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Following her fiancé's death during an experiment involving paranormal activity, a reporter named "Akiko Miyagi" (Yoshiko Tanaka) seeks answers about a mysterious woman named "Shizuko Yamamura" (Masako), who was at the center of his death. Since Shizuko is no longer alive, Miyagi decides to interview a woman named "Sudo" (Kazue Tsunogae), who taught Shizuko's daughter, "Sadako Yamamura" (Yukie Nakama), in elementary school. According to Sudo, Sadako could predict future events, even warning her classmates not to go swimming in the ocean because they would drown. They ignored her and died while she watched from the shore. Intrigued, Miyagi learns that Sadako recently graduated and is auditioning to become an actress in a stage play. The scene shifts to the acting troupe, where Sadako has lost her role to an attractive young woman named "Aiko Hazuki" (Kaoru Okunuki). Unfortunately, the director, Yusaku Shigemori (Takeshi Wakamatsu), has developed feelings for Sadako, which makes Aiko suspicious of their relationship and threatens her position in the play. Similarly, the sound director, "Hiroshi Toyama" (Seiichi Tanabe), is also interested in Sadako, displeasing the costume director, "Etsuko Tachihara" (Kumiko Aso), who has feelings for him. However, it isn't until Aiko suffers a horrible death that people begin to suspect there is more to Sadako than meets the eye. To avoid spoilers, I will simply say that this is a prequel to the original "Ringu" film, released two years earlier. Likewise, it also shares many traits with the sequel that came out a year later in 1999. For that reason, it's probably best to watch the original film and the sequel, "Ringu 2", before this one to avoid confusion, and even then, it may not be enough because it's still hard to follow in places. At least, it was to me. Additionally, I thought that the horror aspect could have been given a bit more emphasis as well. Be that as it may, although I don't think this is a bad film by any means, I don't believe it quite reaches the level of the first two films mentioned, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

The film begins with an extremely spoiled heiress named "Antoinette Lily" (Sondra Locke), fulfilling her deceased father's requirement to marry before turning 30 in order to inherit a large fortune from his will. She chooses a greedy man named "John Arlington" (Geoffrey Lewis), who doesn't love her but, thinking only of the money he will have at his disposal, agrees to marry her despite her domineering personality. During their honeymoon in the desert, their limousine breaks down, and tired of her constant nagging, John steals everything of value that night and escapes. Left penniless, Antoinette meets a cowboy named "Bronco Billy McCoy" (Clint Eastwood) who offers her some food and a ride to the next town--in exchange for her working temporarily as his assistant in his traveling circus. She reluctantly accepts the offer, but what she doesn't realize is just how complicated matters will become for her afterward. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will simply say that I recall the hype surrounding this movie when it first came out, but when I saw it in the theater, I wasn't overly impressed. To be sure, it wasn't a bad film by any means, but considering his previous film successes, it left me somewhat disappointed. Fortunately, having seen it again after all this time, I appreciate it more now, and I have rated it accordingly.

This strange movie begins with several young women being taken aboard a small cargo plane bound for a remote island in the South Pacific, where a man named "Thomas Speer" (Ralph Lombardi) forcibly hands them over to cruel monks in exchange for a large amount of mined jade. The women are then stripped and confined inside a small bamboo cage while Thomas and his men fly back to their main base. The scene shifts to a small group of martial arts experts touring the South Pacific. While visiting local nightclubs, they encounter Thomas and his men, resulting in a fight between the two groups. Soon after, the martial arts experts board a small passenger ship heading toward the same island where the monks are. Wanting to prevent these martial arts experts from discovering his women-for-jade operation, Thomas sends some thugs to sink the ship before it reaches the island. Although they succeed in sinking the ship, they fail to stop the passengers from escaping in a lifeboat. That said, after drifting on the ocean for several days, the passengers land on the same island that the monks inhabit. What they don't realize is that the monks have been eating the captured women, which gives them power over some zombies who have martial arts abilities acquired in a previous life. To that effect, the monks then gleefully send these zombies to fight and kill the young men and women from the lifeboat who have dared to invade their island paradise. Or something like that. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a ridiculous, low-budget kung fu/zombie movie with a lot of nudity, extended fight scenes, and some truly bad acting. While I liked the casting of Cameron Mitchell (as "Captain Harry Dobbs") along with the presence of several attractive actresses like Jennifer Holmes ("Ann Davis"), Chanda Romero ("Mayloo"), Carla Reynolds ("Eileen Fox"), and Jillian Kesner ("Cookie Winchell"), none of them could save this film, and I have rated it accordingly.