Horrorview:Ringu vs. The Ring

RINGU (1998) vs. THE RING (2002):
SPOOKFEST SMACKDOWN!
review by Don't Feed the Dead

In a world of constant change, one thing will always remain imperative: Hollywood will always steal a movie from another country and attempt to make it better. Whether or not they succeed relies solely on the opinion of the cinematic masses. One such ongoing couch critic battle is the success of Gore Verbinski's remake of the Ring, an idea originally put to celluloid by Japan's Hideo Nakata. One would assume that a horror director carrying the first name "Gore" would be a shoe in for success in the genre, but let's take a look at how his vision of Ringu measured up to the original:

Reiko Asakawa vs. Rachel Keller

Looks wise, Hollywood wins this battle with great ease. Naomi Watts is definitely the eye candy for this title, however, Nanako Matsushima created more of an intensity in Ringu by pulling off a convincing "victim" role. Watts played the reporter character Rachel well, perhaps too well, in that she was too hard nosed and "Jimmy Olson" like to convince the viewer that her character was in crisis mode. I know that if I had only seven days to live, I wouldn't be farting around on a ferry and talkin' to horses. I'd panic and cause hysteria, much like Reiko did in Ringu.

Sadako vs. Samara

There's something just a bit creepier about a small child crawling out of a telly than a Yao Ming stand in leaving a puddle on my living room floor. Verbinski's Ring created a fear for the wee girl by adding in some excellent dialogue between Samara and the doctor while she was being evaluated in the psych ward. Not much by way of Sadako's past in Ringu which left little to be afraid of in Ringu.

Supporting Cast

When looking at the supporting cast for both movies, you can pick out various holes that each version had. While Ringu focused more on the father (Koichi) being an intricate part of the fold, The Ring had young Aidan as the center of psychic attention. Koichi was also more aggressive than Watts' counterpart Noah, and even seemed abusive at times. I also thought that Brian Cox played a solid role as Samara's father and added an extra dose of psychosis to the story with the elaborate electrocution scene. However, Ringu held more substance by way of explanation of the sons' psychic powers, going into depth regarding Koichi's own psychic abilities. My arms are in the air.

Nakata vs. Verbinski

Each director used lighitng by ways of conveying the message of light vs. dark, good vs. evil. Differences in the two directing styles are really evident in Verbinski's choice to expose more background, whereas Nakata shrouds Sadako's existence with a cloud of mystery, leaving the viewer to have a lot of questions. It will be interesting to see how Verbinski shores up a sequel when so much of the story was revealed in the first. Nakata planned to have a running series and left holes in the storyline to build upon for future use. Personally, I'd rather have the know all of the story than endure a sequel that may turn out to be more confusing than the first. Verbinsi also kept the movie rolling right along, content flowing, Nakata on the other hand seemed to have stalls in the movie, almost break points to sedate the viewer. All credits must also go to Verbinski in the editing department. I absolutely drooled over the millisecond flashes of the victims' faces.

Musical Score

Hands down Ringu. Hollywood embellishes too much with music constantly in the background. Sometimes, silence is golden.

Hollywood will always have the edge in this category. The Ring had very nice work on the twisted faces, not too much blood involved here, simple and effective where needed. Not too much involved with Ringu, corpses just looked surprised. The crawl outta the telly trick was used in both movies.

Bottom Line

Bearing in mind that we're judging one movie vs. one movie, I have to side with The Ring. There was too much story revealed in The Ring for me to be disappointed. Watching Ringu made me realize that the movie was primed for a sequel and omitted some of the major factors that helped The Ring execute so well. I also enjoyed the cut style editing of The Ring more so then the straight forward approach of Ringu. More substance, less Hollywood (than one would think) made The Ring a more pleasurable viewing experience than the Japanese original. The battle of the sequels, however, will probably be a different story all together.