This review has serious spoilers. I'm unsure exactly how to rate this film, since I'm not sure if the things that confused me when I watched it were due to bad writing or a failure on my part. None of the other reviews seem to mention the things I'm referring to, probably because they're impossible discuss without giving away major plot twists. So I'm going to give away the major plot twists. Don't read the rest of this review if you don't want to know them.
First I'll talk about the stuff I did get. The direction is true to the original (the director is different, but you'd never know without reading the credits). It's also truly amazing. Scenes that on paper would seem old-hat really get the heart pounding, thanks to the excellent way they are portrayed. Lighting, camera angles, music, and other tools are used to terrific effect. Another thing I like is how several shots of the normal human Sadako seem to foreshadow her appearance as a specter with face-obscuring hair in "Ringu." The depiction of the dream of the well is less successful in my opinion. There is some filter added to the footage to make it look washed-out (to look like the killer videotape, I guess), and I find it annoying. It's much more annoying later on when the same filter is used in shots of waking reality for no apparent reason. But for the most part, the visual aspect of the film is fantastic.
The storytelling is also fine. I realized as the film was reaching its one quarter mark that a huge amount has been shown and told to the viewer, yet it seems quite natural, without any problems of pacing or clumsy exposition. The shot of the girl, circa 1998, at the beginning is unnecessary, and caused confusion for me because for a while I thought other things were being shown in a nonlinear fashion. I can see the purpose: This whole tale is based on the sort of supernatural rumors/urban myths that are common in Japan. But I think it would've been better to begin in the '60s. The style of that little prolog is also jarring, with rapid cuts and techno music. But moving on, the pacing is good and there is a lot of tension and creepiness throughout. It transforms into a more immediate sort of horror in the last third.
Some minor continuity issues are created. It seems unlikely that Asakawa Reiko in "Ringu" wouldn't run across any news reports or verbal accounts of tragedy at the play, or the aftermath. I mean, there was a whole audience there when it happened. People were killed. There would be a newspaper report, and probably a police investigation. Also, nobody ever calls the police in the whole movie, although that might be a cultural thing I don't understand. But for the most part, the movie rings true (no pun intended). It's not one of those sequels with massive retcons.
On to the main thing I don't understand. As I understand it, Sadako has an identical twin who her father has been keeping locked up all these years, and has given drugs so she never underwent proper puberty. This twin is a physical person, not a spirit. The stuff with Sadako's mother as the "other person" was apparently a red herring, although her ghost is really there and is playing some nebulous role. But Sadako's twin's astral self has been following Sadako around and causing these problems, and eventually takes partial control of Sadako's mangled body. But at the end it's Sadako who's killed, and her twin is unaccounted for. We don't even see the twin except for in one shot in the forest, and even that could be an astral projection. So what happened to her? And why wasn't she in the room that Miyaji went into? And why doesn't her father make some attempt to save her from the murderous mob that randomly arrives at his door? Also, why does Touyama go along with the mob? And what was that business with Sadako's body distorting itself in the room with Miyaji and Etsuko? A random creepy thing for effect, or something important I'm failing to connect? None of these things make sense to me. I haven't read any of the books, so that might be where the problem lies.
Now a couple miscellaneous observations. There are some sort of secret messages in the film, symbols that appear on the screen for a few frames. I noticed two, but there are probably more. I'm assuming this is a clever little thing done to foreshadow the cryptic videotape in the sequel, and not a mastering error on the D.V.D. I'm rather annoyed that so many reviewers bring up "Carrie." This film owes nothing to "Carrie." They both just happen to be based on the same real-life phenomena.
This is a riveting, truly scary movie that may be better or worse than how I've rated it depending on whether or not the "plot flaws" I see in the final third are actually plot flaws.
First I'll talk about the stuff I did get. The direction is true to the original (the director is different, but you'd never know without reading the credits). It's also truly amazing. Scenes that on paper would seem old-hat really get the heart pounding, thanks to the excellent way they are portrayed. Lighting, camera angles, music, and other tools are used to terrific effect. Another thing I like is how several shots of the normal human Sadako seem to foreshadow her appearance as a specter with face-obscuring hair in "Ringu." The depiction of the dream of the well is less successful in my opinion. There is some filter added to the footage to make it look washed-out (to look like the killer videotape, I guess), and I find it annoying. It's much more annoying later on when the same filter is used in shots of waking reality for no apparent reason. But for the most part, the visual aspect of the film is fantastic.
The storytelling is also fine. I realized as the film was reaching its one quarter mark that a huge amount has been shown and told to the viewer, yet it seems quite natural, without any problems of pacing or clumsy exposition. The shot of the girl, circa 1998, at the beginning is unnecessary, and caused confusion for me because for a while I thought other things were being shown in a nonlinear fashion. I can see the purpose: This whole tale is based on the sort of supernatural rumors/urban myths that are common in Japan. But I think it would've been better to begin in the '60s. The style of that little prolog is also jarring, with rapid cuts and techno music. But moving on, the pacing is good and there is a lot of tension and creepiness throughout. It transforms into a more immediate sort of horror in the last third.
Some minor continuity issues are created. It seems unlikely that Asakawa Reiko in "Ringu" wouldn't run across any news reports or verbal accounts of tragedy at the play, or the aftermath. I mean, there was a whole audience there when it happened. People were killed. There would be a newspaper report, and probably a police investigation. Also, nobody ever calls the police in the whole movie, although that might be a cultural thing I don't understand. But for the most part, the movie rings true (no pun intended). It's not one of those sequels with massive retcons.
On to the main thing I don't understand. As I understand it, Sadako has an identical twin who her father has been keeping locked up all these years, and has given drugs so she never underwent proper puberty. This twin is a physical person, not a spirit. The stuff with Sadako's mother as the "other person" was apparently a red herring, although her ghost is really there and is playing some nebulous role. But Sadako's twin's astral self has been following Sadako around and causing these problems, and eventually takes partial control of Sadako's mangled body. But at the end it's Sadako who's killed, and her twin is unaccounted for. We don't even see the twin except for in one shot in the forest, and even that could be an astral projection. So what happened to her? And why wasn't she in the room that Miyaji went into? And why doesn't her father make some attempt to save her from the murderous mob that randomly arrives at his door? Also, why does Touyama go along with the mob? And what was that business with Sadako's body distorting itself in the room with Miyaji and Etsuko? A random creepy thing for effect, or something important I'm failing to connect? None of these things make sense to me. I haven't read any of the books, so that might be where the problem lies.
Now a couple miscellaneous observations. There are some sort of secret messages in the film, symbols that appear on the screen for a few frames. I noticed two, but there are probably more. I'm assuming this is a clever little thing done to foreshadow the cryptic videotape in the sequel, and not a mastering error on the D.V.D. I'm rather annoyed that so many reviewers bring up "Carrie." This film owes nothing to "Carrie." They both just happen to be based on the same real-life phenomena.
This is a riveting, truly scary movie that may be better or worse than how I've rated it depending on whether or not the "plot flaws" I see in the final third are actually plot flaws.