A reporter and her ex-husband investigate a cursed video tape that is rumored to kill the viewer seven days after watching it. Ringu unfortunately is not as good as i thought it was going to be since except the very good perfomances i found the terror and especially the main characters demise in the end to be lacking in some levels for sure and that was kind of sad cause i really wanted to like this but i just founded it to be lacking and i just expected a bit more terror and a bit more suspense as well which the movie unfortunately did not deliver for me. (5/10)

After watching a mysterious videotape, a woman finds herself cursed to die within a week afterward searches the various clues within the video to find the truth about the tape's origins and connection to a legend about a vicious woman before her time runs out and the curse consumes her.While this one had some really good stuff, overall the flaws here take centerstage. The main aspect hurts this one is the fact that the main storyline is incredibly flawed and makes little sense. As the ghost wants her body found out, the purpose of making a videotape that originates in a backcountry community that plays only on a locally-broadcasted channel that's supposed to generate interest in solving her mysterious disappearance, an event that's counterintuitive to what she really wants. Rather than bringing a discovery to her situation, placing the means of your discovery should come about rather easily rather than going for a more crowd-friendly atmosphere instead of an isolated and partially obscure part of the country is far more ideal and thus setting up the rampage to follow. Likewise, purposefully killing those who are potentially there to help makes the whole point moot as that shrinks the number of those able to potentially help the cause, really leaving the plot quite troublesome. Beyond that, the fact that the film is just so slowly-paced and lacking of ghost action that the middle segment completely eliminates the killing to focus on the investigation into the video tape's images and source. This is spent more on looking for photographs of the missing couple, visiting the different locations of the classmates such as their school or the cabin in particular where they contracted the curse or sitting around attempting to understand the concept of the curse with her boyfriend as she is getting him to believe in the curse and trying to decipher it all, and none of those are crawling with horrific ideas or concepts. These are practically non-events that while building up the mythos around the legend all tend to prevent this one from really getting going leaving this to drag on to the final twenty minutes. Granted, that's great stuff that happens here, but it comes too little too late to save the rest of the film though it somewhat evens it out to make it borderline watchable. The film's at it's best when detailing the creepy and oftentimes downright chilling atmosphere of the tape, offering up plenty of suspense as they slowly work out the cause and details of the tape. Knowing how the visuals were created and how they came to be affixed onto the tape itself offers this one it's best sense of energy and atmosphere as one-by-one all the pieces slowly work themselves together to realize how their journey ties together. From the distorted photographs leading into the idea of the island and the research they conduct their as well as the revelations about the child in the past which starts to play a prominent role in how this one ends up. From the encounter in the well with the body to the stellar and absolutely chilling sequence with the ghost making one last appearance inside their house for a truly shocking and memorable scare. Coupled with an effective ghost design that's really creepy, these hold this one up.Rated Unrated/R: Violence, Language and intense themes of children-in-jeopardy.

Ruthlessly murdered by her father, the ghost of a seer's daughter kills all those who watch a weird video after seven days; unless the viewer finds the escape clause.Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Hollywood horror had largely been dominated by the slasher subgenre, which relied on on-screen violence, shock tactics, and gore. "Ring", whose release in Japan roughly coincided with the stylistically similar "The Blair Witch Project" in the United States, helped to revitalize the genre by taking a more restrained approach to horror, leaving much of the terror to the audience's imagination. The film initiated global interest in Japanese cinema in general and Japanese horror cinema in particular, a renaissance which led to the coining of the term J-Horror in the West. This "New Asian Horror" resulted in further successful releases, such as "Ju-on: The Grudge" and "Dark Water".This really is the essential modern Japanese horror film. Not only did it launch a cycle of American remakes and get more people to notice Japanese horror, but it is terrifying in its own right. Some have tried to analyze it as a metaphor on motherhood or being about traditional Japanese culture. But really, it was just scary... and still is almost 20 years later.

Ring is the only J horror I have watched to date. In general, I'm sick and tired of horror movies because they're all the same. Not this one. This nightmarish, chilling and stratospherically creepy horror movie isn't just a great horror movie, but in general a great film. The story is simple: A video tape kills people 7 days after they watch it, and a journalist tries not to become the next victim. It may sound ordinary, but I have never seen such a creepy movie in my life. Rather than jump scares and gore, the movie is filled to the brim with creepy imagery, atmospheric lighting, shiver inducing music and chilling locations. Even though there aren't many actual scares, you forget about it and are still watching through your fingers even when there's nothing going on. It is the best type of ghost story: Simple, clear and effective, and even though VHS no longer exists, it's still utterly terrifying.Without CGI or gore, the film takes normal modern technology and turns it into a living nightmare in a way no other film I've seen has done. As for that final scene, let's just say you'll never look at a TV the same way again. Some may find the film dull, which I can understand, but don't expect loads of repeated scares because you won't get them. It's endless creepy imagery, with one massive scare at the end. This might be the best horror movie of the 90s, and most modern horror films cower in its shadow. The villain, despite little screen time makes a huge dent, and the temperature in the room will drop many degrees every time she appears. A haunting and influential horror bull's eye. Comparing this to the remake is like comparing the altitudes of a plane and a submarine.10/10