Post by George Willson on Oct 26, 2005 17:21:53 GMT -5
Having watched these two films now, I am in a position to place them side by side and comment on how what works and what doesn't.
Purists may crucify me, but I see The Ring as an improvement on Ringu. The scenes are mostly identical when it comes to character stuff, but on the creepy supernatural side there are significant changes.
First, the face made by the one who dies went from just a fear face to one completely disfigured by the experience to resemble what the faces have looked like in the photographs.
The video is different as well. In Ringu, there are only a handful of images and the video is not that long. It has some creepy elements and some weird imagery, but not really that much. The American version, by contrast, is much longer, shows "the ring" and provides a lot more depth to the story and more to discover.
Another aspect that is improved from Ringu to The Ring is what happens over the seven days. As we move from day to day, weirder and weirder things happen. Samara (Sadako's American equivalent) appears to people later in the week. Images from the video appear in real life. It provides a more claustrophobic atmosphere in regards to the seven days rather than the freer feeling seven days in Ringu. A lot more is made of some of the elements of the video than are made of them in Ringu.
Also, The Ring forces characters to learn things using their intellect vs. ESP. There is no psychic element in The Ring. The scope of the movie is a lot broader and a lot more goes on as a result.
For me, I prefer the The Ring as it is much more frightening a film than Ringu is. It simply appears that after watching Ringu, someone liked it and wanted to make it better. They both claim to be based on the same novel, but I suspect much of the structure of The Ring was derived from Ringu.
Purists may crucify me, but I see The Ring as an improvement on Ringu. The scenes are mostly identical when it comes to character stuff, but on the creepy supernatural side there are significant changes.
First, the face made by the one who dies went from just a fear face to one completely disfigured by the experience to resemble what the faces have looked like in the photographs.
The video is different as well. In Ringu, there are only a handful of images and the video is not that long. It has some creepy elements and some weird imagery, but not really that much. The American version, by contrast, is much longer, shows "the ring" and provides a lot more depth to the story and more to discover.
Another aspect that is improved from Ringu to The Ring is what happens over the seven days. As we move from day to day, weirder and weirder things happen. Samara (Sadako's American equivalent) appears to people later in the week. Images from the video appear in real life. It provides a more claustrophobic atmosphere in regards to the seven days rather than the freer feeling seven days in Ringu. A lot more is made of some of the elements of the video than are made of them in Ringu.
Also, The Ring forces characters to learn things using their intellect vs. ESP. There is no psychic element in The Ring. The scope of the movie is a lot broader and a lot more goes on as a result.
For me, I prefer the The Ring as it is much more frightening a film than Ringu is. It simply appears that after watching Ringu, someone liked it and wanted to make it better. They both claim to be based on the same novel, but I suspect much of the structure of The Ring was derived from Ringu.