Cast/Notable Credits:
Gore Verbinski (Director): Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy
Hideo Nakata (Japanese Director): Ringu 2 (1999), The Ring 2 (2005)
Naomi Watts (Rachel): The Ring 2 (2005), Children of the Corn 4 (1996), King Kong (2005)
Brian Cox (Richard Morgan): X2 (2003), Zodiac (2007), Red Eye, Bourne Identity (2002), Super Troopers (2001), Kiss the Girls (1997)
Amber Tamblyn (Katie): The Grudge 2
Rachel Bella (Becca): Drive Thru
Trailer:
Dueling reviews:
American Version vs. Japanese Version (BHA!)
A teenager dies seven days after watching a mysterious video at a cabin retreat. Her aunt Rachel/Reiko (Naomi Watts in American Version) is a reporter who investigates her death and learns that other teenagers who watched the video also died...seven days later.
Rachel/Reiko tracks down the video and mistakenly watches it herself. Shortly afterwards she receives an anonymous phone call and the seven day death clock has started. Now it is a race of time for Rachel/Reiko to discover the origin of the video and uncover its dark secrets before the seven days are up and she is laid to rest.
Villain:
A creepy, crawling dead chick that crawls out of the television set and kills video tape viewers stars as the villain in this movie. She's a slow moving, disfigured creepy crawler, adding a suspense and creepy level to the movie. A little different compared to a straight up “slasher-flick's" level of suspense.
Cast:
A good cast of characters, and eight hot chicks in the film…including Naomi Watts (Pictured right). One thing that annoyed me was the little boy always calling Naomi, “Rachel” instead of mom. I thought that was kind of uncalled for.
The Japanese (BHA!) version's cast was pretty good also. In this film I was able to keep track of all the characters as the movie went on, unlike the Grudge (see The Grudge post).
SFX/Gore:
As far as deaths in the film, there weren't too many. There was a total of three deaths in the film. But we did get a dead horse! PETA cries, "NO!"
The special effects were pretty good in the film. They did an excellent job of having the creepy crawler chick climb out of the T.V. Oddly there seemed to be a "bluish tint" to the American version of the film.
TNA:
Surprisingly this category kind of delivered despite the lack of nudity. There were eight hot chicks, but no boobies or sex acts. Considering the type of movie it was, it’s not all that disappointing. To make up for the lack of nudity, Naomi strips down to her panties and bra while changing.
The hot teenage girls at the beginning are wearing cute catholic schoolgirl outfits while in the Japanese version, the hot little Asian chicks wore them as the standard school outfit (BHA!). And there was even a shower scene…too bad the camera didn’t pan down a little…he he.
T.Gun's Take:
I dug the storyline of the film. The American version was pretty much cut and paste of the Japanese version for about three quarters of the movie. Both went separate ways…horse plague vs. stricken volcanic island.
Both films created a creepy feel to their respective films and the Japanese version had a more shocking ending. This film(s) is one of few films that proves blood and guts doesn’t always make horror movies scary. Both had very well put together story lines.
I dug both movies. I saw The Ring in theaters before I was able to rent Ringu. I was amazed how copy/paste The Ring was compared to the Japanese version. It kind of “brought down” my respect for the American version a little bit. I would still prefer watching the American version, but I give tremendous props to the Japanese version because it actually came up with the idea first.
The success of The Ring opened up the door for future Japanese horror flicks to be "Americanized". The original director of Ringu actually made it's sequel and then came over to America and did The Ring 2. I can’t really grade one of these films higher than the other, so I give them both the same grade.
Misc. Movie Trivia:
-American film opened on October 18, 2002 and made $128.5 million at the Box Office ($15 million opening weekend)
-Japanese film opened on January 31, 1998 in Japan
-The role of Rachel was offered to Jennifer Connelly, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Beckinsale before finally settling with Naomi
-Ringu is the highest grossing horror film in Japanese history
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