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Monday, August 9, 2004
Two
If you know me, you probably know that one of my favourite horror films is Ring.
Ring is a Japanese horror film, which was released in 1998. To my knowledge, it was the most successful domestic release for a Japanese movie (as in, it did bigger business than any Japanese movie in Japan to date, apparently).
Ring essentially revolves around a mysterious blank video tape. The urban legend is that if you watch it, you will die exactly seven days afterwards.
Now, that may sound familiar -- in 2002, there was a Dreamworks remake, called "The Ring". Fundamentally The Ring was pretty good. Obviously it had a bigger budget and nicer visuals. And some scenes were directly lifted from the Japanese original.
However, the original Japanese movie -- Ring -- while not being a special effects masterpiece, is nonetheless a brilliant piece of cinema. Hideo Nakata (the creator of the film version, which is itself a reinterpretation of a Japanese novel; you still with me? lol), is considered to be one of the most talented Japanese horror directors out there.
Despite the similarities in concept, Ring is different from The Ring.
Many of the differences are minor. In The Ring, you watch the tape and your phone rings. When you pick it up, a little girl whispers "seven days" in your ear and hangs up.
In Ring, the same thing happens, but there is no voice at the other end. Instead, you hear this utterly bizarre sounding shamisen...it's actually quite an awful sound. It keeps playing until you hang up.
Also, the actual contents of the tapes are different. The American version features a very disturbing tape (I prefer the American tape, really). It's brilliant. It basically contains various imagery and animation...it kind of looks like someone's nightmare, to quote one of the characters.
In Ring, the tape is somewhat similar, but not quite as disturbing.
There were three Ring movies. Ring 2 is essentially a direct sequel and in Ring 2, the story goes a little deeper. We learn more about Sadako (Samara's counterpart) and various characters actually try to stop the curse through a scientific method (which fails miserably, of course).
Ring 2 has some absolutely awesome scenes. Again, although Nakata had far less money to make these movies, Ring 2 has some of the most disturbing sequences I've ever seen on film. It's a beautiful movie, in that sense.
There was also a "Ring 0". Ring 0 is set in the past (thirty years ago, when Sadako was still alive). It pretty much explains how she became who she is and how the curse started. The story behind that has some cliches, but it's actually quite a disturbing and depressing tale. Ring 0 has a few camp moments (but it's Japanese, and nearly every Japanese horror film has camp moments ~_^), but more than anything else, it's a drama. Until the end, anyway...where it kind of goes insane and dives off a cliff (in a good way).
The Ring (the Dreamworks remake), contains elements from Ring and Ring 2.
So, when I heard that they were making a "The Ring 2", I wondered exactly how they'd do it.
Afterall, The Ring/Ring is basically about a cycle. I don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it, so I won't go into that now. But in both the Japanese and American films, there's a pretty difinitive ending.
I mention all of this for one major reason.
Today I was reading about a delay for the release of The Ring 2 (it was November this year, now it's early next year).
This is due to crew changes.
But there's one huge element to all of this -- Gore Verbinski isn't directing The Ring 2. The director of the sequel to the Dreamworks remake will be none other than Hideo Nakata.
If all Ring fans are not sitting there with their mouths open wide right now, they should be ashamed. ~_^
Nakata did some absolutely insane stuff with almost no budget in the Japanese films. I mean, the ending to Ring is so much more disturbing than the ending to The Ring...even though The Ring has ten times the budget.
So, the prospect of someone with those skills at the helm of a movie with a massive budget is very exciting to me. Nakata can create some highly disturbing stuff and the idea that he'll be doing the American sequel is music to my ears. I can't wait.
Oh and...here is a preview poster to tide you over:
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