still on the run after their ordeals in Ringu. Both the police and
Mai are hoping to find them. Meanwhile, Masami Kurahashi,
one of the two girls from the beginning of Ringu, is now in a mental
hospital, the police have the remains of Sadako Yamamura's
body, they're trying to recreate her living appearance through forensic
modeling, and they've located a man who is supposedly Sadako's father,
a guy known as Takashi.
In case you guys haven't noticed as should be apparent from the above description, it's
imperative that you watch Ringu before seeing Ringu 2. You may also
wish to watch Ringu 0: Basudei (2000) before the original part I, and for fun, the
original Ringu 2, AKA Rasen/Spiral before or after this
"replacement sequel" (believe it or not, this one was produced when audiences were
dissatisfied with the very differently toned Rasen/Spiral).
Unlike Rasen/Spiral, Ringu 2 is so close in tone to Ringu that it seems
more like a "deleted scenes extended edition" than a full time sequel. However, Rasen/Spiral had better results as a whole, probably as it continued the Koji Suzuki novel original idea while on the other hand, Ringu 2 is much more uneven. There are lots of unnecesary scenes, some make sense, some not.
"So this is the studio they used for amateur porn"
Many fans were dissatisfied with Rasen/Spiral heading off into sci-fi
territory, on the way providing something of a scientific explanation
for what turned out to be some sort of a "Ring virus". They thought it ruined the mystery setting from the first film. It's curious in that light that
many of those same fans like Ringu 2 much better. There is also an
attempt here at explaining the curse, and it also inevitably ends up in sci-fi
land.
Admittedly, though, the explanation for the curse in Ringu 2 is much
different than it was in Rasen/Spiral, and despite the sci-fi, the
strong mystery genre "investigation" elements that many loved so much
in Ringu are woven throughout the plot. The sci-fi here is more
psychological than Rasen's medical sci-fi, so probably that is why Ringu 2 is a bit better than Rasen, you know, not a lot of people is interested in medical sci-fi, I for one don't five a shit about stuff like ER or Dr. House, but psychological sci-fi feels more like a classic way of revealing the true story of a horror film. There is a lot of
talk of intentionality and theories of intentionality being physically
manifested. The film's ontology has it so that "mental energy",
emotions and thoughts can be suppressed and subsequently "accumulated"
to such a high range that when released externally, they can be extremely dangerous
to others. Sadako, the chairperson of the Ringu villains, is the
principal, most focused example of this, primarily because she's had 30
years in a veritable isolation chamber to effectively bury her
thoughts. Watching this made me think that this could probably be an attempt to provide a subtext about the suppression
of one's "real feelings and desires" in our current disposable society. Maybe, only the author can tell for sure.
"My mouth is ready for some cock daddy o'"
So we have to evaluate Ringu 2 more on its surface level rather than an in depth analysis that would reveal the truth: a poor film that barely makes it to a B movie level. A lot of the
film is a fairly pedestrian drama. Early ostensibly horrific
events--such as the perusal of Reiko's apartment, deaths of supporting
characters, possible ghost appearances, and the supernatural events
surrounding Masami in the mental hospital--too often come across as a
bit flat, almost banal. Ringu 2 is nothing if not a slow cooker. It
improves, but very gradually.
By the time we get to one particular, very significant death, the film
is cooking with full gas, but that's nearly an hour into a 90-minute
film. Before that point, Ringu 2 feels like a much ado about nothing film. I won't mention who dies in this pivotal scene, but
it is beautifully realized. We never really see the body, but instead
the director Hideo Nakata shows us bright red blood slowing flowing across pavement,
trickling down cracks, filling up depressions.
"Gotta get rid of this homemade porn movie of myself before it's too late"
"My mom would kill me if she saw these guys cumming in my mouth"
"Please fuck me hard, please!"
"Show me your wet twat Sadako"
From here to the end, Ringu 2 is much more even.
The bulk of the "atmospheric" or "creepy" material arrives in this last
half hour to forty minutes, such as the videotape of another young girl
suddenly changing, her head bizarrely, violently shaking. Another standout
moment is at the Yamamura family "hotel", when both Sadako and her
mother eerily appear.
By the time the climax is revealed, the film is quite exciting, and
Nakata forgoes dramatic sci-fi for more focused, horrific surrealism.
Like Ringu, there is a climactic scene in a well, this one much more
enigmatic, possibly meant to be a symbolic journey to the core of the
pent-up emotions associated with the character of Sadako, with the emergence from a
light-filled "ring" perhaps, representing the physical manifestation and release
of the emotions through a person's eye. In the finale, Nakata also more
literally combines the ring symbolism with the series' ubiquitous water
symbolism--water more than likely being used to represent a kind of
unifying "spiritual" ether that
permeates the world. Of course, he still leaves an opening for another
sequel as well.
Overall, unlike many films, Ringu 2 is impossible to evaluate "properly" in
isolation. It must be contextualized with part I to add more sense. It may be far from an
excellent film on its own, but it's certainly above average when viewed
in conjunction with the series.So, after this long talk I would say to understand Ringu 2 you must watch the entire trilogy plus Rasen to have a wider view of why this movie became the new Ringu part II.
Here's the movie trailer:
Next review will be the strongest movie from the trilogy: Ringu O Badousei (Birthday) stay tuned!
Today we enter into the dark paths of Japanese horror movies. It is said that the asian cinema is very hard to swallow by our western minds. When they tell us about asian culture we think of martial arts, chop suey, sushi, geisha, technology and animé, so thinking of japanese horror movies is certainly not in our regular minds. The now cult japanese horror genre AKA J-Horror is something quite familiar not only to films enthusiasts but to average movie goers as well. The year 1998, the director Hideo Nakata and the film Ringu (The Ring) Probably before Hideo Nakata filmed Ringu he was somehow quite an unknown movie director in our side of the hemisphere. Nakata didn't create the Ringu story from scratch. In fact the movie is based in the Koji Suzuki novel of the same name. The movie had such an impact in the asian world that soon there was a part 2 and part 3 known as Ringu 0 (my personal favorite)
I'm sure today everyone knows about the movie because of the American remake The Ring, effectively directed by Gore Verbinski and masterfuly starred by Naomi Watts, but that's another story dudes. I'm not against the remake, in fact, it was through the remake that I had the chance to look for the original japanese film. Now both the original & the remake movie have quite a lot of elements in common, they're slightly different, mostly because of the western point of view and the asian point of view. In both movies, the story has it that there's a home made video tape that runs no longer than a minute, but that has enough power to kill you within seven days, and there's nothing you can do to escape from such a violent fate. The movie begins when a main character relative dies in a way that suggests she saw the
video, journalist Reiko tracks down the tape and recklessly watches it. She
finds she is under the curse and shows it to her ex-husband to get his help.
When her son watches the tape Reiko and Ryuji race against time to discover
the meaning behind the curse to be able to lift it.
The plot is good
in it's one word description but there are a few holes in it and some elements
aren't well explained. However it is a good story to follow as it is a form
of a ghost hunt as they try to unravel the mystery. The whole thing has an
air of uneasiness about it.
The film has some very scary moments – especially the ending which in case you still haven't had the chance of watching by yourself, I won't spoil it. However for the most part it is just plain creepy – which is
even worse. There's no blood or gore – just a real sense of being
uncomfortable. The director has seen teen horrors before so he teases us –
he has shots of people with doors just over their shoulder, or the TV
lingering in the rear of the shot – knowing that we are conditioned to
expect something to jump out – but then nothing does. Instead the scares
come slowly and blatantly really not being shocking but either making your
skin crawl or falling asleep within seconds.
Enter Sadako.
Sadako's mum.
"I need to puke so badly"
Sadako's coming for you!
The acting is fair enough all round although Sanada is a little stony at times
but he gets better. The real star is the director who uses music and sound
effects to get the eerie effect but also uses images that are weird to just
creep out the whole film. In fact to watch this movie, you do need to be paying attention to it at all times. The curse videotape gives us plenty of clues to find out about the mysterious girl only known as Sadako. The lady in the videotape happens to be Sadako's mother, a key to explain the important elements involved in the death of Sadako & her mother.
Hideo Nakata took some liberties from the original novel and being a horror films connoisseur he didn't use a single cliché from the most influential genre movies. His movie spawned a whole new generation of films made in Japan that were about dead children ghosts, however his Ringu trilogy remains as probably the most internationaly influential J-horror saga. There are neither gore scenes nor blood scenes, we just see corpses, and that's a plus in the age of CGI.
School teens either end up fucking in a cabaign or being killed by psychopaths.
"I'm a bit scared"
"Do I look like I'm having fun?"
"I brought this bukkake movie I've been telling you about"
Overall, a great movie but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone around, as the asian horror cinema has a very different personality if compared with the standard American horror family of flicks, so if you're ok with that, you'll enjoy it. If not, you won't understand most of the elements depicted in the movie. I guess is a thing of being opposite cultures.
I still remember this independent cinema we had in my hometown until some years ago. They made themselves with a copy of Ringu, and as plenty of people had already watched the American remake, there were lots of people looking for tickets when it premiered. I went with my wife and by the first half of the movie, many people had left the cinema. That is why I think there's a culture issue with this movie, although you liked the remake, you just didn't like the original movie. My wife, I and a few others remained until the movie was over and we all liked it because we're open minded people.
Some time later they premiered Ringu 2 & Ringu 0, being Ringu 2 the one that dissapointed the most from the saga.
