Ring 0 (2000)

Powerful

i must have seen a different film!!

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Set thirty years before the original films this instalment of the franchise looks into Sadako's life in the run-up to her death. It opens with reporter Akiko Miyaji investigating the death of journalists, including her fiancé at an ESP demonstration by Shizuko Yamamura; Sadako's mother. This leads her to Sadako who is now working as an understudy at a small theatre. Two of her fellow actresses have had strange dreams about a well… shortly afterwards one of them dies. She was the leading actress and her role is offered to Sadako. Soon people are blaming her for the death and that only increases as strange things start to happen; more people have the same strange dream and an audio tape recording has a strange sound on it. On the day of the play one of these people plays the recording of the ESP demonstration and Sadako has visions of her late mother. Things then turn more unpleasant.While this isn't quite as creepy as the original film it does provide an interesting backstory for Sadako. It was nice to see that she wasn't always the evil creature we see in the early films. The idea that there are in fact two of her; the one that is seen and another who is glimpsed or seen in pictures is intriguing. The way much of the action takes place on stage adds to the strangeness as sometimes we are watching a play and sometimes real events and it isn't always immediately obvious which. This also provides an excuse to have characters dressed more like people in Edwardian Europe than sixties Japan. As the story nears its conclusion the tension increases and even though we know that Sadako must ultimately end up in the well the final scenes are still disturbing and explain why she became a vengeful spirit. Overall I'd say that this was an effective chiller which was both interesting and somewhat disturbing at times.

A reporter by the name of Miyaji Akiko has heard suspicious things about a young girl named Sadako, and is attempting to gather information on her past from a grade school she went to. Meanwhile, Sadako joins an acting troupe but is tormented by her own psychic abilities and the hatred of the other troupe members. Miyaji soon discovers the disturbing truth that the entire troupe has become "cursed" due to Sadako's presence, and that there is a "second", more evil, Sadako at work. After the troupe gang up on Sadako and mercilessly beat her, they learn of the "second" Sadako and it's here they realise that their own lives are now in danger as the evil side of Sadako gradually takes over.The events in Ringu 0 actually take place 30 years prior to what happened in Ringu so you get more of an insight into the character of Sadako and how the legend is born. Here, she's not the evil entity that is shown in Ringu...she's just a seemingly lost, lonely child trying to fit in and you actually feel sorry for her.It's a nice premise, but unfortunately Ringu 0 isn't that much better than the exceedingly dreary Ringu 2 and apart from a couple of decent scares, it's just as boring and as slow paced. It's a pity because I was looking forward to watching this film as I knew it was a prequel to the first movie, and was intrigued to see how Sadako started off and what happened to her, but I was bitterly disappointed with the outcome.The film doesn't really aim to scare the audience like Ringu and Ringu 2 done (well, like what Ringu done anyway) and seems to concentrate more on the story of Sadako herself, which is fine, if it was done well. It wasn't, however, and is just one big overall disappointment.This is definitely not up to the standards of the first film and to be honest I'd only really recommend watching it to see how the series is started. Other than that, I'd avoid it....unless you can't sleep.

Prequels walk a very thin line. On one hand a prequel has to expand the already established universe with enough information to justify its existence on the other it must conform to canon events without much deviation lest it become a spin-off instead. Ring Zero manages to accomplish both of these goals: it adds a new point of view by placing the focus firmly on the psychological around which the plot as we know it is constructed.The result is a movie that is not particularly scary but very interesting and even moving. Sadako is at the center of the story. No longer a shifty figure barely glimpsed in distorted scenes she is now a real person and an agreeable one at that. The staples of the franchise are of course present (the well, the sea, blurred television shots, garbled sounds) but they are used soberly and sparingly. Sadako's ordeal is of course a given but it is rescued from being a mere horror convention by the addition of the human element.More than a horror movie Ring Zero is a tragedy. It proposes an explanation as to what Sadako but what is memorable about it is that it elicits sympathy from the viewer. The psychological slant is linear enough (unlike most of Asian horror that follows such an approach) but it is solid and fleshes out the character convincingly. Unlike most movies in the genre here we do not have the typical creepy villain but a well rounded character all around. In the end the real horror is not so much the supernatural that is of course not absent but societal pressure and lack of empathy. And that makes Ring Zero worth watching indeed.

I held out on watching "Ring 0" for quite a while after being disappointed with the first sequel, "Ring 2". Not risking a disappointing DVD purchase, the second sequel was luckily shown on the Sci-Fi channel in the UK.Does the film manage to recapture the spooky atmosphere of the original "Ring" film? Thankfully, it does. "Ring 0: Birthday" is the prequel to the original movie and deals with the last days of Sadako. However, this is less like the last days of Laura Palmer and more like a Japanese "Carrie".There are some genuine "hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck-standing-up" moments in this film. The use of sound is very effective indeed, the audio cue for a spooky visitation fills the viewer with trepidation.Although Sadako's range of terrifying actions is pretty limited (once you've seen "Ring" you know the character's trademark movement, etc.) the film still manages to deliver the goods and expands on the viewer's experience of the first film.It's a faithful "sequel" in terms of its style and content. I must admit to finding the film a little confusing but this may have had more to do with my sleepy head than a case of bad story-telling.The acting in the movie is first rate and special mention must go to Yukie Nakama as a very believable tragic Sadako."Ring 0" is definitely a film I'm be watching again. And in these busy times, that's a compliment indeed....