A great film based on the Suzuki novel

Rating: 9/10 (12 June 2009)

If you are a fan of the original Suzuki novel, you will enjoy this. The film IS NOT an adaption of the original novel. This however is a positive factor as it allowed the writers to tool with the concept of the cursed videotape, giving Sadada/Samara an interesting, new back story for us to follow.
This film could have been like any other modern day horror, knives, blood and mindless violence. This film, however focuses on a more mystery based Thriller, which is good as it doesn't ruin the atmosphere of the original Suzuki novel.
The acting is very good, Naimoi Watts does an amazing job at capturing the films horror psychologically. The child actor playing her son is very skilled as well and creates an eerie feel to some of the scenes.
The film isn't very graphic and focuses on a more artistic horror. This is a nice break from the amount of mindless slashers like saw and the stupidly on going Jason series. The film only doesn't get a 10 stars because the book had a slightly more gripping back story for Sadada/Samara and explained a bit more about why the cursed videotape exists. Still this film is a classic and will remain in my DVD collection until blue-ray out-dates everything, pff unlikely!