Tag: ti: Ringu

Ringu (The Ring, 1998), directed by Nakata Hideo and based on Suzuki Kôji’s 1991 novel of the same name, is a blend of mystery and horror that deals with the relatively new cultural anxiety that is nervous about the way movies and video can affect us as people; for example, the debate around whether or not violent movies make people more violent or not. This theme of anxiety was expressed in a similar mysterious and horrifying way by director David Cronenberg in Videodrome (1983).

The Ring begins, like any good thriller, in ordinary life. In this case it is two teenage girls named Tomoko (Takeuchi Yuko) and Masami (Sato Hitomi). Masami tells her friend Tomoko about a videotape that when viewed will cause you to die within exactly seven days to the very second. They laugh, and try to brush it off, but Tomoko is obviously concerned.  Finally, she relates to Masami that her and three other friends viewed a film seven days ago that fits this one’s description exactly; down to the detail that they received an anonymous, voiceless phone call right after their viewing. Subsequently, Tomoko dies that very night with a vacant, but agonized expression lacerated on her face. The film then cuts to Asakawa Reiko (Matsushima Nanako) a journalist who is investigating the story of the video tape and its possible connection to the deaths of teenagers.

Reiko, it turns out, is the aunt of Tomoko but it takes her a while before she connects her niece’s death to the video tape. When Reiko finally makes this connection she is able to find clues to the mystery in Tomoko’s room, namely a curious picture. The picture has an interesting detail that really adds to the story’s eerie qualities. Once you have been marked for death, by watching the videotape, any picture that is taken of you will have your face blurred, or smeared across the photo like blood on a wall. Therefore when Reiko, after tracing Tomoko’s footsteps, finds and watches the video tape in a cabin her niece went to, the film is able to give solid proof that Reiko is also now affected by the curse and will die in seven days.

The impending death of Reiko is what drives the film’s plot. Reiko now has to hurry her investigation against a ticking time bomb to discover what makes people die from this videotape in order to save her own life. In the course of events she enlists the help of her ex-husband Takayama Ryuji (Sanada Hiroyuki) and an old man from a small island fishing village called Oshima. During the course of the investigation a very close loved one of hers views the tape as well which increases the gravity and desperation with which her search must succeed.

To tell too much of the plot is to give away the film’s sense of mystery. These mysteries are: one, how the videotape kills and two, why it even possesses this lethal power. These story points help drive the action and excitement of watching the film. Suffice to say that on Oshima Island there is the history of an old psychic who was exploited and then humiliated that helps open the doors to understanding the mystery. Further, the mystery beyond driving the plot ultimately leads to a dark and dismal theme about choosing your life or another’s. Despite this, even if you have seen the film before, or watched the Hollywood remake, The Ring (2002), or read the book, you know the mystery is just one aspect of the film’s intrigue. The horror and suspense adds another level to the film.

As mentioned before the film draws upon the anxiety of what film, video, or simply an image may be able to do to you. Beyond the social implications of this anxiety there is a more visceral one: what if the horrible evil in a film could crawl out and attack you within the comfort of your home, or movie theatre. The video tape itself resembles a 1920’s surrealist silent film, one that could have been made by Salvador Dalí and/or Luis Buñuel. It has dark and grainy images that cut in jarring and unmotivated ways to reveal an emaciated girl with long black hair covering her face and an old well; if a film could come and end your life this may be the film to do it.

The film’s music is very distinct as well and really helps place the film in the horror genre. At moments of intensity and anxiety the violins screech similar to the way Hitchcock employs them in Psycho (1960). The effect is great in increasing the film’s tense, uneasy anxiety. For example, the final scene with Takayama Ryuji would probably still be horrifying without the music but the addition of it really helps bolster the anxiety and fear Ryuji must be feeling and therefore the audience as well. Along with this technique the film’s cinematography lends tan anxious tone. The characters are often framed very tightly; they seemed somewhat cramped on screen either with each other or with the scenery around them. Not much is revealed as a result of this. As an audience member all you can see is a small frame and anything could be lurking around the corner; whether it is a clue to solving the mystery or some deadly force ready to take another life. One of the film’s climactic scenes shows this. Reiko and Ryuji are underneath a cabin and in an old well. The space is claustrophobic in and of itself with its low ceiling, dark space and suffocating water. The camera increases this by framing the two characters almost exclusively in medium and close-up shots. The director even includes shots of the bright, cheerful, sunny day outside to contrast the dark dismal interior he has placed his characters in. This sense of claustrophobia created by the set as well as the camera really works to increase the anxiety of this scene.

The anxiety that this film creates is truly unique. Often people comment how a film kept them on the edge of their seat; this film has done that. It achieves this effect without intense scenes of violence or gore. Instead the film has played upon the strange fear that the visual media may have over us. This more psychological tactic to frighten the audience is similar to the techniques used by Hitchcock in his horror, mystery, thriller, films. All in all it is a film that you will want to watch a few more times just to see if the film can frighten you again, and its themes and images, beyond their chilling effect, are intriguing to think about even when you are done viewing the film.

The original 1998 feature film The Ring (Ringu) was diected by Nakata Hideo and was loosely based on a novel of the same title by Suzuki Koji Suzuki.  The anxiety-driven J-horror film was then adapted into a popular North American version in 2002 starring Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson.  The story follows an attractive young journalist named Matsushima Nanako (played by Asakawa Reiko) as she investigates the mysterious deaths of a group of high school students who after an encounter with a strange videotape are given one week to live.  While in the midst of gathering evidence for her work, Nanako soon finds that she and her beloved family have fallen victim to the supernatural killer-video.  Ringu then becomes a race against the clock.  Will Nanako be able to life the curse or will she and her family end up like all the rest?

The film begins with two lively teenage girls as they share scary stories about a cursed videotape with one another while conveniently managing to avoid their homework.  While the scene begins with laughter, the film’s tone quickly darkens as the girls begin to realize that the stories they are telling are in fact, not stories at all.  Soon after, we meet Matsushima Nanko, a courageous mother and reporter who has been sent to interview local high school students in regards to the suspicious deaths that have been occurring around town.  After rushing around and gathering information, Nanako is eventually led directly to the videotape that ends with a deathly phone call and seven-day warning.  In attempt to save herself and her young son from becoming the next videotape victims, Nanako seeks help from her ex-husband in hopes of tracking down the original filmmaker in order to lift the curse and potentially outlive their fatal doom.

Nakata’s use of special effects is perhaps one of the most horrific aspects of a film filled with such dreadful imagery. The most powerful effect includes a dead girl climbing her way out of a well before crawling out of the television set, straight into a living room.  While the carefully crafted scene would have included hours of tedious editing and green screen work, its gruesome effect and use of juxtaposition (literally linking the real world and the televised world together) help bring the film to its climax.  Other special effects worthy of mention include the film’s disturbing use of hair and makeup to portray a living dead girl.  The girl’s fingernails appear to be bloodily ripped out from continuous scraping and scratching at the well’s wall, while her long hair hangs limply over her disturbing blood-shot eyeballs (which are powerfully presented in an extreme close-up toward the end of the film).

Another aspect of the film worth mentioning is the overall tone.  From the beginning of the film we are presented with a reference to the date and time in which the scenes are taking place.  This trend continuous throughout the narrative and adds a sense of urgency and pressure to the already tense situations that the characters find themselves in.  With the constant reference to time and the seven day-deadline hanging over head, the film becomes darker and darker (literally, as many scenes take place inside of a well towards the end).  The darkening tone of the film becomes all the more horrifying when paralleled with the actually death-video footage, responsible for killing many of the film’s characters.  This gritty, green-tinged video includes unsettling images of a woman brushing her hair in a mirror, a human figure standing with a bag over their head and a still shot of a well looming in the distance.  These images are intended to shock and horrify viewers while promoting a sense of dread.  As a result, the film’s tone is responsible for creating such severely nerve-racking levels of anxiety and fear amongst viewers.

While the film’s disturbing and at times, grotesque content may be too much for sensitive viewers to handle, it is filled with many jaw-dropping effects and opportunities to scream in terror for those who are accustom to the genre.  I would deem this film a necessity for any horror fan or lovers of the 2002 North American version who have not yet explored the roots of the pre-existing narrative.  Viewing Nakata Hideo’s Ringu is sort of like tiptoeing around eggshells, the film seems steady and endurable until eventually, an egg is stepped on, resulting in complete panic and utter chaos.