not as good as "Ringu", but not crap either

Rating: Null/10 (7 March 2004)

I'm big on horror films, so I had seen "Ringu" about as soon as it hit the US. Here's the american remake. It's not as good, but it's not bad. Excellent acting, creepiness abounds, but it has problems.
Why does every little kid in a horror film since "Sixth sense" have to be weird and creepy? "Ringu" drenched itself in some of the more obscure horror traditions, and resulted in a post-millenial update of Robert Chamber's book, "The King In Yellow". "TKIY" concerns a book so evil that those who read it, die. It's obscure these days, but it is highly regarded by the Lovecraft mythos afficianados. Along with this, "Ringu" dips heavily into the vocabulary of David Cronenberg, (more than any film since "Demons 2"!), and that really got me intrigued. This remake is easier to take, (no subtitles!), but it lacks some of the creepier aspects, and the adaptation of the original story seems foggy. I look forward to further remakes from this series, although the japanese have made several TV-movies tying in with this and that might be a bit much. "Ringu 2", and "Ringu 0" really fill in the story, and that would probably be a good thing. It's a good but somewhat confusing movie, with a fascinating history. Although it's better than "Fear.com", that holds some interest for fans of this, but comes from a different tradition that might not fly well with all fans of this.