Ringu (Ring) - Will's review

Ringu was many westerners (including my own) introduction to the world of J-Horror; already gaining popularity before the remake, it became a must-see after. Due to it's success both in Japan and abroad, Ringu has become one of Japan's most influential movies. 

The story (taken form Kujo Suzuki's novel of the same name, but switching the gender of the lead character) centres around a journalist researching a cursed videotape; anyone who watches it in exactly 7 days.

As is the fate of any influential movie, watching it years later it seems cliched in parts; the image of a ghost-girl in white with. Long dark hair may not be original to Ringu (it's actually an image borrowed from Kabuki theater) but since Sadako crawled out of that well, the market has become somewhat flooded. Ditto cursed everyday-objects, with J-Horror giving us haunted cellphones, cameras and even a wig (!) in the years following Ringu. 

What is unusual, though, is that Ringu has really never been bettered in the field; often times an influential movie will be copied and improved upon, leaving the original looking like the poor copy. Ringu, however, still stands up. 

There was, of course, an American remake, and it really seems that whichever you see first will be cemented in your brain as the better version; in truth I think there is no "better" version. The remake explains more than the original, but to my mind Ringu has just the right amount of ambiguity, and plays the lack of explanation as a strength.

In short, if you haven't seen Ringu yet; you should!