Ringu

This is the famous movie The Ring and is an incredibly good movie. Although it is labeled a horror film it's as much, if not more, a mystery, in that sense being related to something like the X-Files.

The basic plot concerns a videotape that, if watched, results in the person or persons watching the tape dying in a weeks time. Asakawa, mother of a young boy, and Ryuji, her ex-husband, work together to try and find a way to break the curse of the videotape since all three of them have seen it and are expected to die within a week.

The majority of the film concerns Asakawa and Ryuji's attempt to research the videotape and everything connected to it. It helps that Ryuji has some psychic abilities of his own, especially psychometry (which is where a person can "read" an object, telling it's past history to a degree, merely by touching it.)

There's a lot of tension in the film, also. The film is done in the style that horror films used to be done in, and that is de-emphasizing special effects and gore and emphasizing a well-told story and having implications of horrible things happening. In my opinion that's the best way to do that type of film, forcing the writers to do a really excellent script rather than passing off a half-baked story and padding it with loads and loads of gory special effects.

I really enjoyed the film except for the actual ending which confused me somewhat. For those who have seen the film this will make sense; for those who haven't, watch it. The girl wants vengeance (watchers will know which girl.) Against certain people, such as the incredibly rude guy in the demonstration, that makes sense. Against people who have absolutely nothing to do with that event in any way, shape or form just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I was expecting some kind of reason for what she did to the present-day people, but there wasn't one.

This is a very good film.

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