Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #111168 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-08-23
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Box set, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 389 minutes

Customer Reviews

First you see "Ringu..."
A minor movie trend is remaking Japanese horror movies, especially ones that originated from horror writer Koji Suzuki. The first of those films was "The Ring," the terrifying Naomi Watts remake, but the original films are an even more fulfilling experience, since they show the whole story.

"The Ringu Anthology of Terror," despite that really cheesy name, includes the four Japanese films that concern the malevolent Sadako and the haunted videotape. Expect a lot of bizarre twists and turns, truly horrific experiences, and two sequels to the same movie.

In "Ringu," Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima) has just found out that her young niece has mysteriously died in terror... and so have three of her friends, at the same time. The only link is a videotape, which urban legend says will kill you seven days after you watch it. And Reiko has seen it. Now she and her ex-husband Ryuji (Hiroyuki Sanada) must unravel the mystery of the videotape -- and the malignant ghost who haunts it.

"Rasen" is a nearly-faithful follow-up, based on Suzuki's novel "Spiral." Doctor Mitsuo is mourning the loss of his only child, and things don't get better when his old pal Ryuji (Hiroyuki Sanada) turns up dead, a victim of Sadako's videotape. But the strange virus in the tape has taken an unexpected turn -- and soon Mitsuo discovers that Sadako is determined to be reborn...

Audiences weren't too thrilled with the scientific slant of "Rasen," which sort of depleted the horror. And so the film company had "Ringu 2" made, which completely ignored "Rasen" altogether, and is based solely on the "Ringu" film. Confused yet? It's not as good as the original, but is better than average as a sequel.

In "Ringu 2," Mai Takano (Miki Nakatani) wants to know what happened to her boyfriend Ryuji (Hiroyuki Sanada yet again), and the doctors are baffled by the strange facts -- it turns out that somehow Sadako stayed "alive" for thirty years in the well. Elsewhere, Reiko (Nanako Matsushima) has escaped death, but now fears that her son is beginning to show signs of Sadako's power.

"Ring O" offers a look at the backstory of the malignant Sadako Yamamura. Once this young girl (Yukie Nakama) was a shy, sweet-natured young actress, haunted by frightening visions. But then other actors start dying. The secrets of Sadako's past, and the "dark" alter ego who has been kept locked away, combine into a frightening ghoul...

There has probably never been a horror series quite like the "Ringu" movies -- two disconnected sequels, one prequel, one original movie. What's more, it's a slow-burning kind of horror, which is based more on visceral human fears than on cheap jumps. If you thought Watts' "The Ring" was good, just wait until you see the whole story.

"Ringu" and "Ring O" are probably the best and most horrifying of the series. "Rasen" suffers from too many explanations of the ring virus and Sadako's presence, while "Ringu 2" just suffers from a mild case of sequelitis. However, all of these films are worth seeing; even at their worst, they are still creepy and wonderfully strange.

Most of the acting is quite good; Sanada and Matsushima both do excellent jobs, though Nakatani seems completely baffled and wooden in "Rasen." She's better in "Ringu 2." But the biggest props have to go to Nakama, who gives a magnificent performance as Sadako, both as a shy, misunderstood young girl, and a malevolent ghoul on a killing spree.

Anyone who saw and loved "The Ring" will probably be hiding under their beds with the "Ringu" series, with its spine-chilling mixture of science, horror and Japanese supernatural beliefs. Well worth getting.