Watashi no namae wa Sadako Desu (Ringu)

In this thread, I would like to call on all Ringu fans of both the original books and the Movies, and discuss their favourite take on the franchise and why!

Although I loved the original Ringu, I found that Ringu 2, while not as pschologically thrilling, or as intelligent as its first installment, was an incredibly thrilling movie, more so than Ringu in some cases!
Despite this, my favourite of all the Ringu series, is Ringu 0/Honey Lemon, in which Sadako's real story is told.
If I am completely honest, I completely expected the 'evil psychotic woman was actually a sweet girl,' but the movie was told in such a way, that empathy was the main emotion for the character, and even cheered when she went on her killing rampage!.
I prefer the movie version+, only for the fact that Sadako remain 'pure' and 'virginal' whereas in Honey Lemon, she had a sexual relation with Toyama-san, which made her ending scene so much more pitiable, for she was such a good, sweet girl.
My favourite scenes are Sadako when she mouths "Aishteru" through the glass, as it shows just how she and inadequate she views herself, not even able to say 'I love you' in the same room as Toyama-san.
I also loved the little references that helped explain a lot about Sadako in the first two movies (especially at deciphering the video);

*The 'Towel Man' - Contrary to common belief, I think he is not Toyama or Ryuji at all, but Sadako's Father, proof,
When Sadako tells Toyama that she remebers asking her Mother about her real Father, I noticed that in the flashback with the whole picture showing the screen, the 'Towel Man' can be seen at the bottom of the screen, pointing to the sea,

*The Crawling People in the Woods - I think this part of the video depicts the acting troupe that Sadako kills in the Forest, after merging with Chibi-Sadako.

*Sadako Crawling from the TV - I know that she crawls to escape the TV, but why not stand up straight after? Instead, she carries on crawling for a while, which I think is the depiction of Sadako crawling on the ground, after breaking out of Heihachiro's house, after he injects the serum that suffocates her, since she is struggling to breathe, she cannot stand up, and uses all of her will to escape by crawling on the ground.

The best, and saddest scene in the whole series, in my opinion, is the final scene of Ringu 0, where Sadako calls for Toyama-san, and stares up after being thrown in the well, after Heihachiro hacked her in the face with the axe.
The Camera zooms up so we have a top-down view of the well, and we watch as Sadako screams in terror and reaches for the Sky, as the light from the Sun is blocked (which we know is caused by the Lid being sealed over the well.
The way her screaming just stop as soon as the lid was secured, obscurring her from view - the scilence was entrancing, and I didn't blink until I heard L'arc En Ciel play the intro to Finale.

Nakama Yuki, the girl who plays Sadako, is also totally hot too!

I like really liked Ringu when I first saw it. Although it didn't really scare me that much it was still a great movie. For some reason though, I prefered the American version. I don't know why...it was just better. I know...pretty vague.
Although it must be said that when the girl came out of the tv at the end, the guy in the Japanese one had a smaller apartment and therefore not as much room to run around. The American guy had a HUGE apartment...

Originally Posted by Re-Dead

I like really liked Ringu when I first saw it. Although it didn't really scare me that much it was still a great movie. For some reason though, I prefered the American version. I don't know why...it was just better. I know...pretty vague.
Although it must be said that when the girl came out of the tv at the end, the guy in the Japanese one had a smaller apartment and therefore not as much room to run around. The American guy had a HUGE apartment...

For some reason, I think that Ringu relied on an asumed 'high deducing abilty', which for all non-geeks out there, means that to really appreciate the movie, you have to understand things shown in a deeper understanding.
Ringu's flaws were that it relied maybe a little too much on psychological horror, rather than physical horror itself, which was more frequesnt in the American version.

Awww... I can't choose. I'm a complete Ringu fangirl- and I openly admit it. I voted for Ringu 1, but only cause I watched it again last night and so it's still fresh in my mind. But truthfully, no, I can't choose a favourite. Loved all three of them. But I will say that preferred the orginals to the American versions. You know how those who encounter Samara have their faces mutilated and all freaky looking? Well, I thought that was a little overdone. I preferred the Japanese version cause it looked like those who encountered Sadako looked like they were really SCARED to death.

In all fairness though...the long haired ghost girl idea is starting to get pretty stale. I actually though that the sequels (both japanese and american) were horrible.

Originally Posted by Rhea

Awww... I can't choose. I'm a complete Ringu fangirl- and I openly admit it. I voted for Ringu 1, but only cause I watched it again last night and so it's still fresh in my mind. But truthfully, no, I can't choose a favourite. Loved all three of them. But I will say that preferred the orginals to the American versions. You know how those who encounter Samara have their faces mutilated and all freaky looking? Well, I thought that was a little overdone. I preferred the Japanese version cause it looked like those who encountered Sadako looked like they were really SCARED to death.

Yay! I'm a Ringu Fanboy!....cough :embrsd:
I too prefer the originals, and I felt that being actually scared to death, (adrenaline has some affect and stops your heart or something) is much more terrifying than dying because of a 'curse'.
Sometimes, less is more!
Also, I loved the way Ringu 2 took a twist and killed off Yoichi's mother, Asakawa (forgot first name, of the shame!) about a third of the way into the film.
What I loved most about the original film, was the way we all thought that Yamamura Shizuko was the woman who started the curse, and how we realised it was Yamamura Sadoako near to the end, it was a great tactic, and I never saw it coming!
I know 'the little girl' is always the horror movie clicje for the main villain, but remember, we are told that Shizuko miscarried Sadako!

Originally Posted by Re-Dead

In all fairness though...the long haired ghost girl idea is starting to get pretty stale. I actually though that the sequels (both japanese and american) were horrible.

Omg stale??? Lol, you sir, are a lot braver than me! I can't stand seeing Samara/Sadako coming out of the television! Hehe- I must look sooo daring right now...

Originally Posted by Re-Dead

In all fairness though...the long haired ghost girl idea is starting to get pretty stale. I actually though that the sequels (both japanese and american) were horrible.

For the American version, the movie itself and the sequesl were terrible, especially the second movie, which was not based on Ringu 2 at all, but on the japanese movie, Dark Water, which, coincidently enough, is also being re-made.

Personally, even though the Ringu series had two official sequels, theywere not terrible, Ringu 2 was much more terrifying, in fact, there is one scene where the mother, Shizuko, peeks around the door to look at you, and that alone is the scariest moment of the movie by far - I doubt many other movies can say that the scariest moment was a glance a woman gave you.

As far as I know, Ringu was the first movie to have the 'little girl with very long hair'

**In fact, Sadako isn't a little girl at all, she is a 20-ish year old woman - the only reason in Ringu 1 and 2 her 'ghost' looked like a little girl, is because it wasn't Sadako at all!

When Sadako was little, upon seeing her Mother get depressed after being called a freak by the people, Sadako's humanity was seperated from her demonic power, inherited by her Father (the sea) splitting into one Sadako, who is human, and a Sadako that is made up of demonic energy.
Human Sadako is sent to Tokyo, and the demonic one is fed drugs, so she never grows up, and never matures, along with her powers, and even then, she is still around 13 years old.

So far, no-one has come to the complexity of this.

The idea of a "long haired ghost girl" didn't come from Ringu. She is a famous eastern mythical symbol of horror, just like we have Dracula and Frankenstien over here. Ever since Ringu came out a load of clones have been made, not to mention the Grudge...which was ****e.

Originally Posted by Re-Dead

The idea of a "long haired ghost girl" didn't come from Ringu. She is a famous eastern mythical symbol of horror, just like we have Dracula and Frankenstien over here. Ever since Ringu came out a load of clones have been made, not to mention the Grudge...which was ****e.

Very true!
There are many spirits in eastern asia culture, and I guess that Sadako would be classed asa Kanashibaric kind of spirit, since she works through images and visions!
Yes, the remade Grudge was quite rubbish.
It seems that when Ringu came out, because of the 'new' monster (Sadako) of Ringu being new to western culture, almost everyonw tried to emulate it with re-makes of Easern horror movies, re-using 'brand new' monsters, like Ju-on and Kanashibara.

I didn't much like Ju-on either...
Ever see Tale of Two Sisters? Now that's a damn good horror movie!