Director: Nakata Hideo
Screenplay: Takahashi Hiroshi
Starring: Matsushima Nanako, Sanada Hiroyuki, Ootaka Rikiya, Nakatani Miki, Takeuchi Yuuko
One-sentence summary: Asakawa Reiko investigates rumors of a cursed tape that kills anyone who watches it in a week.
Director: Iida Jouji
Screenplay: Iida Jouji
Starring: Satou Kouichi, Nakatani Miki, Sanada Hiroyuki
One-sentence summary: Andou Mitsuo must solve the mystery behind his friend's death, seemingly caused by a cursed video tape... or was it?
Director: Nakata Hideo
Screenplay: Takahashi Hiroshi
Starring: Nakatani Miki, Yanagi Yuurei, Ootaka Rikiya, Matsushima Nanako, Sanada Hiroyuki, Fukada Kyoko, Sato Hitomi
One-sentence summary: Takano Mai sets out to discover what exactly Takayama Ryuji was researching the week before his death.
Director: Tsuruta Norio
Screenplay: Takahashi Hiroshi
Starring: Nakama Yukie, Tanabe Seiichi, Aso Kumiko, Okunuki Kaoru, Ban Daisuke
One-sentence summary: Yamamura Sadako is a fragile, quiet girl just trying to live on her own in Tokyo, but her past catches up to her.
Review: Fear is necessary. Fear stems from self-preservation; if something scares you, you shouldn't pursue it for the sake of staying safe. We fear what we don't know or understand because there's a chance that it could be detrimental to our health or way of life or what-have-you, and perhaps in some cases we might even take action to conquer that which keeps us up at night for the sake of ensuring a safer future.
Melodramatic introduction? Perhaps slightly. But it's key to understanding where I stand on the Ring franchise all these years later. I don't watch these movies anymore and get scared; I know them too well. Does completely understanding the franchise take away from its entertainment value? I don't think so. The core concept--a cursed videotape will kill you in seven days--was, and in some ways continues to be, a novel one that doesn't lose much of its storytelling potential over the years. Kadokawa wouldn't be revisiting the franchise with a new installment, tentatively titled "Sadako 3D," if that wasn't true, particularly with all of the changes in multimedia consumption since 1998 (ostensibly when we can assume the first movie took place).
But let's not look at the future right now and instead focus on what has already been. Ring is a slow burn horror movie in the truest sense. I've seen plenty of horror movies since I first saw Ring, and I have a better understanding of when a horror movie is trying to pull a cheap scare on me. Imagine my surprise when I discover that, as quiet as the movie is, there were still some moments where Nakata did the tried-and-true method of trying to induce dread in the viewer by presenting a scene with a loud burst of music. I had held a higher opinion of the movie, but I suppose nostalgia got in the way. By no means does that mean Ring is a terrible horror film, it's just simply not perfect--but then again, few movies are. Setting aside cheap tricks, Ring still holds up well. I dare you to find a horror movie moment in recent history more iconic than Sadako climbing out of the TV.
Ring 2, on the other hand, doesn't age as well. It very much feels like they made a "proper" sequel (more on that in a bit) for the sake of making more money off a runaway hit. You can certainly tell it has a bigger budget than Ring, and Nakata uses that to great effect, creating setpieces we would've never seen in the first film. Ring 2 tries to be bigger, and it fails more than it succeeds. Simply put, there's a lot of "I'm doing this just because" sentiment on the part of most, if not all, the characters. As much as I understood that Mai went with Yoichi to Oshima to try to understand how Sadako's curse came to be, it was largely unnecessary because we had already treaded the same ground in the first film. Granted, Reiko didn't exactly tell Mai everything, but that's a poor excuse to get us back to Oshima for an anticlimactic ending. You think you're trying to escape from Sadako, but no, she just wants to have a friendly chat before dropping back down into the well. The one subplot I enjoyed was the one with Okazaki and Kanae, but you probably couldn't create an entire film out of it.
Spiral is unusual in that it was released at the same time as Ring, and the studio hoped that interest in Ring would cause viewers to go see Spiral and vice versa. Ring's success overshadowed Spiral, and for good reason. Spiral is quite the poorly-made movie with plot holes galore. I'm not sure a proper adaptation of the novel would have worked at all, and I love the book. I say that because Ring the novel and Ring the movie are two very different beasts, and Spiral's story works because of the "rules" Ring the novel sets up. Ring the novel isn't really much of a horror novel, to be honest with you, and so it's easier to accept that the cursed videotape actually infects the viewer with a virus that kills its host within seven days. Spiral the movie tries to become this horror/medical thriller hybrid, and it fails because it removes the unknown out of Ring. After seeing all of the supernatural stuff in Ring, the last thing you want to hear is that the cursed tape kills people with a virus. You want it, and Sadako, to remain this unknowable thing. You want it to remain in the realm of the supernatural for the sake of keeping it entertaining. Kadokawa quickly pretended Spiral never happened and went on to make the "real" sequel, Ring 2.
Ring 0 does something I think few really ever expected: it humanizes Sadako. She was never this crazy ghost woman trying to kill humanity one videotape viewer at a time. It turned out that she was actually this tragic young woman with abilities beyond her comprehension that ended up being her undoing. In that vein, Ring 0 steps away from the realm of horror and instead becomes a straightforward drama. You honestly feel very bad for Sadako by the time she's thrown into the well, and while it's actually quite brilliant to humanize her, it also makes it tough to reconcile the Sadako we've seen in Ring and Ring 2 with this tragic figure you root for in Ring 0. Okay, sure, her soul is pretty much taken over by her evil half, but still! You see the good half even after the evil half takes over! Where's the good half 30 years later?! Ring 0 is easily my second favorite film of the franchise, but it's the little missteps that mar an otherwise great film.
Eventually, the scares a horror movie provides fade away as you become familiar with the material. The true test of a horror movie's quality lies not in its scares but in its storytelling; it's what will keep you coming back. The Ring franchise succeeds with its core concept, I believe, and the possibilities that lie within it are exciting to witness when executed wonderfully.
Final word: Ring stands and will continue to stand the test of time. Spiral is a laughably pathetic excuse for a movie that you should try to avoid. Ring 2 is a decent sequel but not even its elevated production value manages to save a half-assed concept. Ring 0 is a fascinating look at the franchise's antagonist but the shift from horror to drama may irk viewers just looking to be scared.
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