Genuinely disturbing movie

Rating: 9/10 (11 January 2003)

This is without doubt the scariest horror i've seen in recent years, Sixth Sense, The Exorcist, Shining and anything else dont even come close. What I liked best about this film was the fact that it managed to maintain the fear factor right throughout the entire film, unlike other chillers such as Sixth Sense or Jeepers Creepers which were scary for forty minutes before losing themselves in the latter parts. This film is scary right up to the end!
The main reason I felt compelled to write however concerns the Ring, Ringu debate. To those who dont know The Ring is actually a remake of a Japanese film Ringu which came out in 1998. The general consensus on here seems to be that the original is much scarier and darker, a view to which I cannot subscribe. I watched Ringu first, about 3 months ago and although I found the story inriguing it wasnt really scary at all until right up to the end,(which was shocking I must admit!). The original Japanese version, obviously made on a low budget had a made for tv feel about it, and the acting wasnt really that good either. I cant honestly belive how anyone watching the two films could say the original is scarier, it just so isnt! Anyway one thing the original did do better however was to flesh out the story. I wont spoil either film by saying what happens but in the original the history of the girl is much better and explains things more. I would recommend watching both films as they both offer something different from the usual teen slasher horrors we seem to get all the time nowadays. The only similar film I can think of is FearDotCom which by the way was terrible, so I would recommend this or the original Ringu to anyone wanting an original, scary horror.