Rasen

Plot synopsis:
Following the events of Ring, the body of Ryūji Takayama, former husband of Reiko Asakawa and father of Yōichi Asakawa, is examined by his friend and rival, pathologist Mitsuo Andō. After he finds a cryptic note in Takayama's stomach, Reiko and Yōichi also turn up dead. Andō soon learns of a mysterious cursed videotape, haunted by the spirit of a murdered young woman. Rumor has it that anyone who watches the video will die exactly one week later. Despondent over the death of his own child, and believing that he is being guided by his rival's ghost, Andō decides to see the video for himself. After watching the tape, strange things begin to happen around him, and he soon discovers that the tape's restless spirit has different plans in store for him.
With the help of Takayama's student, Mai Takano, Andō finds out more about Ryūji's past as well as the mysterious young woman, Sadako Yamamura. Searching for the truth about why Ryūji and Yōichi died from the virus while Reiko didn't leads him to her boss Yoshino. Yoshino lets Andō in on a secret: he has the wife's diary. She and Ryūji had been researching the cursed videotape. While Reiko had broken the curse, Ryūji died a week after watching the tape. Reiko believed that creating a copy would break the curse but Yōichi died a week after watching the tape, just as his father had. Yoshino shows Andō both the tape and the diary.
When Andō tells Mai Takano what he's done, she is shocked and can't understand why, since she felt from the start that it was the video that killed Takayama and his family. As they are talking, Yoshino calls Andō. He admits that he wishes he'd never been involved in Reiko's business. Andō believes that Yoshino had watched the video, but he denies it saying that he was too scared to. However, Yoshino still dies.
Andō decides to destroy the videotapes and make sure that he will be the video's last victim. He then confides in Mai about his son's death, and they end up sleeping together. Andō asks Mai if she'll be there with him when he dies, but Mai tells him she's too scared. He understands and decides to try to find out more about the virus that killed Takayama and his son. He discovers that the virus that killed Yoshino was different from the one that killed the father and son. Andō asks for tests to be run on him.
Meanwhile, Mai Takano goes missing and Andō apparently survives the curse. He starts to feel that the story was just a myth and he's relieved when Mai turns up. However, he is shocked to find out that she has been found dead, having given birth with no sign of a baby. Andō goes back to work and sees "Mai" there and finds out that she is none other than Sadako Yamamura, reborn and claiming to be "perfectly dual-gendered". He then learns that Takayama wasn't helping Andō stop Sadako – instead, he was helping Sadako. Yoshino, Andō's friend Miyashita and many others weren't killed by a virus or the video but rather Reiko's diary. Sadako promises to help resurrect Andō's son in exchange for his help.
In the end, Andō brings Takayama and his son back to life with help from Sadako. Just as Ryūji leaves, he tells Andō "Many years will pass before our world will be at peace."

Tags: good versus evil, romantic, murder, violence, flashback

Review:
Set almost immediately after the events of Ringu (1998), Rasen/Spiral tells us the story of Mitsuo Ando (Koichi Sato), a forensics doctor who gets wrapped up with the "Ring curse" when his the body of an old friend, Ryuji Takayama (Hiroyuki Sanada, reprising his character from Ringu), makes its way onto his autopsy table.
If you're a fan of that kind of material, and you do not mind sequels with vastly different tones and foci, you should like this film a lot.
For some others, the attempted scientific explanations of the "Ring curse" are a turn-off that saps some of the supernatural creepiness out of the rest of the series.At the end of Ringu, scripter Hiroshi Takahashi and director Hideo Nakata suggested that the Ring curse operated something like a paranormal, deadly chain letter.
Of course, audiences often feel alienated when their former heroes are so wantonly disposed in a sequel (and I'm guessing that's part of the reason for making an alternate reality Ringu 2 where the characters Reiko (Nanako Matsushima) and Yoichi Asakawa (Rikiya Otaka) return), but it's a move I love.
An American film that alienated audiences in a similar way, and which I also loved, is Alien 3 (1992).Suzuki and Iida make Rasen/Spiral nicely parallel symbolically to the overall metaphors of the series.
Although Spiral contradicts many things in the original film ringu it is actually based on the sequel book written by the original author of Ringu.
If anything this version/universe of Ringu is more to what the author intended and is not an awful film I thought it had quite a good plot twist at the end, however it isn't wholly satisfying as it does contradict the original to much and takes away most of the horror aspect of Sadako.
Forget everything you might have seen in Ring 2 and Ring 0: Rasen (AKA The Spiral) takes a different approach to the other sequels of Hideo Nakata's influential J-horror Ringu.In this version of the events that follow the first film, Koichi Sato plays Mitsuo Ando, a grief stricken pathologist who contemplates suicide after the tragic death of his young son, but who finds himself unable to go through with the act.When he is called upon to perform an autopsy on his old friend Ryuji Takayama (Hiroyuki Sanada), Ando discovers the existence of the cursed VHS tape that caused so much trouble in Ringu.
After cracking a code left to him by his deceased pal, Ando comes to believe that the deadly tape was intended as a macabre present which would provide the solution to his suffering.The truth, however, is far more sinister: Takayama's gift to Ando is actually the return of his son, but for this feat to be possible, Ando must first betray the whole of humanity by allowing Sadako's curse to spiral out of control.Although a slow moving and often rather confusing movie, Rasen is not an entirely worthless experience: the film introduces some interesting ideas about the true nature of the curse and reveals its objective—to alter the course of the entire human race.
Casual horror fans might be disappointed by the distinct lack of scares, and once again gore is almost non-existent, but Rasen should be enjoyable enough for those who love creepy Asian flicks and don't mind doing a bit of research to fill in the blanks (apparently, reading the books helps a lot with understanding the story)..
Maybe the fact that I saw Ring 0: Birthday before I saw this film effected the way i viewed this film, knowing Sadako's story gave me a greater understanding of the film.The ending of the film was a tad weak, obviously setting the scene for another sequel, one we will never see due to this films failure at the box office & the making of Ring 2, which was a completely different story.The use of music in this film was good, except for the end theme during the credits, it just did not fit with the tone of the filmWhile this film is not as scary as the original, it does have it's scary moments & will keep the viewer interest all the way through.
"Rasen" ("Spiral"), the "forgotten" sequel to "Ringu" is an interesting, but Messy film...
Filmed and released at the same time as it's predecessor "Ringu" (or "Ring", which inspired the hit American remake "The Ring"), "Rasen" (or "Spiral") is an ambitious idea.
(Basically, "Rasen" is to "Ringu" what "Highlander 2" is to "Highlander"- a forgotten, non-canon sequel that people ignore) However, as the film was still made, and is easily obtainable (even in the US, where it is included with all three of the other "Ringu" films in a boxed set), I feel I should give my take, as a fan of the original film."Rasen" is actually not a "bad" movie, but I will say, as a sequel, it is quite misguided.
But as "Ringu" was changed into more-or-less a standard ghost story, this sequel's focus on the science of it was too awkward for many.It begins soon after "Ringu"- a pathologist named Ando is called into work to perform an autopsy on Ryugi, whom as you will recall was killed in the first movie.
Eventually, he hears about the cursed video tape, and decides to watch it and solve the mystery of the vengeful being Sadako himself, with the help of Ryugi's former assistant Mai.The film delves deep into science-fiction territory, with constant talk of viruses, cloning, etc.
Well I did not work out, the people were confused, they went and saw Rasen first and not Ringu, or whatever, anyway basically it wasn't that Rasen was bad, it was the way they released the films that was bad.
Right now they have a double feature DVD set with Rasen & Ringu 0, it is definitely worth get because Rasen is a great movie with a good satisfying ending, and Ringu 0 is spectacular, it is my favorite of the series.
Originally intended to be viewed as the sequel to 1998's box office smash "The Ring," (indeed, the film was double-billed with its precursor), "Rasen" continues the story of Sadako Yamamura, a strange child possesed of demonic powers who was killed by her father some indeterminate time before the first of the trilogy of films opened.
Whereas "The Ring" was primarily concerned with Sadako's murderous revenge through a chain-letter style video, "Rasen" concentrates on her attempts to be reborn into the world, essentially making the film a Japanese re-interpretation of "Rosemary's Baby." Like that film, "Rasen" is a strong film with plenty of moments of sheer psychological terror but few grisly "blood and guts" scenes.
And then lets not even get started about all those 'Ringu/Ring' movie versions and television series from different countries.
The explanation to this unexpected event comes later, but still, there is no really scary scenes in this movie, and Sadako looks more frightened than frightening.However, the story isn't necessarily bad...It's just the way it's being presented.
Everyone knows that Hideo Nakata's masterpiece Ring was followed by a sequel (Ring 2) and a prequel (Ring 0) which completely recall and wrap-up the story of Sadako Yamamura, the telekinetic girl who gained revenge via a cursed videotape for being buried alive in a well.
Less common knowledge is that fact that this movie, Rasen, was filmed at the same time as Ring and was originally intended to be the one and only sequel - wrapping up the story of Sadako in a completely different way.Both movies were released simultaneously in Japan but while Ring went on to be a major international hit and hailed as one of the scariest movies of all time, Rasen flopped and was quickly forgotten.
Rasen is now the forgotten chapter of the Ring legacy and is best watched now as an alternative to Ring 2.The plot follows a doctor as he investigates the death of close friend Ryuji (the professor who was killed by Sadako at the end of Ring).
This doctor soon finds Ryuji's wife Reiko's diary and learns of the mysterious Sadako video - and after watching it for himself, comes to the realisation that he has one week to solve its remaining secrets or risk succumbing to the curse himself.Rasen is an excellent sequel to Ringu - for the first hour.
Without giving anything away, the final act turns on its head anything we'd thought Sadako was trying to do through her cursed tape and makes the events of Ring seem somewhat pointless.
It rambles on about philosophy and ethics and is really a damp squid of a horror movie.Thus, it really is quite clear how Rasen was buried and I'm eternally grateful to Hideo Nakata for making Ring 2 - and to Tartan Video for failing to release this in the UK!
Kind of like the Phantasm series, the first one you wondered what the heck was going on and in the later installments they tried to explain everything and it just was not as intriguing anymore.The story starts out with a man autopsying a former colleague who was the father in the first film.
I have see Rimgu 2 (I have not seen for a while) few times before I even heard of this movie.I think Ringu 2 was okay movie, it wasn't bad but could hAve been so much better, then it was as I loved The Ringu I was hoping this would be an lmprovement of Ringu 2 but once a again, it was another let down.Rasen (1998) Is The forgot Ringu sequel, it came out almost at the same time as Ringu 2 as( it sequel in tgr book series as well,) it was huge flop and then a year later Ringu 2 came out.Now I know, why it is know as the forgotten sequel, it wasn't really that good or that scary, it was just really bizarre..The move was not scary at all, we don't see any one come out of the TV set, We do see Sadako, who just appears from no were.
That morning he gets a call from his buddy Miyashita (Shingo Tsurumi) telling him that the guy on the chopping board that day is Ryuji Takayama (played by the great Hiroyuki Sanada), who was Andou's old rival in Med. School.During the autopsy (which is about the only scary thing in the movie!) Andou has a flashback about how he and Ryuji used to always make number codes for words.
Some how (despite the fact that in 'Ring' Ryuji never told anyone about videotape and never went near anyone but Reiko), Mai knows everything about the cursed videotape and says that's why Ryuji died.That night, Andou take the numbered paper found in Ryuji's throat home and decides to work it out.
Many viewers probably felt the same reaction as when George Lucas decided to explain the Force with mitochlorians.The acting and cinematography is impressive in this film, as with the other Ringu movies.
Rasen is good, but it deserves to be presented in its own movie with new characters, rather than trying to fit the ideas into the Ringu storyline..
So, if you take these aspects into account, the story is great, and had the film been made with as much care as the novel, it would have greatly succeeded, and there would be no point in making "Ring 2", which in my opinion isn't as good as this movie, even though I enjoy that one, too.
...that a second sequel, "Ring 2" (which negated several of the events in "Rasen"), had to be released by way of apology."Rasen" is from beginning to end thoroughly unengaging, shot in a kind of ham-fisted, movie-of-the-week style that much more insulting when compared with the brilliantly eerie feel of the original "Ring."  There are only two real characters to speak of throughout the entire film, Takayama Ryuji (Sanada) and Takano Mai (Nakatani), and their interplay is crushingly dull.
By the time that Ryuji stumbles onto the lead-in from the first film (the videotape made "cursed" by the beyond-the-grave power of Yamamura Sadako) and watches it for himself, the audience has already lost interest, and indeed may welcome his eventual demise.Oddly enough, the comic book adaptation of "Rasen" is superb, succeeding where the movie failed miserably-- that is, explaining the "why" behind the enigma of Yamamura Sadako through medical science without losing sight of the fact that *too much* information detracts from the mystery that makes the unknown so much more frightening."Ring" has spawned a television series of the same name, the two sequels mentioned above, and a prequel (Ring 0/ Birthday)-- all of which, sadly, fall short of the original..
Rasen' (pr 'Spiral') is the unnecessarily over complicated film whose plot bogs down this sequel to the J-horror classic 'Ringu' (1998).
the Ring series started out a supernatural suspense horror about a lurching figure with hair covering her face who stalks her victims via a cursed videotape and turned into a story that seems to consist of a vengeful telepath who wants to create many Sadako's to show the world the pain and fear she endured while in the well, by cloning and killing people with a virus.
Both movies were put into production with different directors and creative teams in the hope that when audiences saw Ringu, they could then immediately go back to the cinema to see the sequel Rasen.
While Ringu focuses on the supernatural elements of the cursed video tape, Rasen takes a more scientific view.
In fact it sets up the possibility of a movie adaptation of the third novel in the Ring series, Loop which takes the story even further from the supernatural into the realms of virtual reality.Rasen deserves more credit than it has been given, it is vastly superior to the "official" sequel Ringu 2, which was merely a rehash of the original movie.
I only stumbled into this because I thought it was a different film called Spiral.This movie is  full of atmosphere but almost from the start doesn't add up to much.
By the end, I really didn't care anymore, and was mainly just watching in case I would have to know some of this to understand "Ringu 2" (at that point I didn't realize "Ringu 2" wasn't any kind of sequel to "Rasen").The high point of this movie, without a doubt, is Andou's vision of the dissected Ryuuji coming to life during his autopsy.
However, people see through that and find the goodness this movie offers.You should watch Rasen with no anticipation for it to live up to "Ring" because both movies head in different directions.
Ando Mitsuo is a pathologist who has to perform an autopsy on Ryuji Takayama early in the movie (his fate is explained in proper fashion in "Ring", unless you haven't already guessed).
If you have not seen this movie, everything read until now should be satisfactory enoughYou should know the real story behind the cursed video.
It's kind of hard to really explain the plot of Rasen (Ring: The Spiral) without giving away some major spoilers from the first film, Ringu (Ring).
Firstly, I'll explain for people who HAVE seen the first film.*** SPOILER WARNING *** SPOLIER WARNING ***Sadako has killed Ryuji Takayama, the ex-husband of Reiko, the reporter investigating Sadako's cursed videotape.
But this is just the beginning to a series of events that could be Earth shattering.*** END OF SPOLIERS *** END OF SPOLIERS ***Rasen (Ring: The Spiral) is a follow-up to the Japanese cult-horror film Ringu (English title: Ring), but I don't really want to call it a sequel.
Unfortunately, time becomes a factor because Andô inadvertently watches the tape and, fearing for his own life, he must find away to break the curse before it's too late.Rasen isn't really that bad of a movie, but it is a pretty slow going film that's quite hard to get into and is actually more of a psychological drama than a horror.
I can understand why Ringu fans didn't like this one because even though it still involves the Sadako storyline, it doesn't have the same effect as Ringu.I've not read the book, but I have read reports that Rasen follows it and Ringu 2 doesn't, so for a film to be slated for actually following the book is quite ironic.Anyway, Rasen doesn't start off too bad but it doesn't ever really get going, and if you're looking for similar creepy moments that Ringu had then you'll be sorely disappointed.
who also wrote Ring.The whole supernatural plot and tone from the original is changed to some really out there storyline on life & the pain (well that's what it seemed like to me)and now it's got some crappy scientific plot, trying to explain how it's a virus and not a curse that kills the people when watching the tape...
Follow up to "Ringu" has a pathologist, Mitsuo Andô(Kôichi Satô), who was colleagues with Professor Takayama(Hiroyuki Sanada) from the first film, watching the dreaded tape and hoping to destroy all methods of travel for Sadako(Hinako Saeki), not realizing that a diary(..containing elaborate details from the videotape, penned by the hand of Yakayama's ex-wife) continues to spread the "virus" to those who read it.
After that, Yoshino gives him a copy of the tape he stole from Reiko's flat, and disappears till later in the movie...After watching the videotape, Andou has a nightmare about Sadako's death.
Thirdly, and here is where the film fails completely, the story, which departs in many from the original Ring, wears very thin and it is overt-explanatory in trying to find scientific answers to the curse of Sadako.
At the end of the film Takayama, now reunited with Sadako, tells Ando that he is going to publish the diary so the virus will spread out.
RASEN is a weird and forgotten follow-up to RING, filmed at the same time but going in a very different direction to the official sequel, RING 2.