Hollywood does it again...

Rating: 5/10 (31 December 2002)

Hollywood does it again; botches another remake. Well, almost. If you don't know it already, this is a remake of the Japanese movie Ringu from 1998. And a pointless remake at that. Sure, the effects are better, but that's to be expected as they probably had ten times the budget.
The story is simple, yet intriguing. A couple of teenagers have died. Separately, but all at the same day, and at the exact same time. Rachel Keller starts investigating the events and finds out that they had all been in a cabin watching a videotape seven days earlier, and as rumour has it; everyone that watches that tape, dies seven days later.
My recommendation is to see the original, Ringu. As least start with that one and watch this afterwards, if you must. I saw Ringu about 2 months ago, and in my opinion it was darker, scarier, and made me think more. The remake does the classic Hollywood thing; they explain too much as if we, the audience, as incapable of independent thought. I like a movie that makes me think, and leaves me wondering a bit. That's always a good reason to see a movie for a second, or third time.
But, honestly, I can't be sure what I would have thought if I had seen The Ring before Ringu.
Anyway, if you don't have some strange phobia about seeing subtitled movies, try to get hold of Ringu, Ringu 2 and the prequel Ringu 0: Baasudei (Birthday). I gave this movie 5/10, and Ringu 8/10