リング

Trigger Warning: Disturbing imagery, mentions of suicide and violence.

O

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mbo5vHy8dw

 

 

リング

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A summary, analysis, and comparison of リング/Ringu, by Koji Suzuki (1994), and a theatrical adaptation by the same name by Hideo Nakata (1998).

Included is a brief mentioning of the American remake: The Ring by Gore Verbinski (2001)

What you just saw above was the original Ring movie's cursed video tape. If you saw this, or something similar, then you're in the same shoes as Asakawa Kazuyuki (Last name, first name) in the book, Asakawa Reiko in the 1st movie, and Rachel Keller (First name, last name) in the American remake. "What did I just see? What is the meaning of it? Who made it?" You probably are asking...

To know, let's dive into the novel by Koji Suzuki, the original source material behind one of the most iconic characters in  j-horror (Japanese horror), or just horror in general.

リング

September 5th.

The novel first introduces us to Oishi Tomoko (Last, First name), a high school girl "studying" for her test tomorrow, which is on the first day back at school. She had procrastinated the whole summer, and blamed her lack of studying on the stupid heat, even though there were little to no clear and sunny days. Her parents were out "gallivanting" at a baseball game, leaving their sweaty daughter to study in this stuffy room. She had no hope of doing well on the test, and she had absolutely no hope in ending summer with a bang.

A fly had somehow made it's way into the room...the window screens had no large-enough holes, the door was also closed...Regardless, she needed to go downstairs. 

The eerie quietness that's surrounding the atmosphere unnerved her...going down the stairs she'd made a lot of intentional noise... As she sat in the bathroom, she'd wished for her parents to return home, and for this entity causing such an eerie silence to stop tormenting her. The story perfectly encapsulates the tense atmosphere you feel when you're alone... wanting your parents to return...silently hoping nothing suddenly leaps out at you. You may be alone...but you don't feel alone. Tomoko paces to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of coke to pour into her glass, and suddenly she feels the feeling. That sinister feeling. She's being watched. 

She can't stop the feeling that she wants to turn around and confront whatever it is behind her...but at the same time she doesn't.

It's too late now. 

She turns.

O

At the same moment, the same day, a man named Kimura is driving up to a traffic light, a biker right next to his taxi. Kimura revved his engine with impatience as he awaited the light to turn green. 

In an instant, the bikers hands suddenly thrust in the air, and he fell off of his motorcycle, hitting his head against Kimura's cab, leaving a dent that'll come out of Kimura's paycheck. Kimura got out of the cab, seeing the biker thrashing his legs about, scratching at his helmet and begging Kimura for something, anything...but it was already too late. The spasming of the biker had stopped as quickly as it started. Kimura removed the man's helmet, and he saw the man's face. His eyes completely wide and bloodshot, his mouth agape, tongue stuck in the back of his throat, and his neck snapped at a perfect 90 degree angle.

O

Reporter Asakawa Kazuyuki caught word of these 2 sudden deaths when Kimura drove him to work the next morning. Asakawa showed massive intrigue, deciding it'd be good reporting material. His editor, Oguri, however, showed skepticism at the concept of 2 teens dying at the exact same time. Asakawa takes this info to the police station, where autopsies detail that Oishi Tomoko, Iwata Shuichi, Tsuji Haruko and Nomi Takehiko died at the same time, same day, by a sudden heart attack

Background research had told Asakawa that the teens went to South Hakone Pacific Land for a holiday. A week prior. So, Asakawa decides to venture there himself, renting out a cabin.

In the VHS library near the front desk, Asakawa spots a single unmarked tape. No writing, no color. Just a pure white case, and a black tape inside.

He played the tape when he returned to his cabin, and it showed the following:

Static... Scratchy words appear

Watch Until the end. 

You will be eaten by the lost. 

The words grow closer to the screen, covering it in whiteness. The screen uncomfortably writhes and squirms for a while...

A burst of Red on the screen appears on the otherwise monochromic screen flowing all over the screen fluidly. Red, then black, then white. 

The scene changes to a volcanic eruption from multiple angles. Black puffs of smoke, and a large spray of red lava spouting from the volcano, then flowing down the sides.

Rapid strobing occurs on the screen.

Then this kanji, meaning mountain, appears.

山

A black bowl with white dice, on a white background soon follow the last scene. They tumble and roll with no audio, until settling on a 1 and 5. One of the die's pips are red.

A wrinkled old woman, with uneven eye sizes, and sitting on tatami appears. She leans in slowly to the camera, speaking in a dialect you are unable to discern. From the words you make out, she seems to be scolding you...or, someone else? Who is it that she's talking to?

The scene morphs into an infant baby, crying and shaking while swaddled.

Then, on a black background, hundreds of human faces appear in front of you. They aren't nearly as welcoming as the old woman. Their faces contorted in anger, showing judgement and contempt much beyond your comprehension. 1 by 1, they spat criticisms straight at the screen.

"Liar!"

"Fraud!"

you hear them accuse. As the screen fades to black, you still hear their voices, and feel guilt and shame as they toss accusations left and right.

A Television on a stand...inception of some kind. On the screen flashes another kanji. "Sada"

貞

The scene ends. A sudden shift to the next scene. A man's face staring at the screen, his gaze fixated upwards as his breathing was so ragged...so animalistic. The scenery behind him was clearly in a heavily wooded area. You see his neck and bare shoulder, a clear red gash torn right inside it. The sky began to spin as he approached the screen, with the sound of rustling grass, and weeds growing louder. The view changed from sky, to dirt, to grass rapidly...then it stopped. A darkness. The darkness had encroached on a ring at the very center of the screen...then a full moon.

Something fell from the moon, of hefty size. It fell with a thud, and the screen shook up and down.

Thud....

Thud...

Thud... then flesh being smashed. 

True darkness. The same scratchy font seen at the beginning plays again. Character by character, a message is spelled out

Those 

that

 have 

viewed

 this

 tape

 are

 fated 

to

 die 

at 

this 

exact 

time 

7 

days

 from 

now

...In

 order 

to 

survive 

you

 must--

But before the secret is revealed, an ordinary commercial, seemingly taped over this one, begins to play...one about mosquito repellant coils.

The tape ends there...

This tape is much more direct with it's meanings, though it still remains complex, as compared to the more abstract, and up-for-interpretation tape seen in Hideo Nakata's Ring. The scenes as described here last for many, many seconds, the full video around 19 minutes as confirmed later on.

Asakawa is understandably distressed as his one and only hope for attempting to get out of this situation has been cut off in a cruel cliffhanger. He then receives a phone call. It lacked any words on the other line, but he knew it was a confirmation call

"You've seen it now. You know what that means. Do like it said, or else."  Asakawa didn't know what it meant, what ANY of this meant. It didn't say anything he understood, other than having the best mosquito repellants on the market. Regardless, he had to leave, and fast.

Returning to Tokyo, he asks for the help of his psychotic, and immoral friend Takayama Ryuji. After Takayama brags about some of the...criminal things he's done, Asakawa shows him the cursed video tape he saw.

Intrigued, Takayama asks for a copy to study individually, to prevent having to share the tape in an ineffective manner. They regroup the next day and do a scene by scene analysis.

Their findings lead them to a woman named Yamamura Shizuko, a supposed seer who was able to foresee the future. During a demonstration of her powers, she bowed and apologized, as she was suffering a migraine. A journalist jumped from his seat, mocking her abilities, and called her a fraud. Other journalists followed in this assault of criticism.

Following the demonstration, Shizuko received such bad publicity that she became severely depressed. She soon jumped into Miharayama (Mt. Mihara.) 

Asakawa also remembers there is still another copy of the tape at home...for his wife and infant child Shizuka and Yoko (respectively) to watch.

It's also said that Shizuko Yamamura had a daughter, named Sadako, who was born intersex. Sadako had accurately predicted a volcanic eruption, thus carrying similar abilities to her mother, including nensha/thoughtography: The ability to burn images from ones mind onto a surface. Sadako's version of this power is much more destructive and powerful. Following Shizuko's death, she continued to live with her adoptive father, Ikuma Heihachiro, accompanying him to an isolated sanatorium to treat his tuberculosis.

Doing some more background checks, Takayama and Asakawa recognized the man seen near the end of the cursed video tape: Dr. Nagao Jotaro. They book an appointment with him, and interrogate him on information about Ikuma and Sadako, causing Jotaro to crack under the pressure. He admits that he had actually abused Sadako, giving her the last known case of smallpox, then he pushed her into a well, crushing her with nearby rocks. The well was built over as time passed, and soon stayed dormant under a cabin in South Hakone Pacific Land. She most likely used her power to burn the images from her mind onto an open video tape above her. That's where Asakawa and Takayama needed to go next. They needed to put her soul at rest.

For some cultural context, Sadako is very much an Onryō. This is a vengeful spirit who can cross into the world of the living to wreak havoc upon humanity, in order to redress the wrongs it received when they died. These deaths could be rather angering, saddening, and dreadful. In these strong emotions an Onryō is born. Many people who become Onryō also don't receive a proper burial, meaning their spirit cannot be put to rest; so, it only makes sense what Asakawa and Takayama are doing.

Asakawa and Takayama discover the well underneath the cabin's crawlspace, and Takayama is roped down to the the bottom, sending buckets of water back up to be poured out. Asakawa grows more tired with each and every bucket...so, he switches places with Takayama.

Sifting through the murky water, Sadako's remains resurface as Asakawa's time limit is reached. Asakawa doesn't die, and Sadako's body is buried safely.

They should be safe now...right?

...Right?

Takayama shows up dead from a heart attack...the curse still continues, and Asakawa is left wondering what he did that Takayama didn't...

...He copied the tape. The tape was made in conjunction with the smallpox, Sadako's intense rage, and her nensha powers. This tape is a virus, that can be propagated by making a copy of the tape and showing it to another. Asakawa realizes his wife and daughter must do the same.

~~~^~~~

The thing about リング is that Sadako, the overarching villain, isn't actually seen, apart from her remains at the bottom of the well. This paints her as this unknown, enigmatic force of nature. One that you don't see but you know is there. The way you'd even die by her is also quite indirect. If you stare at a reflective surface, you'll see yourself old and wretched, with contorted features. You'll be so shocked, that you'd die of a heart attack. It really feels like the tape itself is more of a villain.

Suzuki's Ring taps more into psychological elements, really getting into your head, illustrating themes of despair, dread, loneliness, and isolation

Now, let's go to Hideo Nakata's Ring, from 1998.

Ring/Ringu

 

Ring is structurally very similar to the novel, however a few characters, plot points, and other aspects were changed.

Asakawa Kazuyuki has been changed to Asakawa Reiko, a woman. Essentially the same role, as a journalist/reporter.

 Takayama Ryuji has shifted from a psychotic, sarcastic, degenerate to Reiko's grouchy, and somber ex-husband.

Yoko, the infant girl to them both, is now a 6-7 year old named Yoichi. A few of the 4 victims had some name changes. For example: Tsuji Yoko (used to be Haruko), Nomi Tadahoko  (originally Takehiko).

The movie initially begins with Kurahashi Masami and Oishi Tomoko. In the novels, Oishi was completely alone. Masami gossips about a grade schooler who recorded a strange channel at a cabin in Izu Oshima, the largest island in the Izu archipelago.  A woman pointed at him, claiming he'd die in 7 days. He got a call, where the same woman said "You saw it."

...

The kid had died a week later.

An uncomfortable Tomoko mentions that she and her friends, Iwata, Tsuji, and Tadahoko had all went to Izu, watching an incomprehensible video. They got a call after watching it, but nobody was there. She laughs it off, saying that she was only trying to scare Masami, and while they laugh about it...Masami knows she lied.

As the phone downstairs rings, the both of them rush downstairs...only to be relieved by the sound of Tomoko's mother speaking on the other line. Like the novels, Tomoko's parents went out to a baseball game. Extra innings were called so they won't be back until later. With the false alarm, the both of them laugh. Masami heads off to the bathroom as Tomoko goes to pour herself some soda...

The TV is turned on in the family room...Masami was in the bathroom. Tomoko walks over and shuts it off.

...

Something isn't right though. An uneasiness. As she's pouring her soda, she tries to find something in her peripheral vision. She turns around.

O

Reiko is interviewing a few high school students, who mentions 2 other people, Tsuji and Tadahoko, had died in their car while on a date. Back at the office, Reiko asks for Okazaki, a coworker unincluded in the novels, to find more information on Tsuji Yoko after finding a newspaper article detailing their deaths.

Being Tomoko's aunt, Reiko, along with Yoichi, go to the funeral later that evening. Okazaki calls to confirm the school of Tsuji Yoko, Seikei Girl's School. Iwata Shuichi is confirmed to be dead while riding his motorcycle.

The next day, Reiko reviews some news footage where Tsuji and Tadahoko are pulled from the car, with disturbing expressions, similar to that in the book.

Reiko goes to the Oishi household, as Tomoko's mother sits vacantly, lamenting the death of her daughter. Upstairs, Reiko remembers the times Yoichi used to play with Tomoko, as she finds a photo receipt in a room. Tomoko's shaken mother enters, commenting quietly that she found Tomoko in the same closet of the room.

One striking thing about this scene is the sound design. As it zooms into Tomoko's horrified (while also horrifying) face, a chilling, but brief violin screech plays.

Using the photo receipt from Tomoko's room, Asakawa receives a collection of photos from the quartet. All of them were dated for 8/29, 7 days before their deaths.

One photo catches Reiko's attention however:

This is an element that, if I remember, isn't included in the book. Regardless, this is a creative liberty that's very much welcome. These distorted photos sort of serve as foreshadowing for what will happen to one's face as soon as they die on their 7th day. This is also sort of a cultural detail, since your blurred face in a photo is meaning to represent that you are marked for death

At this point, Reiko travels off to Izu, reserving a cabin, and watching the cursed tape.

[Scroll back up to the blog's introduction, or rewatch the video if you so please]

Obviously shaken by the details of this tape, she removes it from the TV and turns it off...in the reflection...was..was someone behind her? 

She whips her head around.

It wasn't there

..She had to leave, and fast.

9月14日     火曜日 (Sept. 14, Tuesday)

From here on, the movie stays relatively faithful to the novel, as Reiko gets help from Ryuji. To confirm a suspicion, she asks Ryuji to snap her picture...

If she wasn't sure she was cursed before, then she'd know for sure, now.

Again, the sound design and music really shine, especially in this scene, as string instruments pierce the listeners ears, the second that Asakawa's distorted photo is shown. The music really conveys this feeling of dread as we see confirmation that Asakawa is now marked for death.

 Ryuji watches the tape, but gets no phone call, soon asking for a copy of the tape to study at home. 

9月15日     水曜日

Studying in Takayama's apartment, the both of them discover an embedded message. This message is translated as:

"Don't play in the water, or the monster will come to get you."

This is a more accurate translation, as compared to the more popularly known "Frolic in brine, goblins be thine," which was used by the director in order to make a more sing-songy quote.

9月16日     木曜日

The embedded message leads them to a dialect in Izu Oshima, which leads them to Miharayama (Mt. Mihara). Researching more articles and newspapers at the library, they find a headline:

"Local woman predicts eruption."

This "eruption" heavily corresponds to the floating kanji, a part of the 3rd scene, which had "Mountain eruption" in the jumble of words.

9月17日      金曜日

Reiko stays the night at her father's house, along with Yoichi. Ryuji calls to inform that Shizuko Yamamura is the woman seen in the mirror, and is the woman who predicted Miharayama's eruption. In the dead of night, Reiko pulls off the covers of Yoichi's bedding on the tatami mats...he's not there. Worse, she hears something in the room next to hers. 

More terrifying string instruments build, and play, climbing and climbing as it reveals something...no, Someone, about to climb from the well. Before it does, static fills the screen

When confronted by Reiko, Yoichi doesn't skip a beat, saying Tomoko told him to watch it

9月18日      土曜日

Reiko departs with Ryuji, going off to Izu Oshima. More info is found on Shizuko, and it's said that after being accused of faking her powers of foresight, she had thrown herself into Miharayama.

They stay at the Yamamura's estate repurposed as an inn, recognizing the exact same mirror from the tape. They also encounter Yamamura Takashi, a dismissive old man who was Shizuko's brother. He refuses to speak about his sister, and denies the existence of any child.

9月19日     日曜日

Takashi stares at the sea as Ryuji intends to gather more info. The Yamamura family had always been afraid of the sea. 1 by 1 it takes their family members. Everyone was afraid, except Shizuko. She would spend every day, staring at the sea, and all the other fishermen hated her for it. Takashi doesn't wish to talk more about Shizuko's powers, and attempts to run. As Ryuji grabs his arm, and soon Reiko as well, they're transported into a dream like memory sequence. 

This is Shizuko's public demonstration of her powers, held by Ikuma Heihachiro, who was planning to prove the existence of ESP (Extrasensory Perception). Ikuma was also who Shizuko had an affair with, and is Sadako's adoptive father. It's completely mysterious who her biological father is.  Supposedly, Shizuko is using her powers, mainly nensha to burn onto a piece of paper the same kanji characters that someone is manually writing. 

Every time, the kanji that Shizuko wrote had matched the manually written ones. During the demonstration, a journalist jumps from his seat, calling Shizuko a fraud, and how this is all some elaborate magic trick.

More journalists and reporters clamor as Shizuko grasps at her head. Abruptly, the first reporter freezes...and falls.

This wasn't Shizuko, out of fear though...Shizuko is quickly ushered away by officials, but they all halt. 

"Sadako! Did you do that?!"

Sadako. A mere child had killed the man simply by wishing for it. Sadako, in black hair and a white dress shuffles off, and ends the sequence by grabbing Reiko's arm. 

Shizuko had received so much bad publicity after this, that she went insane, doing nothing all day but brushing her hair in the mirror. She reached her breaking point soon after, and jumped into Miharayama.

Even after this dream sequence, there's now a hand shaped marking on Reiko's hand. Though a typhoon quickly brews, and all the ferries cancel, Takashi offers to take them back to Tokyo. It's here that Reiko realizes that she and Tomoko got phone calls only at the cabin. They infer that the cursed tape was made when Sadako used nensha to burn images onto the tape, and there's something at the cabin significant to Sadako which causes watchers of the tape to receive a phone call. Remembering the end of the tape...it's the well. The well was more than likely built over, the cabin sitting directly over it.

9月20日     月曜日

Arriving at Tokyo, they gather supplies to go searching in the well for Sadako's remains. Flashlights, a crowbar, buckets, and rope. Upon touching the well, Reiko and Ryuji see another flashback. Sadako walks over to the well, and looks over the rim...she doesn't expect to be approached by Dr. Ikuma Heihachiro, her adoptive father. He bats her over the head, and then lifts her up and over into the well...After this flashback, the well scene continues, with Asakawa's strength waning with each and every bucket. Takayama swaps places, being the one to lift and pour the buckets. Sadako's remains are found, and the rotted skin peels off like a wet paper towel, revealing her skeleton, oozing with green well gunk

Asakawa's time-limit has surpassed. She's survived!

...But, not because she gave the remains a proper resting place, just like the novel. This red-herring of a solution makes us believe we've won! Sadako shall torment no longer!

9月21日       火曜日

The date appears once more, at the bottom of the screen. Because the date is indicative that one is counting down the days of their inevitable death...yeah, this isn't over.

Ryuji is alone, writing down notes for his university teachings, when his TV turns on by itself. The image of the well is seen on the TV, high pitched metallic screeching noises emitting from the screen. A woman, with long black hair and in a white gown climbs from out of the well, beginning to walk, and hobble towards the screen. 

山村貞子

(Yamamura Sadako)

Ryuji panics, attempting to pick up the phone, who he assumes to be Reiko, but as soon as he does, Sadako breaks the laws of physics itself, coming head first through the TV screen. Very intense string instruments play as her full body comes through the VCR TV. The strings climb as Sadako painstakingly crawls toward him. As the camera is zoomed in on her crawling, you see the absolutely cringe-worthy lack of fingernails. Only the raw, somewhat bloody skin underneath, which was perfectly done by the make-up team. This lack of fingernails comes with the strong implication that she never died instantly when she was bludgeoned, and pushed down the well. She had attempted climbing out multiple times, but was never able to, which really makes Sadako's tale seem more tragic.

As Sadako stands up, she slowly turns to Ryuji, somehow causing him to trip and fall, injuring his leg. As he pathetically attempts to crawl away, he's cornered, and looks at Sadako. She raises her head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c80-nyjP9Hg (Clip on Youtube of this scene)

Ryuji cries out, as his heart supposedly stops from fear.

Asakawa, still on the phone, is dumbfounded. She comes to the conclusion that putting Sadako's spirit to rest wasn't the solution, but copying the tape and showing Ryuji. 

Reiko drives off in the distance, as a voiceover plays of her calling her father, essentially explaining the curse and how it needs to be stopped. The movie ends with this date:

9月22日       水曜日

~~~^~~~

Suzuki/Novel Ringu, Nakata/Movie Ringu, and The Ring.

Here, it's worth mentioning possibly one of the best J-horror American adaptations, along with The Grudge and Ju-on. This movie is The Ring by Gore Verbinski.

Verbinski's Ring is quite faithful to the source material of Hideo Nakata's Ring, save for the character names, changed to English ones.

Reiko's American counterpart is Rachel Keller

For Ryuji, it's Noah Clay

Yoichi becomes Aiden Keller.

Here, Sadako Yamamura is renamed Samara Morgan... Close enough, right? Here, Samara is only a 9 year old girl, while Sadako is well into her 30s by the time the events of Ringu happen.

Many of the scenes are shot in the same manor.

When Aiden runs into Noah, his father, on a rainy day, it's nearly the exact same as Ringu's Ryuji and Yoichi scene.

Seeing the cursed video tapes, some elements of them are very similar, such as a woman combing her hair, and then looking over to the left/right as the screen temporarily shows Samara/Sadako.

And while on the subject of Sadako and Samara, in all 3 source material, she isn't directly shown to anyone until the very end, the stories building her up, and only showing mere glimpses of her in flashbacks or eluding to her presence in the background.

Back to the tape, in

 The Ring's version of the tape, it's included more abstract scenes that could be left for interpretation. An upside down chair spinning around, maggots, a box of fingers, strangely enough a baby goat, etc.

Suzuki's version of the tape, as mentioned before, is longer, more direct, but still complex, leaving a lot to unravel. Some scenes are only as short as 32 seconds, but as long as 186. A table shown in the book, as made by Asakawa and Takayama, details every scene. This table has each scene's length in seconds, the amount of times there's a sudden flash of darkness, and if the scene is abstract, or real (like the eruption vs the fluid-like dot on the screen). Adding up the numbers, the book's tape is 19.8 minutes full of cursed imagery!

In terms of general elements, The Ring has slightly changed things up for the audience, in which I feel shows the contrast between J-Horror and American Horror.

In Ringu, as soon as Reiko finishes the tape, the phone call she receives only includes the disturbing scraping noises from the tape. Reiko looks at the clock, and says to herself 7 days.

In The Ring, as soon as Rachel finishes the tape, the phone call she receives has Samara whispering "7 days."

When Sadako crawls from the TV, her form is somehow clean, and her hair is dry. Except for the lack of finger nails, nothing about her immediately screams ghost. This ties into Onryō where it's not necessarily their corpse reanimated, but their vengeful spirit. An astral projection, crossing into a mortal plane.  Looking at Samara, it's quite clearly her reanimated corpse, with sopping wet hair and patchy looking pale skin, in conjunction with some technological elements which cause her to glitch like an image on screen. This is more of a westernized ghost.

Ringu, in both novel and movie, feels more minimalistic, abstract in some manner, and partially grounded in reality. It leaves things up to the watcher's discretion. The Ring is more distanced from reality,  especially with the eerie green hue or filter applied to each scene, obviously more dramatic. The movie is also sometimes spelling things out for it's watchers at some points. Though with how both are done in terms of direction, they are incredibly terrifying.

As an example of Ringu's subtlety, Sadako appears briefly in the televisions reflection, then when Reiko turns around she's not there. A vast array of Ringu's shots have Reiko off-centered from the screen, a television lurking in the background, similar to how some movies show their villain in plain sight, just out of focus or off in the distance for viewers to see, but not for any of the main characters.

With The Ring's lean towards more dramatic, and directness, we see many scenes such as the revelation of Kate Embry's corpse in the closet, mirroring that of Oishi Tomoko. Kate's face is more discolored and zombie-like, as Tomoko looks almost as if she was frozen in time, right at the moment she screamed. Other examples include Rachel coughing up an electrode after viewing the tape, a fly coming through the TV screen, and a droplet of water seeping through Rachel's telephone.

If you want to see more similarities between The Ring and Ringu, see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSIMF-VUYyw&t=258s 

In short, I've thoroughly enjoyed the nuances of the book, the movie, and the American remake, as they all have their own ways of bringing scares to the table. Ringu still continues to remain the highest grossing horror movie of all time in Japan, with Sadako being one of the most recognizable Onryō. The Ring is considered to be most people's scariest movie they've ever watched, and Samara has become just as recognizable as Sadako in America.

Now, for some Fun Facts!

- Daveigh Chase, the actor of Samara is the same girl that voiced Lilo in Lilo and Stitch.

- In both movies, the climax where Sadako/Samara comes out of the TV was actually filmed in reverse. The actresses walked backwards into the well, and the footage was played in reverse to capture the unnatural and ghastly movement, which is why you see the hair come from the well first when it really shouldn't.

- When Sadako shows her downcast eye, and when Samara shows her disfigured face, neither were done by a woman. Both were done by guys in wigs! The guy who did Sadako's eye had cut his eyelashes to add a scarier effect when it zoomed into his eye.

- Sadako, along with an aged up Yoichi Asakawa are featured as characters in a 4 vs 1 asymmetrical horror game called Dead by Daylight

Yoichi, As featured in Dead by Daylight (20s)

- Ringu crossed over with Ju-on (The Grudge) in a movie called Sadako vs Kayako, where both Onryō merged into one super Onryō: Sadakaya

-The full Ringu movie is actually free on YouTube, available with English subtitles on this link: https://youtu.be/ikWlWyJ9uUA

This is a blog post I've been wanting to save for last for the longest time. Because this is the last blog post I'll be making in our 4 week cycle, I really wanted to make it count! I went all-in by deeply covering a genre I really enjoy: Horror, on one of my favorite horror series.

Thank you all for reading my blog posts, especially this one, which takes the cake for my longest one. This is Willie from Ubookie, signing off...

BOO!