Ring Collection: Arrow Video Edition (2019)

Ring Collection: Arrow Video Edition (2019)

Dirs. Hideo Nakata / Jōji Iida / Norio Tsuruta

My first viewing of Hideo Nakata's Ring was recorded from Television onto VHS, which, given that the story revolves around a cursed video tape, was perhaps the best way to experience it for the first time. I'd probably not choose that option now that HD is the norm, but I'm glad it happened that way.

I've re-watched the film many, many times since that first encounter, on both VHS and later the UK Tartan DVD editions, but never had opportunity to see it in HD until now.

The pictured edition includes four films, namely Ring (1998); Rasen (1998); Ring 2 (1999), and Ring 0: Birthday (2000). For anyone interested, thoughts on each of the four works can be found below the cut.

NOTE: I've used Arrow Video's outer-box cover art above because it's that edition that I'll be referring to, but I won't be using the label's 'newly commissioned' artworks for the individual films because I feel it's some of the worst they've ever featured, which is quite the achievement when you consider their entire output.

Ring (1998)

Dir. Hideo Nakata

Ring (aka Ringu) is the most well-known and celebrated Japanese language version of Kôji Suzuki's novel (1991), but it wasn't the first filmed version - that honour goes to Dir. Chisui Takigawa's Ring: Kanzenban (1995), a film that's sadly not included in the collection.

It's a slow moving investigative work that's more about the journey than the destination.

The story is a simple one on the surface: a series of grisly deaths is attributed to the viewing of a cursed video tape. It takes the form of a modern urban myth, but may in fact be real. In hushed tones, for fear that speaking of it will somehow connect the speaker to the horror, we learn that anyone who watches the cassette will die horribly one week later.

Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima) is a journalist whose niece is allegedly one of the video's victims, so Reiko takes the story, retracing the last days of the youths that watched it, hoping to find the truth behind the deadly myth.

Beyond the simple horror themes there's a great deal of familial concerns; e.g. Reiko is a single parent with a young son, Yoichi (Rikiya Ōtaka), whom she struggles to protect from the world's evils. Yoichi is a quiet child, almost withdrawn, but he plays a notable role in the drama, too.

The second important adult is Ryūji Takayama (Hiroyuki Sanada), a university professor who has a special edge when it comes to intuition, a kind of plot-convenient sixth sense. Sanada brings a special sensitivity to the character, which makes him a crucial element that's perfectly cast.

And that's all I'm willing to say about the story because it's best experienced first hand, without even seeing a trailer. For extra jollies, watch Ring alone in the dark at night and then try to sleep.

Rasen (1998)

Dir. Jōji Iida (aka George Iida)

The 'lost' original sequel, according to Arrow, isn't very lost at all; the DVD of it has been on my shelf for years, next to the other versions of Ring that I own. It's not as widely known as the others, I admit, but calling it 'lost' is a kind of insult. Released on the very same day as Nakata's Ring, it wasn't as popular and it's fair to say that the general consensus is accurate in this case - it's simply not as good.

It picks up the story one day after the end of the first part. Pathologist Mitsuo Ando (Kōichi Satō), a friend of a character from part one, is doing an autopsy on a body that leads him into the world of Sadako's cursed video tape.

It's based on Spiral (1995), the second book in author Koji Suzuki's Ring series. The novel included elements of code breaking and the transmission of a virus, which the film respects and attempts to make sense of, but it comes across as rather ludicrous at times.

Ando's a difficult character to relate to. He's suffering from depression related, once again, to familial matters. Not wanting to live but afraid to die, he exists in a limbo of guilt and pain.

While viewing Rasen again it made me wonder, if it had been as successful as the first film, would we have got the third book, Loop (1998), made into a film? I'm guessing we would.

Ring 2 (1999)

Dir. Hideo Nakata

In response to the unenthusiastic reception of Rasen, Dir. Hideo Nakata was hired to carry on the story (and keep the money rolling in).

He delivered a direct sequel to his first film, an original work not based on any particular book. But while it drifts further away from the source material, it somehow manages to remain faithful to Koji Suzuki's original idea.

Set within a few weeks of Ring's semi-open ending, it continues the investigative nature of before but with different characters to the fore. Mai Takano (Miki Nakatani), Ryuji's 'assistant' from the first film, and Okazaki (Yūrei Yanagi), a colleague of Reiko Asakawa, search for the now missing journalist.

Sadako, the seminal, creepy, long-haired, malevolent Japanese spirit girl has her origins more deeply explored and the terrors related to the cursed video tape ripple further than ever.

It's more fantastical (as opposed to supernatural) than before, which didn't fit quite as well, but it'll make very little sense on its own, so make sure you've watched the previous film first.

Ring 0: Birthday (2000)

Dir. Norio Tsuruta

A prequel to Hideo Nakata's two Ring films that's best viewed last to avoid spoliers for the other two. There are of course nods to the Japanese horror style that the series was credited with popularising in the West, but with a different director at the helm Ring 0: Birthday feels tonally very different to the others; it's more of a traditional ghost story.

The screenplay is based on a short story titled Lemon Heart from Koji Suzuki's Birthday (1999) anthology, which contains three shorts related to his Ring series. That makes it arguably canon, but its ret-con shenanigans may still upset some dedicated Nakata fans.

It gives more info on Sadako's background and the reasons for her eventual... (spoiler).

Played by Yukie Nakama, it places the character in Tokyo as part of a dedicated drama troupe rehearsing for a play that has some minor parallels with her own tragic story. She isn't well-liked by most of the other troupe members (besides Seiichi Tanabe), partly because of the weird happenings that coincided with her arrival.

The water motif, creepy eye, etc, are used to heighten the tension but their deeper significance requires knowledge of the previous films, even though they're set chronologically later. The story is kind of daft overall and gets even more so as it nears its end, but it has a few eerie moments.

The PQ of the sequels is variable, but at times Ring 0: Birthday is very poor for the format.

If you want more Ring, then you're in luck; or not, as the case may be, because some of them are really awful. Besides the unnecessary Hollywood remake there was additional cash-cow whoring by the Japanese movie industry. Alongside the four films featured above I'll list what came before, during, and after — at time of writing — and link to any that I may have covered. Be aware that only the four films covered above are included in the featured Arrow Video box-set:

Foreign Language Films:

01. Ring: Kanzenban (1995)  /  02. Ringu (1998)  /  03. Rasen (1998) 

04. Ringu 2 (1999)  /  05. The Ring Virus (1999)  /  06. Ringu 0: Birthday (2000)

07. Sadako 3D (2012)  /  08. Sadako 3D 2 (2013)  /  09. Sadako vs. Kayako (2016)*

10. Sadako (2019)

TV Series:

01. Ring: The Final Chapter (1999)  /  02. Rasen  (1999)

English Language Films:

01. The Ring (2002)  /  02. Rings (2005)  /  03. The Ring Two (2005)  /  04. Rings (2017)

* A crossover with the Ju-on franchise.