Ring 0 - O Chamado

Combining elements of drama and horror, Ring 0 is a very worthy installation of the indie horror franchise. This film really starts, though, as a drama, telling us the story of Sadako in a very linear fashion (which, deliciously, has become the more difficult and confusing path to take, since we already know the end of the story). We see Sadako as a human (!) who is not scary or evil at all but actually seems rather pleasant and almost painfully shy. A while later in the film, we see that Sadako is actually warring desperately with herself . . . and is losing. Her eventual slide into the monstrosity of the first and second Ring films is a sight to behold (and, hardcore fans will note, is echoed by a similar fall of Ando Mitsuo in the less popular Rasen).

The social overtones of this film are also outstanding and a fine addition to the series. Whereas the first two films are more exercises in combining psychological terror with techno-horror, Ring 0 takes a more Romero-esque approach to the social aspect of Sadako's transformation, meditating on the cruelty of her peers and the burning need for revenge of one journalist that brings the whole tragedy crashing down.

Incidentally, although it takes some time, this film WILL scare the hell out of you at the end. Just wait for it.

Very, very good. See it.

When Ring conquered the far east in 1998, then began to spread to the west, audiences were shocked at the nature of new horror. No longer was blood, guts and gore the content used to scare viewers, but sheer unadulterated terror caused by a whole new approach of psychological tension and a surreal dreamlike fear. It spawned a decent sequel which didn't *quite* live up the original due to convolucence of the plot and slight contrivance. But for the 3rd movie in the series (I ignore the Korean 'Ring Virus') they went back to basics, and told a simple story. Ring 0 is a prequel. Yes, not everything is cleared up, but for sheer story telling and quality of drama Ring 0 is the best in the series. It doesn't quite contain the same level of fear as Ring, but that's on purpose to portray Sadako (Who could well be one of the most enduring 'villains' in movie history) as a vulnerable girl - to convey her upbringing and troubled existance. And on this level the movie works extremely well, and the viewer identifies with her. But it just wouldn't be Ring without a scare or 2, and the ending, while not *quite* as terrifying as Ring's ending (Due to the fact we are now getting familiar with Ring's 'tricks') is still extremely chilling and will scare you. Overall, excellent movie and thoroughly recommended.

I think most of you aren't looking at this film from a wide enough perspective. It's basicaly a coming of age story, given a little horror twist. A young girl growing up in a cruel environment, admonished for being different. You people are taking this Two Sadokos thing way to seriously. The Evil and Good half i believe was there to represent the good and evil within us all, and the events which lead up to us letting in to our dark sides. It was the same tale with Luke Skywalker, the same tale in the movie May. Even the name of her first play, The Mask, hinted at this.

A tragic tale of a girl who is bitter at a world who just won't accept her. A girl who becomes so enraged at being "locked away" for her differences, that she has nothing better to do but slowly die, and kill those who would never accept her kind.

A good movie, and excellent prequel.

8/10

Shortly after an oddly quiet young woman, Sadako Yamamura (Yukie Nakama), joins a drama troupe, strange events, including deaths with suspicious circumstances, start occurring. Is Sadako somehow connected to these events? And what does it have to do with a reporter investigating a years-old tragedy at a psychic demonstration?

Series Note: There are many different films, television series, books, comic books, etc. based on the "Ring Universe", and it's very complicated trying to sort them out. The Japanese films known as "Ring" or "Ringu" can be numbered 0 (this one), 1 (Ringu, 1998) and 2 (Ringu 2, 1999), and function well as a self-contained story. This film, Ring 0: Birthday is a prequel. I prefer watching it first, but if you want more mystery in the other films, watch them in their release order: Ringu, Ringu 2, then Ringu 0. Note that there is also a Japanese film named Rasen (aka Spiral, 1998) which was meant to be a "Ring 2", but that was later superseded with the 1999 Ringu 2. Rasen is supposedly closer to the second Ring novel, but 1999's Ringu 2 is seen as more or less the "official" Ringu sequel.

There is an infamous mock commercial from the early days of "Saturday Night Live" (1975) about a product named "Shimmer". Shimmer was notable for being both a floor wax and a dessert topping. Ring 0 has Sadako as a Shimmer-like entity. Only, instead of being just two kinds of things, she's six--a telekinetic, a psychic, a precognizant, a ghost, a psychic healer, and a physical manifestation of a split personality. The film overall has a Shimmer-like quality, too. It's both a horror film and a slow, realistic drama with romance overtones. The horror stuff generally works, although Sadako would have benefited from not having so many functions. The more serious dramatic sections, which take up almost an hour of this 90-minute film, are not quite as successful.

The script, by Hiroshi Takahashi, from a story by Ring novelist Koji Suzuki, is admirable on an artistic level. Takahashi is fond of parallelism, setting up the drama troupe's rehearsals and performance as an innocuous veil that often matches more sinister events beneath the surface. He frequently changes our perspective so that we see a stage performer scream, say, at the same time someone offstage should be screaming. These kinds of parallels can be found throughout the film.

The problem is that director Norio Tsuruta just cannot get much momentum going with the material. The dramatic rehearsals and backstage bickering that take up a large percentage of screen-time just aren't that eventful or exciting. There are glimpses, through Sadako or around her, of a more intriguing world, but they're often little more than "flashes" that might cause us to do a double take. Takahashi and Tsuruta work hard to establish a romance subplot involving a love triangle (or two), but this can barely get off the ground. It often feels superfluous.

The best material featuring Sadako in the earlier part of the film resembles something of a cross between a Hitchcockian thriller and Brian De Palma's Carrie (1976). But those are overly generous comparisons, since at least the first hour of Ring 0 has little of the suspense, style or directorial panache of either.

I would have preferred a stronger focus on Shoko Miyaji (Yoshiko Tanaka), the reporter who is trying to investigate the psychic demonstration tragedy. Her scenes, which tend to have the flavor of a police procedural with slight horror twinges, are entertaining, and a larger focus on her would have broken up play rehearsal scenes better. It would have also given the character more weight for the climax, which would have given the ending even greater impact.

As it stands, the last half hour is still the best part. We finally unravel much of the mystery behind Sadako (although there are a lot of questions that could still be answered), and gain insight into some of the events and comments in the first two-thirds of the film, which otherwise can seem cryptic (it pays to rewatch the first hour after the film is over--I enjoyed it more the second time).

There are a number of events during the climax that are breathtaking in their brutality, all nicely scripted and directed. One of these, when two characters are enigmatically killed off-screen, is a rare example of an "attack scene" where I agree that what you're not shown can be more effective than what you are shown. We get to see the event leading right up to the death, and we see the bloody aftermath. Filming how it happened would have drained much of its mystique. Another outstanding development in the climax is rooted in the relationship between two characters, and works so well because of strong cultural taboos.

While it's probably my least favorite Ring-related film, Ring 0 is worth viewing because of its place in the series and the excellent climax.

A great prequel to the Ringu series. In this film we see the human side of Sadako before her death & the cruel attitude of others towards her. By the end of the film you feel sorry for Sadako & not her victims. I enjoyed this more than the original film, in many ways this film follows a more traditional story structure than the original.