"One week after watching the tape, you die..."

After a mysteriously deceased girl is found in her house, her aunt, a journalist, begins an investigation, basing herself on the current rumours.

She learns about an urban legend which states that a videocassette circulates from person to person. After watching the short film, the viewer receives a phone call telling him that he will die in exactly one week, second for second.

Guided by a sixth sense, Reiko (the journalist) finds the cassette and watches it. As expected, the telephone rings. Reiko has trouble believing that occult forces are responsible for these events, but she will try to solve the mystery by trying to learn more about these occult forces. She will seek help from her ex-husband, who has psychic capabilities, to learn more about the sources of the videocassette. He also watches the movie and is told he only has one week left to live.

Both are unaware of what they will have to face in seven days.

This movie cost me an arm and a leg. Produced in Japan and subtitled in Britain, it arrived safely to me by mail. This movie will probably not be offered to the Western public for a few years but when it will, it will quickly become popular. Its success in Japan can be compared to the success Scream had in the US and Canada. Ring reminds of The Blair Witch Project, which is in fact very interesting and macabre if one forgets the presentation.

During the seven intense days that Reiko and her ex-husband will live, the psychological tension will rise exponentially. However, we are aware of the beginning the new day but the characters do not show any stress. I think the actors should have shown more tears, quick short breaths and questioning. However, the ex-husband is a protective figure who calms down Reiko and reassures us.

This film doesn’t contain any humorous scenes. It is very objective and all events are centered around the main intrigue. This movie won’t startle you either. I was startled twice but the scenes weren’t meant to startle. The Ring is a very dark movie. It starts with the discovery of a deceased fifteen-year-old girl, a situation we consider politically incorrect. The concept of the cursed video, which causes death, is not a mystery we discover. It is presented to us in the first few minutes. What is a mystery, on the other hand, is what will happen after the deadline has past and why this is all happening.

Although the film in its entirety is quite scary, I urge you to watch Ring alone at home because of the final scene. The last twenty minutes are very, very intense but this particular scene, where the ex-husband meets his doom is most macabre scene which I have scene in my life. It is a bit equivalent to those in the Exorcist but into worsened, considering the context. One understands what occurs after the week, and it is atrocious.

When I finished watching this film, I went to take a shower, enjoying the fear of loneliness, and it wasn’t Norman Bates of whom I was terrorized. Some days later, I made my girlfriend listen to the movie. She adored. During the final scene, I felt her nails pierce my skin, her shivers run down her back and saw her eyes fill up with water. She unstoppably repeated the words "Not the eyes, no, not the eyes!" because we understand where the mysterious eye on the film box comes from.