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I may be the only person in the United States to prefer "The Ring" over "Ringu".

The plot of Ringu relied totally on Ryuji being a psychic.  Their invistigation would reach a dead-end when, suddenly, Ryuji would touch somebody and PRESTO!  Exposition.  Some of the plot points were a bit out there (She committed suicide by jumping into a live volcano!).  And it even tried to pull the old bait-and-switch.  It had been going toward the old psychic lady's spirit being the killer, then Sadako just came out of nowhere.  Oh, and the dead people looked like they were laughing.  At no point during the movie was I anything near scared.  And, uh, the shot of the guy in the video with the towel over his head ... huh?

The Ring was more straightforward and more believable.  The leads relying on their investigative abilities rather than psychic powers made them easier to relate to.  It also had better shocks and was generally more creepy throughout.  I actually had trouble sleeping after I saw it.  The video was much creepier.

Sadako vs. Samara
I like Samara better because a little girl that comes out of your TV to melt your face is scarier than a full-grown woman who comes out of your TV to make you smile to death.  Samara's dirty outfit, messed up hair, and rotting flesh were all more impressive than Sadako's hair-extensions-over-the-face and lilly white kimono, though Sadako had one bad-looking eye.  Sadako's jerky movements were also really annoying.

You're not alone.
I watched about 20 minutes of Ringu and then walked away.



Post Edited (09-01-04 18:59)

I liked both and I didn't think Ring was really that much of an improvement, though your points are all valid.  Ringu struck me as creepier.  Ring's special effects, while more sensational, made me feel more separated from what was happening on the screen whereas Ringu's low tech approach drew me in more.  Agreed that the dead body actors could have been a lot better.

I think Sadako's messed up looking eye was accomplished by filming a girl's eye upside down and hanging a wig from the bottom of the face.  I thought that was both scarier and more original than the rather trite Linda Blair look Ring went with.  I also thought the reflections in the TV (the girl at the cabin and the guy in the apartment) were scary too.

I don't favor foreign films just because they're foreign, but Ringu had some strengths over Ring, just as Ring had strengths over the original.

I liked "Ringu" better, "The Ring" felt watered down. Maybe I saw the second film too soon after seeing the first one (about two months later I think), and everything was too fresh. Because I remember I was already bored by the time the time the story got to the cabin for the first time. I was already thinking that it was too bad the floor boards couldn't get pulled up now rather than having to wait until much later when she'd have to come back with the ex-husband. Usually I can take a remake on its own terms then compare the two afterward, this one I couldn't.

I also liked the death effects better in the original, because the victims were unmarked enough that until later when we found out more of the story it wasn't really known if their deaths were just from extreme fright (like was believed) or were due to supernatural causes. In the American version, the victims were so disfigured that I couldn't believe anyone would think that just dying of fright made them look like that.

Even the new material in the American film, like the horse on the ferry scene, bored me. Not scary or suspenseful, just felt like "imagery" that looked good and was going to be shoe-horned in one way or another.

I prefered the original's ending, just for the cold-blooded rationalizing the heroine was doing in making her choice. The remake's ending took me out of the film with the "fourth wall" moment. The short film in the extras on the DVD, that seemed to include the alternate ending, was slightly better just because it was the heroine washing her hands of making a choice.

Yaddo pretty much summed up my opinon of the two films as well.

Lets just say that Ringu is in my DVD collection while the remake is not.  I enjoyed the American version, but it just didn't have the.....soul that the original one did.

I think that to try and say there is a significant difference between the two films is misleading - they are very, very similar. I mean, scene for scene they match up pretty well.

The Japanese version has lower production values but makes slightly more sense - and the Hollywood version had the horses but I didn't really feel the two were substantively difference.

I disliked both versions of the film.  The original Japanese "Ring" (I refuse to call it "Ringu," we all know what the title is supposed to be, the Japanese box cover says "The Ring," in English, mind you, and over-literal translation is one of my pet peeves) featured some remarkably unlikable characters, and it was very, very Japanese horror, which is so different from Western horror as to be nearly inaccessible if one doesn't know a great deal about a whole gamut of Japanese folklore and mythology.  Still, the video in the Japanese version was creepier, and the scraping sound on the phone gave me the shivers.

The American remake stayed very close to the original, but tossed in a few more "jump" scares since American audiences seem to confuse reflexive reactions with actual fright, and making a truly creepy movie hasn't been profitable for years.  The two unlikable main characters from the original "Ring" have been replaced by two equally detestable characters in the remake, except that the woman (instead of being timid and weak) is shrill and obnoxious, and the guy (instead of being an abusive jackass) is an insufferable stoner.

I honestly can't figure out why either of these movies are so highly regarded.

but tossed in a few more "jump" scares since American audiences seem to confuse reflexive reactions with actual fright

I saw Snake Island (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320483/) and it must set some sort of record for false scares

Don't you just love how you've got a video tape that kills people but you know, just leave it lying around the place so anyone can watch it.

Freep, I had considered starting a thread about "Snake Island" after I rented it a while ago. I guess they needed all the false scares and spring loaded jumping snakes to pad out the film since they sure didn't do it with storytelling or decent acting. Maybe they should have had more scenes of snakes dancing to techno music. Perhaps scenes of William Katt hanging his head in shame or trying to explain just how he survived.

And to each their own on the "The Ring/Ringu" name thing I say. I tend to go with the most popular or common usage when it comes to the names of foreign films. Plus I get tired of saying (or typing) "the Japanese one" and "The American one"  when comparing foreign originals to remakes.

RINGU wins...the addition of the well scene adds to the plot i think...

Ringu, hands down.  The american version just HAD to add the love story/interest thing.  No need.  The kid in Ringu was better than the kid in The Ring.  The faces were way creepier in Ringu (side note: the producers changed the faces after the 1st screening in Japan- the crowd was too disturbed by the original so they toned them down).  I disagree that you have to have a knowledge of Japanese lore to understand it- psychic powers are, I think, in every society.  Sadako was WAY CREEPIER- creepy eyes, fingernails, stuff, oy...

My thoughts.