MasterChugs Theater: 'Ringu'

Asian horror month at MasterChugs Theater continues this week with the movie that most probably brought the very genre of Asian horror to the forefront: Ringu. Before there was The Ring, there was Ringu, the Japanese horror/thriller that was remade virtually verbatim from this original. Of course, it's a little less Hollywood-shiny, a little less in-your-face-scary, and a lot more subtitled. But the guts are the same: an unlabeled videotape is making the rounds ... watch it, and you die in one week's time. A skeptic television station employee discovers the tape after her cousin watches it and dies, watches it herself, and soon draws her ex-husband and nephew into the quest to find out more about the tape's origins and, hopefully, avoid death for all three of them.

The tale revolves around the history of Shizuko Yamamura and her daughter Sadako. Their story starts on Oshima Island where the mother's psychic abilities eventually come to the attention of an academic bent on proving the existence of ESP. During a highly publicized test that goes awry, the dreadful abilities of Sadako emerge, setting the stage for the tragic demise of both mother and daughter and a series of mysterious death-by-terror cases 30 years after. The niece of news reporter Reiko Asakawa becomes one such case, and sets Reiko hunting for clues leading to a cause of death, a search which leads her to a video tape which, once watched, results in death after seven days. After she, her ex-husband Ryuji, and by mistake her young son Yoichi watch the tape, the clock starts ticking and Reiko's investigation takes on a whole new urgency.

The ensuing tale gradually builds in eeriness and imagery, and crescendos in a rather hair-raising climax. There is indeed pay-off here for those looking for a good horror movie. Amazingly, director Nakata Hideo accomplishes this without any recourse to computer generated "special effects." Both feet of the viewer are planted squarely on the ground as the creepiness unfolds.

Much of the spiritual dimension of the story revolves around ESP, a topic which seems to perpetually fascinate the Japanese. A second Japanese fascination which emerges here is the power of technology to aid in the quest to understand the supernatural. An explanation as to why Sadako employs psychically recorded VHS tapes to accomplish her curse is nowhere offered in Ringu. Such an explanation is doubly wanting given the fact that Sadako would not have known about the existence of such multimedia given her untimely demise so many decades ago. Nevertheless, Sadako's choice of magnetic tape and television allows our characters to pull out all sort of nifty gadgets to analyze and decipher the cursed clue. And yet were it not for the fact that Reiko's own ex-husband and son possess psychic ability, this investigation wouldn't have gotten anywhere. While you wrap your head around that, I should probably mention that the Japanese have a bit of a fascination with ESP. In at least two crucial points where the trail to Sadako appears irrevocably cold, good ole ESP steps in and moves things right along.

The movie teases only a few glimpses and short looks at the main antagonist, which only adds to the heightened sense of fear. The fear of the unknown, or in this case the barely known, can offer more negative stimulation than the over saturation of a guy in a hockey mask. The girl in question, Sadako, never really appears in full "ready to do harm" mode until the end of the movie. By design, this is really one of the best horror villains of all time. Much like Damien in the “Omen” trilogy, we are given a terror in something that is not an everyday concern: a young child. The premise is combined with a “less is more” look. Sadako is not a "10 hours in the make up chair" villain. Rather, the simple look actually adds realism to the character ... and seriously, she's one creepy looking chick.

The film does its best to be unsettling. The first meeting between Yoichi and Ryuki in front of Reiko’s home is uncomfortable. Also discomforting is the date stamp used to count down days until one week has passed. This is a direct homage to The Amityville Horror which used the same technique. Even the ending, which is very Japanese in nature, leaves you with questioned resolve. It is common for Japanese films, especially horror films, to not offer a happy "Hollywood" ending. Unlike the Nightmare On Elm Street series and other icon of horror films, Ringu is more about the myth of Sadako the her itself, a mysterious exploration into the life of a poor girl controlled by others who is driven insane and forgotten, only in her death can she have her voice heard. It is this slow discovery of a innocent driven into total madness and the creation of pure evil that traps the viewer in it's horrifying grasp and than releases it sending the viewer into a unforgettably frightening conclusion. If you can get over the rather silly ESP plot, you're in for what should be considered by all to be a perennial horror movie classic.