Sadako 3D

In Japan, there is an urban legend that there is a cursed video clip of a suicide released by a man called Kashiwada (Yûsuke Yamamoto) in Internet that drives the viewer also to commit suicide. When the high- school student Noriko Morisaki seeks the video in classroom, her teacher Akane (Satomi Ishihara) takes her cellular to return it after class. But soon Noriko watches the footage at home and dies and the police inspector Koiso goes to the school to interview Akane and her students. Koiso's assistant Nakamura believes that the video is real, but Koiso does not pay much attention on him.

When Akane's boyfriend Takanori (Kôji Seto) is captured by a woman in the video and Koiso witnesses Nakamura committing suicide, they investigate Kashiwada and discover that his intention is to bring Sadako (Ai Hashimoto) back to a new body and Akane is the chosen one. Now Akane has to fight against Sadako to bring Takanori back and save her life.

"Sadako 3D" is a very bad Japanese horror movie with a senseless story. The plot is silly, with Kashiwada releasing the video to find a strong body to revive Sadako and they actually want Akane's body. Akane uses her super-scream to get rid of the supernatural creatures as if it were a comedy. So why do they need to make a video to kill people? They are very powerful and wouldn't be easier if they simply find Akane and use her body to revive Sadako? The conclusion is awful and in the end only the gorgeous lead actress Satomi Ishihara is worth to be watched in this terrible movie. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "A Invocação 3D" ("The Invocation 3D")

We live in times where VHS tapes are quite unpopular and idle, so of course a premise which focuses on a cursed VHS tape would not work anymore, as in scaring people who spend most of their times on their tablets, IPhones, Blu-Ray, Netflix etc. Then, through an insane worshiper, the curse reaches Internet, whereby Sadako's ghost searches from a supernaturally gifted host to occupy and live once again. This greatest plot ever thought to upgrade the "Ringu" premise is, unfortunately, misused in "Sadako 3D", which is surprising coming from the J-Horror genre full of such great films, "Ringu" itself included, that left Hollywood jealous and out of attention, forcing them to remake several Asian films.

"Sadako 3D" has a plausible plot for this high-tech times, but is visually absurd and spends most of its length focusing more on action and abusing of 3D effects, forgetting the new kind of thriller the story should provide. Basically, it turns out too much violent and noisy for a "Ringu" (or a J-Horror) film. Hopefully, this is an isolated case and won't happen to upcoming films, otherwise, be sure Japanese horror itself is cursed.

This piece of rat-infested dog poop is simply not worth watching. Almost everything about this film is just wrong. The onryo ghost, which I personally find to be a very chilling entity, is included in a variety of laughably stupid sequences. The way the horror scenes were constructed is grade D filmmaking at its worst. We're talking head-slapping stupidity. For example, Sadako is "controlled" by a young dude with an oh-so-lame Japanese rockstar fashion sense who is played by an actor who should not be working. Right from the opening scene, this guy is an absolute embarrassment with his terribly acted "evil laugh." Imagine if Michael Cera tried to be scary, and this is what you'd get. Sadako just friggin' pops out everywhere, like some mentally challenged CGI jack-in-the-box. There's no emphasis on creepiness or atmosphere at all. The storyline is also haphazard and totally boring. There's literally no talent behind or in front of the camera here. Everyone involved in this travesty should be thrown down a well.

If you're looking for good recent Japanese horror, check out "Tormented" (2011), "X Game" (2010), "Tomie Unlimited" (2011), "Kaidan Horror Classics 1-4" (2010), and "Gomenasai" (2011).

When the 1998 film Ringu aka Ring hit theaters it took the world by storm becoming not only the highest grossing horror film in Japan, but spawned two sequels, a video game as well as two American versions. With not much word of the series for some time it's back with an all-new installment named for the famous focal point of the series Sadako 3D, but can it live up to the creepy nature that made the original film so great or is it just another forgettable sequel to a once great franchise.

Sadako 3D follows a high school teacher who discovers Internet footage that her students have been watching of someone's suicide that is rumored to drive anyone who watches it to commit suicide as well. While she doubts it at first, she soon discovers that it is actually of a man whose intention is to create chaos in the world by bringing back Sadako and her curse. Initially this film takes some interesting directions shifting the curse from the VHS to update it to the current Internet nature. There are some creative moments using cell phones and computer screens that should have delivered but never really push the envelope the way it should have. Even with these issues the film still could have worked pretty well, but due to the decision for 3D they opted to over saturate the film with CGI effects that were not all that great. Part of the charm of the original films was just the pure creepy especially the Sadako character. She did very little in the originals other than climb out of the well and inch towards you, but the look and vibe was very effective. Sadly that is all gone with the exception of a few moments until the end when things change completely. This series has always been a cursed haunted genre film, but this entry takes it out of that all together at one point turning it into somewhat of a monster film losing the entire point of this series. While it loses the Ring aspect, it still could have been pretty cool had they not used some pretty poor CGI to bring these creatures to life.

This movie had lots if issues, but all stuff that could have still worked well had they not gone complete CG for everything. Fans of the original film will most likely have some real issues with this film as it plays more like a reboot than a sequel and fails to live up to the classic that came before it. Word is that there is a sequel to this film coming as well and hopefully they will take some of the good ideas here and deliver something a lot better.

The Ringu franchise gets a 21st century update in this fourth instalment of the classic horror series. Coming over a decade after Ring 0, Sadako 3D was a real chance to kickstart the ailing series and give renewed life to Koji Suzuki's classic story. Sadly, although the film starts well and manages to update key elements of the Sadako folklore, it is ultimately let down by a bizarre finale and its completely pointless use of 3D. We are left to wonder whether Sadako should have perhaps stayed down the well.

The film begins with the suicide of a disgraced artist, broadcast via webcam to a handful of people on a video sharing website. Although the video is promptly deleted, it soon becomes notorious throughout Japan as "the cursed video" after rumours emerge that all who watch it take their own lives shortly thereafter. The legend is particularly popular among teenagers, who scour the net 24/7 trying to find a working link among the '404 not found' error pages.

The film's protagonist, Akane, is a high school teacher drawn into the legend after one of her students apparently commits suicide while watching the clip. As more and more of her class expose themselves to the danger, Akane learns of a connection between the suicidal artist and the notorious Sadako legend from a decade earlier. Could Sadako be behind this latest cursed video? If so, what does she want this time? And how can she be stopped?

For fans of American horror, Sadako 3D is to Ringu what Scream 4 was to Scream: a reimagining of the original story, transferred to a modern setting with modern technology, and with characters who are aware of the previous films' events. Where Scream 4 failed was in trying to merge the original premise – of teenagers being isolated and stalked in a small town – with the modern setting, never really answering the question of how a 21st century teenager can ever be 'isolated' in an era of smartphones and mobile internet. By contrast, the writers of Sadako 3D recognise that the original film's premise would seem dated today, and use advances in technology to their advantage.

For starters, Sadako no longer needs a television set to wreak her revenge: the creepy long-haired girl appears from smartphones, laptops and even electronic advertising boards. It's a useful ploy that means characters are never really safe wherever they are, and it works well. What also succeeds is the uncertainty of the 'cursed video': instead of a tape that characters either watch (and be damned, exactly seven days later) or don't watch (and be safe), the video is an online stream that moves about the internet, appearing at random on computers or smartphones that have previously searched for it. This means you are never really sure when (or if) a character will be next, giving a breath of fresh air to what could have been considered, by now, a tired concept.

All of that, though, is completely undermined by the final act, where the director (for some inexplicable reason) decides to crossover a decent paranormal ghost story with a creature feature – with predictably terrible results. Without spoiling the full details in this review, nuances from the Sadako legend are reduced to Silent Hill-like zombie creatures, almost leaving the viewer unsure if they're still watching the same film. Of course, genre crossovers are popular in Asian cinema and can be done successfully (see, e.g., Spellbound), but this just fails miserably. Things do get back on track somewhat for the ultimate finale, which satisfies to a point, but the damage has already been done by that stage.

Mention must also be made of the 3D effects. Although often a gimmick at the best of times, the extra dimension serves no purpose whatsoever here, being restricted to shots of Sadako's hand emerging from screens of various sizes – and that's about it. Moreover, since most of the (modest) budget appears to have been spent on the 3D apparatus, the film looks decidedly low-budget when watched in 2D, with some truly laughable CGI effects. I appreciate that the 3D 'gimmick' may have been required to get this film made at all, but I do wonder whether the final act would have strayed so far from the Ringu folklore had the director not being able to cheat his way out of proper storytelling with the cheap, gimmicky effect.

Ultimately, then, we are left with the feeling of what could have been. With its decent overall premise and its intelligent use of technology to update the original story, this could have been the refreshing reboot needed to kickstart the Ringu franchise. As it is, Sadako 3D is a mere curiosity; worth a watch (for the first hour at least) if you enjoy the original films, but more likely (in the final act) to alienate existing fans than win over new ones.

5 out of 10 – disappointing.