(2012) *
Thirteen years after Ringu took the world by storm Sadako’s back, well sort of. In the latest installment a cursed video is making the rounds on You Tube (?), which depicts the suicide of an artist and anyone who watches it is curtains (i.e. they die horribly moments later). Ayukawa is a teacher at an all-girl high school and when rumors suggest that the recent suicide of one of her students was caused by watching the video she launches her own investigation.
Good lord, that’s the best I could do with my plot description because the film’s story is needlessly so much more complicated than that. Here’s a blurb from Wikipedia to explain the artist’s motivation,
“Kashiwada had been attempting to resurrect Sadako Yamamura, (referring to it as the "resurrection of "S") as revenge against the human populace for persecuting him. He initially kidnapped long-haired women and threw them down the well, alive. However, when it was revealed that a body could not be found that way, he orchestrated the "cursed video" so that the video would find the perfect host for her.”
Huh?
It’s even harder to follow than that. The ad campaign was the scariest thing about this film,
Here’s what JPX believes. JPX believes the world has changed drastically since Ringu. When Sadako crawled out of the television set to murder her victims it was not only a chilling image but it was also unsettling because she broke the 4th wall. Specifically, back in the late 90s we all watched television and movies with the knowledge that the characters could not actually get us. Fast forward to 2012 when we Skype on our computers or use Facetime on our phones (except that none of you jerks will do it with me). The idea of a character being able to see us on our television screens is not scary anymore because we all do it every day. Perhaps the director made Sadako 3D in “3D” to overcome this obstacle? A true 4th wall? Maybe he believed it to be the last vestige of scary? Is it even possible for a Ring sequel to be scary anymore? Perhaps I’m being overly analytical of what ends up being simply a bad movie. Never scary, Sadako 3D has an incredibly confusing storyline and the 3D is of the Jaws 3D variety. There’s some visually pleasing Sadako stuff in the weird conclusion but that’s about it. Terrible.
5 comments:
That ad campaign was pretty sweet. Overcomplicated plots have been known to ruin some Asian horror movies. It's a fine line to walk to keep things scary and engaging.
Sounds like a total drag. Japan needs to realize the hair over the face, disjointed arm scary lady is played out and it's time to move on.
I have fond memories of creeping my college roommate out by pulling the hair over my eyes and always wearing a white nightgown. *sigh* I guess those days are over.
Here's what Octopunk believes: Ringu wasn't that scary in the first place, and both the sequels that I've watched were total duds with riDICulous convoluted plots like what seems to have happened here.
That pic of the ad campaign rocks, though. And I like "here's what JPX believes." That should be a weekly segment.
Funny enough, this is my mom's favorite of the Japanese "Ring" series, mainly because of the Sadako spiders.
Being a HUGE Ring (US and Japan both) buff, I enjoyed it a bit; I didn't understand why the Izu well is now near a mall, but eh. It was entertaining enough.
And it was a hell of a lot more enjoyable than "Rasen", one of the worst films I've ever endured.
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