Ringu, Ringu 2

[virus five]

I often come across people that say they like the original "Ringu" far more than its American remake. I just want to find out why.

Here's my take on "Ringu." Keep in mind, that these are only my opinions, and that probably means as much to you as...well...you get the idea.

It lacks cohesive story elements. Every time I watch it, I end up shaking my head at how they try to put the story together.

Ok. Let's say I buy the fact that the guy has ESP powers. Still, it seems a little far fetched that throughout the movie he just suddenly quips pieces of the story at us. "Sadako probably died there before the cabin was built." He goes out and buys buckets and rope because...well, he just knows.

Furthermore, it lacks enough scares along the way to keep me interested in their quest. Which brings me to my next point.

Where are the scares? I know what you're going to say. It must be because as a stupid American, I can't appreciate the "psychological horror" of the Japanese, and that I prefer to see blood and guts every ten seconds.

Wrong.

I don't mind a slow-paced thriller, but even the deaths in "Ringu" were absurd. I don't care that they "left things to the imagination", but freeze-framing the victims' scared faces and then turning it to a negative image is nearly laughable. A 12-year-old can do that effect with a camcorder.

The cursed video didn't seem like anything that should traumatize me. It was pretty boring, actually.

Ringu 2 I don't even know where to begin with this one. It was almost like a poor attempt to remake the first. Reporters find out about the tape, do some investigating, go to where Sadako lived, come back, and the movie's over. Again, nothing scary happens, and I can't figure out whether or not doctors performing experiments on traumatized people was interesting or pointless.

Ok. I've trashed these two films pretty bad. Instead of trashing me, tell me what you liked about these films. I'm not here to argue about it, but to discuss. To me it seems people are saying they like these films better than the American remake just for the sake of liking something that no one else does. (You know...the same kind of reason people like a band that no one knows about until they become popular.)

[virus five]

Am I to assume that no one really likes these films?

[Rufus]

Sorry, I have not seen the originals.

[crippler666]

I found the originals better as the American version was over acted (I know that this might seem a stupid reason to dislike a film but)

The Jap version might have seemed under acted in some areas, but the whole culture is like that

Just with most subtitles they dont exactly stick to the original language (most of the time they screw the story up aswell)

I guess it depends if you dont mind subtitles or dont like them at all

[Spy Crouch]

I'm not big on Japanese horror, or their American remakes, most of the time.

I did prefer Ringu to The Ring, but have not seen Ringu 2 or The Ring 2.

[Nyder]

Virus five, I know exactly what you mean.

I found Ringu to be boring for the most part. Although there were a few good scenes, there weren't many and I was really just seeing how it compared to The Ring.

Also, I find Japanese acting to be horrible (in general), and the pacing was very uneven, the film was not scary, the plot wasn't clearly explained, the special effects were silly (ie like the inverted colours you mentioned) and it just had very little impact compared to The Ring.

However, the saving graces are that there were a few creepy bits, like Sadako was very creepy and the TV effect was well done (maybe even somewhat better in some respects then in the remake).

I give credit to Ringu for developing the original ideas, but the remake vastly improved upon them, making the story a lot more coherent, giving the film atmosphere, better acting, visuals and effects. Even The Ring Two was vastly superior to both Ringu and Ringu 2.

[bloodrayne]

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