The Doll Master

sauroposeidon · Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:23 am Ringu

Ringu (1998)

Director: Hideo Nakata

Cast: Nanako Matsushima ... Reiko Asakawa
Miki Nakatani ... Mai Takano
Hiroyuki Sanada ... Ryuji Takayama
Yuko Takeuchi ... Tomoko Oishi
Hitomi Sato ... Masami Kurahashi
Yoichi Numata ... Takashi Yamamura
Yutaka Matsushige ... Yoshino
Katsumi Muramatsu ... Koichi Asakawa
Rikiya Otaka ... Yoichi Asakawa
Masako ... Shizuko Yamamura
Daisuke Ban ... Dr. Heihachiro Ikuma
Kiyoshi Risho ... Omiya the Cameraman
Yûrei Yanagi ... Okazaki
Yôko Ôshima ... Reiko's Aunt
Kiriko Shimizu ... Ryomi Oishi

Synopsis: Reiko Asakawa is a young journalist with a divorced husband, Ryuji, and a son, Yoichi. Her niece, Tomoko, was recently found dead with a look of pure shock embedded in her face as if something scared her to death. Upon learning that her niece's three friends died at the same time, too, and hearing about a disturbing videotape that is said to kill you seven days after watching it, Reiko comes into the possession of that same tape. Now, as time grows short, Reiko and Ryuji race to save their lives from impending doom and discover what the tape has to do with a tragedy-stricken volcanic island and a very strange little girl named Sadako.

ShadowDepths · Tue Jun 19, 2007 2:23 am

I liked this movie. I think it was the first JHorror that I've seen. Watching a movie and having seven days to live is a scary concept! It's scary to think about!

sage · Wed Jun 20, 2007 1:40 am

ShadowDepths wrote: I liked this movie. I think it was the first JHorror that I've seen. Watching a movie and having seven days to live is a scary concept! It's scary to think about!

i think it was overshadowed by the hype, to be honest! I remember everybody saying...."oooohhhhh, have you scene the ring, it started that whole new asian horror style."

DP McCOY · Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:50 pm

Ringu is very unnerving and very spooky,the premise was quite original which gave the movie something of an edge imo.The level of attention Ringu recieved certainly raised the profile of Asian Horror immensly in other parts of the world so for me Ringu is one of the most important modern Asian Horror movies.

sage · Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:14 pm

I won't dispute the importance of it, but i made the mistake of seeing it after the likes of The Eye, ATOTS, Ju-on. And, to me, those movies are leaps and bounds ahead of Ringu. I would imagine that ringu could've been what my feelings for Ju-on are, had i watched it prior, but.....

But it does hold a seat in the revolution of asian horror cinema, and horror cinema in general.

knightofdreamz · Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:28 pm

Yea im not a huge fan of the ringu series for the same reasons.
But it did make american horror fans stand up and say
"Wait, we are getting "i know what you did last summer part 5" and the asians are getting stuff like this? i want in!" .

Sadly enough though that just led to more remakes staring sarah machelle geller as a lone white girl in japan.

DP McCOY · Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:36 pm

knightofdreamz wrote: Yea im not a huge fan of the ringu series for the same reasons.
But it did make american horror fans stand up and say
"Wait, we are getting "i know what you did last summer part 5" and the asians are getting stuff like this? i want in!" .

Sadly enough though that just led to more remakes staring sarah machelle geller as a lone white girl in japan.

American Horrror fans?Don't forget the rest of us :cry:

What you said is exactly my point,so many Asian Horror movies would have not had the same exposure outside of Asia if it wasn't for Ringu,it may have been overhyped in some ways but still it is a very good and very important movie.I take your point about remakes,but in a paradoxical sort of way remakes can be helpfull in raising the profile of the industry they were originally born into,i'm sure some people were left disappointed by the remakes of Ringu,Kairo and Ju On and decided to check out the originals.

sage · Sat Jun 23, 2007 8:24 pm

DP McCOY wrote: knightofdreamz wrote: Yea im not a huge fan of the ringu series for the same reasons.
But it did make american horror fans stand up and say
"Wait, we are getting "i know what you did last summer part 5" and the asians are getting stuff like this? i want in!" .

Sadly enough though that just led to more remakes staring sarah machelle geller as a lone white girl in japan.

American Horrror fans?Don't forget the rest of us :cry:

What you said is exactly my point,so many Asian Horror movies would have not had the same exposure outside of Asia if it wasn't for Ringu,it may have been overhyped in some ways but still it is a very good and very important movie.I take your point about remakes,but in a paradoxical sort of way remakes can be helpfull in raising the profile of the industry they were originally born into,i'm sure some people were left disappointed by the remakes of Ringu,Kairo and Ju On and decided to check out the originals.

Again, you can't deny the importance and influenced of this movie. I think as asian horror fans, we are in debt to ringu for establishing and spearheading a more psychological and subtle approach to the genre; however, as hard as i tried, i can't seem to elevate it past "Mediocre".

I think i'll watch it again. Let's see if my oppinion still stand, lol!

Horrorfan · Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:02 pm

Recommend as it was the 1st ever Asian horror movies i watched
and did scare the hell out me :D
8/10

Jisatsu~Saakura. · Sun Sep 02, 2007 2:09 pm

It wasn't that scary, apart from the scene in the well
Ringu 0 was the best japanese one. Why havent they uploaded it yet?
I think, if you haven't seen this movie, you don't know j-horror. it's the mother of the j-horror! 8D

but no must see!

Leaf · Mon Dec 03, 2007 4:45 pm

Watched it last night. Good film. Shits all over the American remake (of which I saw first) and even that was really good compared to the modern Hollywood horror flicks.

Wasn't quite as scary as I was expecting, that's the hype machine for you, but still a great film that had me on edge in certain parts.

I will be watching the sequel to find out what happens next, just why the curse still remains ect..

8/10