I'm sure you've watched The Ring and know the story. "If you see this tape, you'll die" and stuff like that. But as club admin, lets give a little recap of all the movies. Credit to theringworld.com [b]the Ring[/b] (Theatrical) - 1998. 95 minutes. DIRECTOR: Nakata Hideo. SCREENPLAY: Takahashi Hiroshi. For this second adaptation of the Ring novel, director Nakata and screenwriter Takahashi Hiroshi chose to take a very different approach to the source material, ultimately producing a story that is more human and character-driven. Not only do the Asakawa and Ryuji of this version possess a depth not afforded their counterparts in the novel, but the changing of their characters from high school associates to a wife and her estranged husband affords additional tension, as the two must deal with threats to their person as well as conflicts arising from their relationship. This Ring also diverges from the book in its treatment of the Yamamura Sadako / cursed videotape storyline, emphasizing the supernatural and doing away with the heavy scientific slant that stagnated the theatrical version of Rasen. In fact, so great are the changes in Nakata's Ring that it is more accurately called a re-interpretation, rather than an adaptation, of the novel. To date, the closest Ring adaptation is the lackluster TV-movie Ring: Kanzenban, which just goes to show that being more faithful doesn't necessarily equate being better. It was Nakata's vision of Ring that thrust author Suzuki Koji's works into the limelight, driving sales of the novels through the roof and arguably kick-starting the cinematic genre of "J-horror." Though later films from a variety of directors would borrow motifs (most notably that of Sadako) from Nakata's 1998 oeuvre, Ring remains the original, a classic whose ending overcomes the film's limited budget to inspire genuine chills. Cast - ASAKAWA REIKO: Matsushima Nanako. TAKAYAMA RYUJI: Sanada Hiroyuki. TAKANO MAI: Nakatani Miki. ASAKAWA YOICHI: Otaka Rikiya. OISHI TOMOKO: Takeuchi Yuuko. YAMAMURA SADAKO: Inou Rie. Story - Reporter Asakawa Reiko (Matsushima Nanako) is in the midst of investigating the latest urban myth--a videotape that kills all who watch it--when her niece Tomoko (Takeuchi Yuuko) suddenly dies under mysterious circumstances. Her investigation reveals that not only her niece but also three other friends died on the same day at exactly the same time. Asakawa traces the activities of the four friends back to the Izu Peninsula, where apparently they had stayed overnight in a rental cabin... and viewed the very cursed videotape that she has been investigating. When Asakawa watches the videotape herself, she enlists the help of her ex-husband Takayama Ryuji (Sanada Hiroyuki) to help solve its deadly riddle. Together, the two begin to identify the mass of jumbled images found on the videotape. One of these, a mysterious woman brushing her long hair before an oval mirror, is identified as the long-dead psychic Yamamura Shizuko. Asakawa and Ryuji travel to Oshima, the birthplace of Yamamura Shizuko, in search of clues. What they find is the secret of the Yamamura family--that Shizuko had given to a daughter that mysteriously disappeared thirty years ago. The child's name: Yamamura Sadako. The latter half of the Ring has Asakawa and Ryuji discovering that the video was in fact created by Sadako, who three decades ago was thrown into a well and left for dead. With nothing left to try, the duo resolve to find the well and recover Sadako's body, in the hopes of appeasing her vengeful spirit...

Credit to theringworld.com In an unusual move, Asmik Ace Entertainment hired two separate crews to produce Ring and its sequel Rasen, and then released both films simultaneously. The thinking was that if audiences enjoyed one movie, they would watch the other to see how the stories interconnected. Whereas people flocked to see its predecessor, however, Rasen quickly faded from the limelight to become the black sheep of the Ring series. This film is a tough one to love. For years, my review described it as "a merciless 98 minutes of wooden characters and tepid dialogue," an opinion formulated after no less than three viewings. But something happened recently, when I was working on the subtitles for the film: I discovered that Rasen actually has some things to offer. First thing's first, though: as with Ring Ø, watching Rasen means having to forget the "feel" of its predecessor. Directorially speaking, Nakata and Iida have completely different styles--whereas Nakata puts both color and camera angle to good use, Iida prefers a much more minimalist approach. Colors are drained, and some shots continue for minutes on end with nothing more than a slow pan to break the monotony. Add to this the fact that Rasen (in keeping true to the novel) stresses the scientific far more than the supernatural, and it's little wonder that the film has been lambasted by those that were so enthralled by Nakata's vision of techno-horror. The film is a virtual exercise in minimalism, which really makes you have to dig for your enjoyment. But it's there, if you have the patience to look for it. Sato Koichi (protagonist Andou Mitsuo) seems to actually improve his acting as the film moves along. Earlier scenes of him wanting to kill himself but afraid to die simply ring hollow, while later snippets of him standing on the shoreline sobbing miserably are very emotionally powerful. About three-quarters into the movie his performance suddenly takes a rather maudlin turn, but this can be chalked up to an unfortunate deviation from the storyline of the novel rather than Sato's acting skills. And then there's Miyashita, played by Tsurumi Shingo. The man has phenomenal talent and is sadly under-recognized, as are most character actors. Watching Miyashita and Andou together, you can actually believe that we're seeing longtime friends interact and joke with one another. Toward the end of the movie Tsurumi has a chance to show off some of his more serious acting skills, and I was highly impressed with the consistent level of plausibility he gave to his emotions. The other thing that's good about the film: Saeki Hinako. Her persona of the wicked, grinning seductress has far too little screen time. She is the Sadako of the novel. Still, my opinion on one thing remains unchanged: Andou Mitsuo and Takano Mai (Nakatani Miki) do not make a good onscreen couple. Nakatani spends much of their time together looking thoroughly bored, and only really comes alive toward the end of the movie (when her character undergoes a dramatic change--see the spoiler section below). Aside from this brief respite, her entire repertoire consists of being doe-eyed and pouty. She spends so much time looking at the ground you'll start wondering if that's where George Clooney gets his acting style. So in a nutshell, what is Rasen? If Nakata Hideo's Ring is a classic Twilight Zone that still manages to end with a bang, Iida's Rasen is a Tales from the Darkside that just sort of...ends. It has a story to tell, and it's a shame it wasn't done with more care to the source material (see below). But after years of lashing out at the film, I've finally come to realize that even Rasen has something to offer: with all its flaws, it's an attempt at a fairly faithful adaptation of author Suzuki Koji's work, and is a glimpse of the Ring franchise that could have been. Cast - ANDOU MITSUO: Sato Koichi. MIYASHITA: Tsurumi Shingo. TAKANO MAI: Nakatani Miki. TAKAYAMA RYUJI: Sanada Hiroyuki. YAMAMURA SADAKO: Saeki Hinako. Story - Pathologist Andou Mitsuo is shocked to learn that the latest body on his cutting table is none other than Takayama Ryuji, a classmate from medical school. He is even more shocked when he discovers a suspicious-looking tumor in Ryuji's neck, as well as a message written in code that sits undigested in Ryuji's stomach. As Andou and his partner Miyashita look for clues to Takayama's death, they learn that four teens had recently died under suspicious circumstances--and that the bodies of both the teens and Takayama Ryuji contain the same unusual virus. The virus would seem the obvious cause of death, but then a reporter named Yoshino shows up with information about a girl named Yamamura Sadako, and a videotape that supposedly kills its viewers. Andou watches the tape for himself, suddenly facing the very real threat that the long-dead Sadako still poses--as well as wrestling with a decision that could usher in humanity's extinction.

Credit to theringworld.com DIRECTOR: Nakata Hideo. SCREENPLAY: Takahashi Hiroshi. Q: What do you do when audiences are hungering for more Ring, but are less than thrilled with Rasen, director Iida Jouji's sequel? A: If you're Asmik Ace Entertainment, you get the cast and crew of the first Ring back to make yet another sequel, and pretend that Rasen never happened. Thus Ring 2 was born. Even having all the original staff back on board, however, Ring 2 doesn't measure up to its predecessor due to the difference in approach between the two movies. What made the first Ring so terrifying was its mystery, how so little was known of Yamamura Sadako or the videotape she made cursed. By revealing Sadako's origins, by attempting to explain the supernatural through hokey scientific logic, Ring 2 removes that mystery--with the result that audience members are informed rather than scared. To its credit, Ring 2 does have a few chilling scenes, and is one of those rare sequels that seeks to add more to the original story instead of simply rehashing it. Part of the reason it flounders, however, is that the story was the sole brainchild of Nakata and screenwriter Takahashi Hiroshi, and has little in common with the source material. Cast - TAKANO MAI: Nakatani Miki. ASAKAWA REIKO: Matsushima Nanako. YOICHI: Otaka Rikiya. IKUMA HEIHACHIRO: Ban Daisuke. SAWAGUCHI KANAE: Fukada Kyoko. TAKAYAMA RYUJI: Sanada Hiroyuki. Story - Ring 2 begins with some nervous-looking doctors trundling out the corpse of Yamamura Sadako for identification. We know from the first Ring that Sadako was still alive when thrown into the well, but now it looks like she was alive down there for 30 years... Meanwhile, Reiko and her son Yoichi have gone missing, and Mai, Takayama Ryuji's student, tracks them down to get some answers. By the time she catches up to them Yoichi has started to develop the psychic powers he inherited from his father, and it's not long before he's being manipulated in scientific experiments on how to deal with the beyond-the-grave power of Yamamura Sadako.

Credit to theringworld.com DIRECTOR: Tsuruta Norio. SCREENPLAY: Takahashi Hiroshi. Whereas Ring 2 went wrong by trying to pick up too many left-over threads and tie them into an overly convoluted plot, Ring Ø shines by getting back to the basics of human drama that made the first Ring so powerful. Nakama Yukie is brilliant in her portrayal of Sadako as a young girl frightened of her own power, and is able to draw the audience into her fear as the story moves toward its inevitable conclusion. A few goosebumps and the final chilling scene aside, Ring Ø is more drama than horror--but what it does do is shed new light on a previously unexplored storyline in a way that puts the Star Wars: Episode I prequels of the film world to bitter, color-by-numbers shame. Watching Ring Ø is like reading the secret diary of your worst enemy and finding out they're not all that different from you, with fears and frailties of their own. The script itself isn't especially unique; it's the stylish direction, and the convincing performance of its lead that makes this film come alive. Make no mistake, though: watching Ring Ø means you'll have to not only purge yourself of the slick, techno-horror influence of Ring and Ring 2, but also love the "slow burn" of classic Agatha Christie mysteries. Otherwise, you will not enjoy this film. Cast - YAMAMURA SADAKO: Nakama Yukie. TOYAMA: Tanabe Seiichi. TACHIHARA ETSUKO: Asou Kumiko. IKUMA HEIHACHIRO: Ban Daisuke. KIYOMI: Hashimoto Masami. Story - Thirty years prior to the first Ring, a teenage Sadako (Nakama) is the newest member of a Tokyo-based theater troupe. Reporter Miyaji Akiko has finally succeeded in tracking her down, intent on determining whether the daughter is the same cold-blooded murderess the mother is considered to have been. Instead, the Sadako she encounters is a frail young thing that requires counselling for her nerves. Nevertheless, as soon Sadako appears on the scene, a series of mysterious deaths begins claiming the members of her troupe...

Credit to theringworld.com DIRECTOR: Kim Dong-bin. SCREENPLAY: Kim Dong-bin. The first-ever joint production between Korea and Japan, with each side footing 50% of the production costs. Korean director Kim Dong-bin is said to have sought a more mysterious than horror-based tone for his version. I really wanted to like this movie, and indeed some scenes were very well done. Eun-Suh, the Sadako character, is portrayed much closer to the way she appeared in the novel, and actress Bae Doo-na does a superb job. By far my favorite part of the movie was the montage of events leading up to Eun-Suh's death, set to a killer soundtrack. This being said, however, there are just too many bones to pick with The Ring Virus. Most of it cuts from scene to scene without showing the how or why behind characters' actions, giving it the feel of a Cliffs' Notes version. The cinematography also removes much of the tension, replacing the dark and shadow of the Japanese original with brightness and color. Equally frustrating is director Kim Dong-bin's decision to change the sex of any thinking person's role from male to female, and to make all male characters either villains, cowards, or morons. And as for the famous TV scene near the end of the movie... well, it just fizzles. Cast - SUN-JU: Shin Eun-Kyung. CHOE YOL: Chong Chin-yong. EUN-SUH: Bae Doo-na Story - Journalist Sun-ju has her suspicions aroused when her niece Sang Mee dies along with three friends on the same day. Sun-ju enlists the help of beer-loving neurosurgeon Choe Yol, who has performed autopsies on the bodies and declared their deaths to be supernatural. After Sun-ju discovers the cursed videotape in Sang Mee's hotel room, she and Choe Yol join forces to solve the mystery of the video's origins and break its deadly curse. Spoilers! Apparently there has been some debate as to the Ring vs. The Ring Virus, regarding which is closer to the novel, which was produced first and even whether The Ring Virus is a remake at all. To address this last point, The Ring Virus is most definitely a remake, with shots replicated from the Japanese film right down to the color of clothes worn by the characters. Claims that The Ring Virus was produced first make little sense considering not only its later release date, but the fact that several of the above-mentioned scenes are original to the Japanese theatrical version (e.g. Sadako emerging from the television set, Ryuji smashing his way into the rental cabin's basement to get to the well, people who have seen the video appearing with their faces distorted when photographed) and did not appear in the novel. In fact, Ring director Nakata Hideo has personally expressed his surprise at seeing shots eerily similar to his own appearing in an altogotether different film. The Ring Virus can best be described as a remake of the Japanese film with elements of the novel added. For example, our friend on the left here takes the role of Nagao Joutarou, who rapes Sadako/Eun-Suh and dumps her into the well. Ring Virus also expands Sun-ju and Choe Yol's investigation to include Sun-ju's senior reporter (Yoshino in the Japanese version) as in the novel, thankfully eschewing the disposable Okazaki.

Credit to theringworld.com DIRECTOR: Gore Verbinski. SCREENPLAY: Ehren Kruger & Scott Frank. Walter Parkes, one of the producers for DreamWorks' version of The Ring, told an interesting anecdote at the film's Hollywood premiere on October 2nd: at 4:00 pm he and an associate watched the original Japanese film, and were so blown away by what they saw that by 7:00 pm that same day, they had already secured the remake rights. America's Ring appears to have been put together with a great deal of care, and while the finished result is a lot of fun to watch, it's also quite different from its Japanese counterpart. For one, the measured pace of the original is missing here. While Nakata's film was a classic example of the slow burn, Verbinski's always has something going on in it, whether it's the snappy banter of its characters or the ubiquitous "jump" scenes accompanied by high-pitched chords. The film is literally devoid of silence, an aspect I found a little jarring on my first viewing. Also, while there is an obvious attempt to preserve the "dream logic" of the Japanese original, equally apparent is a (western?) necessity to explain away as many of the vague or open-ended points of the film as possible (e.g. the significance of 'ring,' the reason that victims die after seven days, etc.) And while it's interesting to see what screenwriters Kruger and Frank came up with in order to propel their story along, at the same time I was a little sad to see the deliberate vagueness of the original exposed to so harsh an analytical light. Still, Verbinski's Ring is an intelligent film, and a far cry from the breast-obsessed "horror comedy" that currently dominates the genre, so perhaps I'm waxing needlessly poetic. As for the cast, Naomi Watts gives a fine performance in her role as Rachel Keller. She is able to show her character as strong-willed and yet genuinely having the living hell scared out of her at times, no small feat. Brian Cox excels in his far-too-brief cameo as Richard Morgan, Samara's father. Not only is he a wonderful actor, he was the perfect choice to fill the role played by Daisuke Ban in the Japanese Ring. Because this Ring does away with many of the supernatural aspects of the original, some of the characters are reduced to little more than shades of their former selves. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the case of Anna Morgan (Shannon Cochran) and Noah (Martin Henderson), which would go a ways to explaining my initial dislike for both of these characters. It's not that Cochran and Henderson gave bad performances; it's just that, character-wise, they really weren't given that much to work with. As it turns out, Cochran gets one really great scene to show us what she's capable of, and Henderson...well, his big palooka of a Noah wasn't that bad the second time around. Ditto for David Dorfman's wide-eyed portrayal of Aidan, Rachel Keller's son. It's been suggested that the filmmakers were trying to evoke The Sixth Sense with his character, but personally I found Aidan to have little in common with Haley Joel Osment's weepy portrayal of Cole Sear. And then there's Daveigh. Not since Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs has a villain (if one can pigeonhole a character as such) with so little screen time captured the public's interest as much as Sadako, Japan's answer to the modern, vengeful ghost. Daveigh Chase had some mighty big shoes to fill with her portrayal of Samara, the remake's interpretation of Sadako, and you know what? She rocks. Opinions will differ on the fact that even in the trailers we can see Samara's face uncovered. Myself, I probably would have opted against it, but actually seeing Daveigh up there onscreen, watching Samara presented as a frightened and unsure young girl, made me think that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all. Maybe that's what director Verbinski was after--the added shock value in seeing what Samara would become as opposed to the person she once was. Still, as much fun as I had watching her in action, I can't help but think why, why did they cut her marvelous line from the trailer? You know the one: Everyone will suffer. And speaking of cuts, wasn't Chris Cooper supposed to be in this movie? Somewhere along the line, his cameo as a child murderer also seems to have disappeared... I could go on and on. I haven't even talked about the CG, or the horses (!), or the little slices of insanity Rick Baker serves up for us in the form of some freakish-looking corpses...and I guess I'm not going to. Pretty much everything you can imagine about this film differs from director Nakata Hideo's Japanese version. It has none of the subtletly, none of the quiet dignity of the original...but at its core the story is the same, and more than a few scenes will have you squirming in your seat. Watch it. This movie is a lot of fun. And Samara will make you afraid. Cast - RACHEL KELLER: Naomi Watts. NOAH: Martin Henderson. AIDAN: David Dorfman. SAMARA MORGAN: Daveigh Chase. RICHARD MORGAN: Brian Cox. Story - Newspaper reporter Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) attends the funeral of her young niece Katie (Amber Tamblyn). She is approached by her sister Ruth, who asks that Rachel use her journalistic skills to get to the bottom of Katie's mysterious death. It is also at the funeral that Rachel hears of a mysterious videotape that kills all who watch it exactly seven days later. Rachel discovers that not just her niece, but also three of her niece's friends all died on the same day, and all at 10:00 pm. She finds that the four teenagers stayed overnight at a remote log cabin in the woods...and at that cabin, Rachel finds the videotape itself. The rumors are true--upon watching the video, Rachel receives a phone call with the whispered message "Seven days." She now has one week to solve the riddle of the tape, and so asks Noah, an expert in photography and video technology, to help her find where the videotape came from. And hidden in one of the frames they find a clue leading them to Moesko Island, where the evil that had once terrorized the islanders threatens to rise again...

WOW, thx 4 telin me!! ive heard teh basic story of ring from mi friends, u know, "im gonna kill ya'll in 7 days" or soemthing.. my cuzzin got freaked out by the 2nd movie though,... g2g! thx again!

No problem, any information that needs clearing up, just ask meh or anyone in the club!

k!!