aka RINGU 0: BAASUDEI
Movie Review by EDF
Starring: Yukie Nakama, Kumiko Aso, Daisuke Ban, Chinami Furuya
Director: Norio Tsuruta
Once in a while a movie comes along and shows Hollywood how to make movies. Although this was not a deliberate thing in respect to the RING trilogy, this series of movies is the Japanese equivalent to the SCREAM franchise and is chilling enough to give you shivers.
The first two RING movies tell the strange tale of a videotape which is passed around amongst schoolchildren. Anyone who watches the tape would view a short burst of images followed by a phone call. The woman on the other end of the phone would declare that you would die in exactly one week’s time. Working up a lead from the images on the videotape, the well featured is found and a body is dragged up from the well. An autopsy is performed on the body, which turns out to be the body of Sadako, the woman who is supposedly responsible for the cursed videotape. Further investigation reveals that Sadako had apparently only died recently.
This now brings us up to date to the third movie, which is in fact a prequel to the first two. Set in the 1960’s, we follow Sadako Yamamura (Nakama Yukie) as a young woman who now spends her time with a drama group. Everyone finds her creepy and because of this she does not have any friends. It turns out that two of the actresses have had strange disturbing dreams. Anyone who followed the previous movies would not be too surprised to find that one of the actresses dies in mysterious circumstances and everyone suspects that Sadako had something to do with it.
A reporter appears on the scene, snooping around asking questions about Sadako. We learn that the reporter’s colleagues had all mysteriously died after attending a psychic demonstration by Sadako. While we also learn that Sadako’s mother had become mentally unstable, we finally learn about Sadako’s true power and how it can take control over her life.
If you think you know what the storyline for the prequel might be, think again. Anyone who has viewed the first two movies might be in for a surprise. Nakama Yukie portrays Sadako with enough emotional depth that makes Sadako sympathetic to a point where you actually begin to pity her. The various revelations about Sadako during the movie mirror that of the drama group’s rehearsal of their mystery play.
Instead of videotape being the main source of the mysterious deaths, this time around it is the use of audiotape, which captures the eerier sounds that will be the death of some of the characters. Just like the two previous movies, the use of disturbing imagery and chilling performances makes RING 0 a fine addition to the series.
The extra features on this DVD are nothing much to talk but that should not stop anyone from purchasing this fantastic series.
