Released: October 18, 2002
Director: Gore Verbinski
Screenplay: Ehren Kruger (based on the novel Ringu by Koji Suzuki)
Tagline: "Before you die, you see the ring"
Cast:
Naomi Watts as Rachel Keller
Martin Henderson as Noah Clay
David Dorfman as Aidan Keller
Brian Cox as Richard Morgan
Daveigh Chase as Samara Morgan
Horror can be said to run in cycles, particularly in the world of cinema. Serial killers and slasher films enjoyed their heydey in the late 1970's and 1980's after John Carpenter's blockbuster Halloween (1978), the classic Universal monster movies dominated in the 1930's and through most of the 1940's, and starting in 2002, The Ring brought about the dawn of the adaptation. Most people in this day and age have seen The Ring, but few have seen the original Japanese film on which it was based, Hideo Nakata's Ringu (1998), which is a travesty. To this day, Ringu is considered the most frightening horror film in Japan, according to an annual nationwide survey. Not quite the moniker obtained by the American version.
This is not to say that the Yank adaptation isn't noteworthy in it's own right. It's still deeply creepy, chilling, and a well-made film in it's own right. As with all horror, atmosphere is essential, and the washed-out filter and drab lighting of The Ring make for a fearful pall that hangs over the movie, dread and foreboding seeping down the windows as much as the constant Seattle rain. The Ring follows single mother Rachel Keller investigating the mysterious premature death of her niece, Katie, eventually discovering that a week before she ended up dead and distorted, Katie had gone to a secluded cabin with friends to watch an underground video with a nasty urban legend attached to it. Seven days later, Katie and all of her friends met their maker at the exact moment they had watched the homegrown, nightmarish tape. Rachel tracks down the cabin (and thus the tape) and watches it herself, being subjected to a series of disturbing rapid-fire black and white images. When the white static rolls, Rachel receives a phone call, just as the teens before her did, informing her that she will die in seven days time. A ticking clock is set in motion and Rachel takes it upon herself to investigate the origins of the mysterious tape, all the while fending off strange occurrences, and attempt to alter what she increasingly comes to realize is her damned fate.
It's a clever film in that it uses its own premise to incite fear a much as it uses the story itself. Subtly inserted shots of "the ring" itself, which we come to learn is the "last thing you see before you die" throughout the film tend to put the viewer on edge, making them feel as though they are not watching the movie but rather the tape itself transformed into a feature film. "The ring" will flash so suddenly across the screen, that I can remember being left wondering if there was a glitch on the film, I was going crazy, or if it was designed to be there. Go back and watch your own copy and you'll notice things like the Dreamworks logo flashing into "the ring" for a split second, and the FBI warning having the same staticky quality of the infamous tape itself.
Given that it also has solid performances from the lead and supporting actors (Naomi Watts would find her turn as Rachel Keller to be quite the career maker, landing roles both in and outside the horror genre over the past eleven years), it's no surprise that The Ring sticks in people's minds, and in pop culture, perhaps thanks to the efforts of David Dorfman as Rachel's son Aidan and Daveigh Chase's turn as Samara, easily one of the most memorable horror villains in recent years.
This is why I use a Brita filter
Dorfman did get some criticism for his melancholy portrayal of Aidan, with some moviegoers comparing him unfavorably to Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense (1999), but I think this is unfair. Osment came off as creepy because creepy stuff was happening around him, but Dorfman played Aidan as being disturbing all on his own damn time. His character seems to be wiser and more mature than all the adults in the film, a fact that makes his role deeply unsettling when coupled with his small physical size. Think of the scene where Aidan is putting on a suit in the mirror and the eeriness that exudes from this mundane act being a testament to the quality of Dorfman's work in this film.
Like other horror films that initiated genre shifts and countless imitators, The Ring should always be thought of as separate from the slew of remakes and repackagings that followed its initial success, because it does have the ability to stand on its own and will likely be remembered for some time to come.
But if you can appreciate The Ring for the above reasons, I would highly recommend checking out the original, Ringu. Nakata's film established the story you're already familiar with, so there won't be too much of a narrative jolt.
Ringu (Japan)
Released: January 31, 1998
Director: Hideo Nakata
Screenplay: Hiroshi Takahashi (based on the novel by Koji Suzuki)
Tagline: "One curse, one curse, one week to find it"
Cast:
Nanako Matsushima as Reiko Asakawa
Hiroyuki Sanada as Ryuji Takayama
Rikiya Otaka as Yoichi Asakawa
Rie Ino as Sadako Yamamura
To this day, the enormously successful Ringu, which follows TV reporter Reiko Asakawa and her ex-husband on an investigation into the origins of a cursed videotape, holds the record for being Japan's highest-grossing horror film of all time. It spearheaded a renaissance not only in American remakes and remarketings of J-horror, but in Japanese horror overall, affecting dozens of films that didn't even get (yet?) American screw-ups (I mean, adaptations).
Whereas Verbinski's version of the tale relies on mood and a slowburn and coherent narrative to induce dread and suspense, Ringu is more about inciting a kind of pervasive eeriness, something that feels much more invasive and sticky to the viewer. Watching the American version, you feel as though you might encounter Samara one day. Watching the original, you feel as though Sadako is right there in the room with you, thinly veiled behind each and every reflective surface. In Ringu, we watch the investigation unravel through a series of startling images, non-sequiturs, free association, and psychic intuition, all of which lead to some incredibly unsettling moments absent from the, and I've really just got to say it, watered-down American version. Chief among these would be SPOILER ALERT: the fact that the fate of Reiko's son Yoichi is left in jeopardy at the end of the film, and heavily hinted that it does not end well. END OF SPOILER ALERT.
Nakata's overall atmosphere in Ringu is one of oppressiveness and claustrophobic gloom that comes off very personal, his loose ends intentionally denied resolution to increase tension in a manner absent from the American film (we Westerners tend to like our stories wrapped with neat with little bows, even if they have to be bloody bows).
In Japan, the release of the film was met with a level of hysteria akin to that of The Exorcist (1973) in the United States. There have been claims that the apartment used in the film for Reiko's home is actually haunted, Ringu themed tours took place in the building for years, and there is now a theme park based on the original movie, as well as two sequels, a prequel, two remakes (one American, one Korean), and a host of pan-Asian clones that are mostly formula pieces parading an endless succession of wraith-like girls in long black hair and pallid features. Of these knockoffs I'd say that One Missed Call (2003) might be the only way worth checking out for the awesome set piece during the exorcism scene.
As we move into October and the wind grows nastier and the leaves fall faster and you want to relive some old chills, I'd start off with The Ring. And if you want to take it a step further and start your October off with something spine-tingling from the get go, hunt down a copy of Ringu. You know, just give yourself about a week's time to set things in order afterwards...
The Ring
5-Totally Terrifying
4-Crazy Creepy
3-Fairly Frightening
2-Slightly Scary
1-Hardly Horror
Ringu
5-Totally Terrifying
4-Crazy Creepy
3-Fairly Frightening
2-Slightly Scary
1-Hardly Horror
No comments:
Post a Comment