the Ring (Theatrical) - 1998. 95 minutes.

DIRECTOR: Nakata Hideo. SCREENPLAY: Takahashi Hiroshi.

For this second adaptation of the Ring novel, director Nakata and screenwriter Takahashi Hiroshi chose to take a very different approach to the source material, ultimately producing a story that is more human and character-driven. Not only do the Asakawa and Ryuji of this version possess a depth not afforded their counterparts in the novel, but the changing of their characters from high school associates to a wife and her estranged husband affords additional tension, as the two must deal with threats to their person as well as conflicts arising from their relationship.

This Ring also diverges from the book in its treatment of the Yamamura Sadako / cursed videotape storyline, emphasizing the supernatural and doing away with the heavy scientific slant that stagnated the theatrical version of Rasen. In fact, so great are the changes in Nakata's Ring that it is more accurately called a re-interpretation, rather than an adaptation, of the novel. To date, the closest Ring adaptation is the lackluster TV-movie version, which just goes to show that being more faithful doesn't necessarily equate being better.

It was Nakata's vision of Ring that thrust author Suzuki Koji's works into the limelight, driving sales of the novels through the roof and arguably kick-starting the cinematic genre of "J-horror." Though later films from a variety of directors would borrow motifs (most notably that of Sadako) from Nakata's 1998 oeuvre, Ring remains the original, a classic whose ending overcomes the film's limited budget to inspire genuine chills.

5 stars

Cast - ASAKAWA REIKO: Matsushima Nanako. TAKAYAMA RYUJI: Sanada Hiroyuki. TAKANO MAI: Nakatani Miki. ASAKAWA YOICHI: Otaka Rikiya. OISHI TOMOKO: Takeuchi Yuko. YAMAMURA SADAKO: Inou Rie.

Story - Reporter Asakawa Reiko (Matsushima Nanako) is in the midst of investigating the latest urban myth -- a videotape that kills all who watch it -- when her niece Tomoko (Takeuchi Yuko) suddenly dies under mysterious circumstances. An investigation reveals that not just the niece but three of her friends died on the same day at exactly the same time.

Asakawa traces the activities of the four friends back to the Izu Peninsula, where apparently they had stayed overnight in a rental cabin...and viewed the very cursed videotape that she has been investigating. When Asakawa watches the videotape herself, she enlists the help of her ex-husband Takayama Ryuji (Sanada Hiroyuki) to help solve its deadly riddle.

Together, the two begin to identify the mass of jumbled images found on the videotape. One of these, a mysterious woman brushing her long hair before an oval mirror, is identified as the long-dead psychic Yamamura Shizuko. Asakawa and Ryuji travel to Oshima, the birthplace of Yamamura Shizuko, in search of clues. What they find is the secret of the Yamamura family, that Shizuko had given to a daughter that mysteriously disappeared thirty years ago. The child's name: Yamamura Sadako.

The latter half of the Ring has Asakawa and Ryuji discovering that the video was in fact created by Sadako, who three decades ago was thrown into a well and left for dead. With nothing left to try, the duo resolve to find the well and recover Sadako's body in the hopes of appeasing her vengeful spirit...

Trivia: The title of this movie in Taiwanese was Ghost Story of Seven Nights, though it can also be found on the Internet by the name of Seven Nights' Strange Talk, a literal rendering of the Chinese characters. In Spain it is El Circulo, while in mainland China the title translates to something like Deadly Ring of Night.

More trivia: The famous scene of Sadako's "appearance" does not appear in the novel. Director Nakata has credited Videodrome for its inspiration, just as he cites Terminator for the final shot of Asakawa driving her car into an oncoming storm.