ThiefHott Too much of everything

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

sofianXmXh I am one of those people who wished they had seen the original version before seeing the remake. I made this mistake twice now. Not anymore. Last year, around the same time, I started watching Japanese horror movies. I watched The Grudge trilogy (2004, 2006 & 2009) before watching the 2000 movies, Ju-On: The Curse and its sequel; which I both had mistaken for the movies that was remade as The Grudge, despite the fact that certain elements were taken from The Curse; such as the jaw scene. However, luckily enough, I have a chance to make this right when I plan on watching Dark Water soon. I also watched Kairo (2001) before watching its American remake: Pulse (2006), and I'm glad I did. If you haven't seen it yet, I strongly urge you to do so.Ringu is a quite minimalistic horror movie as a whole, which is definitely not a bad thing. In fact, it's even better. Overall, I prefer The Ring over Ringu, but there are certain elements that Ringu has that its American remake, The Ring, doesn't have. Ringu doesn't rely on jump scares as much as The Ring does. Like most Japanese horror movies that came after Ringu, it relies on its atmosphere. While the feeling of dread is surely not missed in The Ring, the combination with its cheap scare tactics is what ultimately weakens the atmosphere in comparison.As a result of watching The Ring before Ringu, I was quite underwhelmed by the last scene of the movie. I did not feel frightened by the scene because I knew what was coming. If I hadn't seen the remake first, and thus hadn't known what would happen, this movie surely would've scared the living hell out of me. In the end, The Ring blew Ringu right out of the water. But for reasons very obvious: a bigger budget and improved technology, it is clearly the superior movie. A 6/10 for Ringu, and an 8/10 for The Ring.

SnoopyStyle Teenagers Masami and Tomoko talk about a videotape that kills you a week after viewing it. Tomoko dies with a horrified expression and Masami goes insane. TV reporter Reiko Asakawa is investigating the killer videotape and is shocked by her niece Tomoko's death. Tomoko and three friends had rented a cabin in Izu. Reiko goes to Izu and retrieves the videotape. She watches the tape herself setting off the cycle once again.I watched the American version before the Japanese original. I think it actually helped me follow the story because the American movie essentially copied the Japanese movie. This one is not quite as polished as the American version. However it has the same moody atmosphere if not more. This is an effective ghostly horror no matter which version.

gavin6942 Ruthlessly murdered by her father, the ghost of a seer's daughter kills all those who watch a weird video after seven days; unless the viewer finds the escape clause.Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Hollywood horror had largely been dominated by the slasher subgenre, which relied on on-screen violence, shock tactics, and gore. "Ring", whose release in Japan roughly coincided with the stylistically similar "The Blair Witch Project" in the United States, helped to revitalize the genre by taking a more restrained approach to horror, leaving much of the terror to the audience's imagination. The film initiated global interest in Japanese cinema in general and Japanese horror cinema in particular, a renaissance which led to the coining of the term J-Horror in the West. This "New Asian Horror" resulted in further successful releases, such as "Ju-on: The Grudge" and "Dark Water".This really is the essential modern Japanese horror film. Not only did it launch a cycle of American remakes and get more people to notice Japanese horror, but it is terrifying in its own right. Some have tried to analyze it as a metaphor on motherhood or being about traditional Japanese culture. But really, it was just scary... and still is almost 20 years later.

ComedyFan2010 I don't remember the American version of the movie. I sure watched it when it came out and remember being very impressed. but watching the original now, over a decade later I won't be able to compare the two.Which is fine since the original deserves to be treated like an individual movie. I can say for sure that it is a great movie and by now one can really say that it is a classic in the horror movie genre. It is one of the most successful Japanese horror movies that also started a big interest in the West towards Japanese horror.What makes this movie so great is that it is very atmospheric. The idea itself is original but not complicated. The atmosphere is very creepy and keeps one full of suspense. This is the better kind of horror than just some blood massacres.The suspense keeps a tight grip on the viewer and doesn't let one relax until the very end where we get some great twists that make the movie even more shocking and giving more room to imagine what comes next.The acting is not the major part of the movie where as I said suspense is what plays the greatest role. But the actors are really good fitting in with the mood of the movie. The one who causes all that horror is almost never on the screen and yet keeps the viewers terrified. Great work of art.