Ling

After the mysterious death of her niece and three other teenagers on the same hour and with the symptoms of heart attack, the journalist Sun-ju (Eun-Kyung Shin) decides to investigate their last moments. She discloses that the four friends had just watched a videotape exactly one week before their death in a resort. She travels to the place and finds the deadly video and after watching the weird footage, her telephone rings. When she takes a picture of herself, she sees her image blurred the same way that happened with the teenagers. She makes a copy of the cursed tape to her acquaintance, the skeptical coroner Choi Yeol (Jin-Yeong Jeong). Together they seek for a hint, and find that it was taped thorough telekinesis by Eun-suh (Du-na Bae), a psychic girl that had disappeared years ago. When Sun-ju's little daughter watches the movie, Sun-ju has a stronger reason to unravel the mystery to save her daughter and her own lives.

"The Ring Virus" is the South-Korean remake of the excellent 1998 "Ringu". This version is not bad, but why the remake? The story is exactly the same of the original Japanese film and in spite of the good acting, there is nothing new in this remake. I was curious to see this version and in the end I found it in the same level of the American "Ring". But in the end, better off watch again the original masterpiece, which is darker and scarier. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Like the other user comments on the film, I can only recommend this low-key, dark, and very well paced film. The plot, judged in the cold light of day, is a mish-mash of familiar elements - angry ghosts, curses, a house built on a grave, psychic powers - staple fare for the X-Files. However, the film's strength is in the director's management of the central conceit - a mysterious video which, when watched, ensures that you will die a horrible, yet inexplicable death in precisely a week. The heroine's desperate quest to unlock the mystery of this video and, somehow, 'lift' the curse provides the film with structure and tension. As the hours tick away, and the deadline approaches I for one was gripped with a near-claustrophobic panic. And the climax, where we learn precisely what has apparently scared the video's victims to death, is shocking in its clever effacement of the one thing which reassures about television and film - it's only on the screen, it can't really hurt us... Don't miss.

This film is the first remake of the Japanese film Ringu, which was later remade into the Hollywood film, The Ring. If you measure it alone or in comparison with the novel, it stands a passable affair, but you can't really leave aside some comparisons with Ringu as The Ring Virus takes several key elements from Ringu while also re-incorporating a few elements of the novel back into the movie. In the end, some of this gets all jumbled and it leaves a couple plot holes as well as weakens believability at times.

I noticed right away that The Ring Virus generally takes a different aesthetic approach. While Ringu had a lot more natural/fluorescent lighting, generally casting the film in whites, greens and blues, The Ring Virus accepts warmer tones from incandescent lights and thus adds more yellows and oranges to the palette. Furthermore, the camera takes more dynamic movements and positions in The Ring Virus, although this is not necessarily a good thing. In some way, the Corean remake looks a little busier than the Japanese version and the overall look doesn't seem as oppressive as the original. Nonetheless, some of the shots are still taken directly from its predecessor.

The story itself is primarily like Ringu. A female reporter finds a tape, which upon playing, curses her with seven days to live and she begins a desperate search for a way out of the curse. While the overarching story is essentially the same, the details and characters have changed. The partner in crime in this instance more closely follows the novel, as we find a medical researcher with no relation to the protagonist joins the case. Furthermore, the story of the ghostly villain has changed as well and thus her reasons for her vengeful ways have also changed. The story is infused with more sexuality and less paranormal science than Ringu.

Unfortunately, many of these changes, even if more closely following the book, fail to work. First of all, the supporting character of the researcher doesn't come across nearly as brilliant as he is presented as being and there appears to be some remnant of Ringu's ex-husband in him as he has some unexplained bouts of clairvoyance. Also, because he has no relationship to the protagonist, its hard to believe that he would bother to join in her quest and endanger himself. In the book, he is at least a friend of the male protagonist (the sex of the protagonist got swapped in Ringu). I do have to admit that expansion of the ghost's story does lead her to be a more interesting character, but it doesn't save The Ring Viruses from the weaknesses in the details of the story. Add in a couple plot holes and a lack of attention to detail and The Ring Virus fails to impress.

I found myself yelling at the screen during the course of this film and slapping my head in disbelief. Maybe if I hadn't seen Ringu first, this effort would seem less curmudgeon and while it does bring some interesting elements to the story, overall, the weaknesses in the direction and the story make it a slightly less than adequate affair. It might be an interesting first watch of the various Ring movies or an interesting comparison viewing, but otherwise, I think you'd be better served trying one of the other versions of the Ring story. Problematic. 5/10.

I have viewed all versions of Ring and it seems my very unpopular opinion is that this version is the best choice. Why? The story unfold at a much better pace and relies less on 'mysterious insight' and the random exposition that sometimes clutters the Japanese 'psychic horror/mystery' films...you know the kind of scenes: two characters walk up to a piece of string and one looks at it and starts telling the other (and the viewer) the events leading up to the string's appearance. And no, I don't dislike that style completely, it does save a lot of time (and money for the crew) and advances the story rather quickly...it's just that I found slower building story of the Korean version to be far more interesting - and as far as my investigations have found, truer to the novel these films are based on. A good example is the omission of the distorted photographs (which are in both the US and Japanese versions) - I am told that was not in the book.

The scary, more straight horror aspect of the Japanese (and even more so with the gore injected U.S. version) have been toned down to an almost non-existent state...one of the reasons why most people probably don't like this version. The video itself is a definite improvement. The fact that it doesn't 'cut off' abruptly but rather, taped over before the solution could be given - that is brilliant! Especially in light of current urban legend interest.

Simple version: See Ring Virus if you want a more detailed, story-driven version (some say 'boring') - more of a creepy drama. The Japanese version if you want a mysterious psychic-powered ghost film. The US version if you want a hyperactive, steroid injected retelling of the Japanese version, in English.

In the end, it just depends which method you like best.

A nice idea, and good execution of that idea make this a foreign film to see. The film does have a few cliche moments, but don't let that distract you from the film itself. It's very clever, very scary in bits, and the final twist is worth waiting for.

It just goes to show that a decent horror film can be made without all the blood and guts. I don't think it was better than the Blair Witch Project, but you can see some similarities. It's worth a look, and you never know, you might be pleasantly surprised.

And if you really can't be bothered to watch it, watch out for the Hollywood remake which will either be a total load of rubbish, or a good adaptation - probably the former!!

6/10

Enjoy!