Prequels walk a very thin line. On one hand a prequel has to expand the already established universe with enough information to justify its existence on the other it must conform to canon events without much deviation lest it become a spin-off instead. Ring Zero manages to accomplish both of these goals: it adds a new point of view by placing the focus firmly on the psychological around which the plot as we know it is constructed.
The result is a movie that is not particularly scary but very interesting and even moving. Sadako is at the center of the story. No longer a shifty figure barely glimpsed in distorted scenes she is now a real person and an agreeable one at that. The staples of the franchise are of course present (the well, the sea, blurred television shots, garbled sounds) but they are used soberly and sparingly. Sadako's ordeal is of course a given but it is rescued from being a mere horror convention by the addition of the human element.
More than a horror movie Ring Zero is a tragedy. It proposes an explanation as to what Sadako but what is memorable about it is that it elicits sympathy from the viewer. The psychological slant is linear enough (unlike most of Asian horror that follows such an approach) but it is solid and fleshes out the character convincingly. Unlike most movies in the genre here we do not have the typical creepy villain but a well rounded character all around. In the end the real horror is not so much the supernatural that is of course not absent but societal pressure and lack of empathy. And that makes Ring Zero worth watching indeed.
The result is a movie that is not particularly scary but very interesting and even moving. Sadako is at the center of the story. No longer a shifty figure barely glimpsed in distorted scenes she is now a real person and an agreeable one at that. The staples of the franchise are of course present (the well, the sea, blurred television shots, garbled sounds) but they are used soberly and sparingly. Sadako's ordeal is of course a given but it is rescued from being a mere horror convention by the addition of the human element.
More than a horror movie Ring Zero is a tragedy. It proposes an explanation as to what Sadako but what is memorable about it is that it elicits sympathy from the viewer. The psychological slant is linear enough (unlike most of Asian horror that follows such an approach) but it is solid and fleshes out the character convincingly. Unlike most movies in the genre here we do not have the typical creepy villain but a well rounded character all around. In the end the real horror is not so much the supernatural that is of course not absent but societal pressure and lack of empathy. And that makes Ring Zero worth watching indeed.