Ringu Collection

Director- Various

Cast- Various

Country of Origin- Japan

Distributor - Arrow Video

Number of Discs - 3

Reviewed by - Scott MacDonald

Date- 10/23/2019

    In the early 2000's Tartan's Asia Extreme line of DVD's opened up the world of Japanese horror films in the west.  It introduced a new audience hungry for DVD's of cult obscurities into the weirdness that Japan and other Asian nations were making.  Other companies like Synapse and Unearthed Films began to follow suit, but then all of a sudden it seemed like the J-Horror/Asia Extreme boom just disappeared overnight.  The Blu-ray format which would have been ripe for Blu-ray's of these films didn't seem to get them, and aside from the rare film like Hideo Nakata's Dark Water (out from Arrow) and Audition (from both Arrow and Shout! Factory at various times). The genre was left untouched in the west in HD formats.  This month those of us who were obsessed with Asian Horror in the prior decade are finally getting a fix for our addiction in the form of Arrow Video's excellent Ringu Collection.

    Though Japanese Horror was a thing before Ringu arrived in 1998 with such classics as Evil Dead Trap, The Guinea Pig Films, and much earlier films like Kwaidan. Ringu in many ways could be considered the ground zero for the Japanese horror boom. The film was directed by Hideo Nakata who would direct Ringu 2 and also The Ring 2 in the U.S..

    The first film, and its direct sequel (more on that later) would be adapted from the books by Koji Suzuki.  Ringu is the story of a video tape that when watched will cause the viewer to die approximately 7 days later. A journalist, Reiko (Nanako Matsushima) and her ex-husband Takashi begin to investigate the tape after Reiko and he watch it, and now have to work to save their own lives, alongside their child who has also watched it.   In the process they discover the tape was created by a woman with psychic powers (Sadako) who had a harsh life, and spent 30 years of it trapped at the bottom of a well.  The tape is her revenge for the way she was tortured in life.

    Ringu is an absolute horror classic. The film is genuinely creepy, suspenseful and slow moving with a haunting, yet melancholy atmosphere. The performances are fantastic, and the visuals top-notch. The score by Kenji Kawai is chilling, and really sets the tone for the film. What I love about the film is that it's trying to conjure up the feeling of Urban Legends, while building in one of its very own. The story and history of Sadako and her also psychic Mother, really give the film its own history, and a lived-in feeling that I loved.

    Ringu was made concurrently with Rasen (Spiral). The film picks up right after the end of Ringu, and follows the story set up in in the Suzuki novel. It is not shot really like a horror film, and has a much slower pace, but it is still creepy in spots, and otherwise entertaining. It, however, bombed upon release in Japan, and the studio immediately contacted Nakata who assembled his crew from the first film, and made Ringu 2 (These 2 films are included on the 2nd disc of the Arrow set). This film like Rasen follows the events of the first film down to the characters. The film plays out like like a traditional horror film than Ringu or Rasen, and while it continues the chill and atmospherics from the original, it has a lot more elements like jump scares.

    The final film in the box set is Ringu 0 - Birthday. As the title implies this is a prequel which follows Sadako through her tragic and haunted existence. It maintains the melancholy tone of the prior films, but also at times feels similar to something like DePalma's Carrie. Still it is probably the 2nd best of the films in this set after the original.

    All 4 films are presented in 1:85:1 with a 1080p AVC encoded transfer. The original was scanned in 4k from the OCN. Across the board everything really looks spectacular here with obviously more improved visuals on the original film, but also oddly Ringu 0 - Birthday. All 4 films see a vast improvement over their DVD counterparts. Extras include commentary tracks, interviews, documentaries, featurettes, trailers, reversible artwork, and a book of fantastic liner notes with essays by the always excellent Kat Ellinger and Kieran Fisher.    This release from Arrow Video is immense, deep, and absolutely worth your time. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.