Ring

Tragedy comes to one part of suburban Tokyo (if there is such a thing) when a group of teenage friends die in mysterious circumstances on the same day. One of the victims aunties’ investigates and discovers that, in accordance to a popular urban myth, they had all watched the same video tape then received a silent telephone call – then exactly one week later they’d died. When she watches the tape and, surprise surprise, gets a silent phone call she realises that she has only a week left to live and must unravel the mystery of this curse. Her journey, with the help of her ex-husband, starts with explaining the mysterious images she witnesses on the video tape.
The film was originally Japanese released in 1998 (as just “Ring”). It was later remade by the Americans in 2002 (as “The Ring”) I’ve not seen the latter and was recommended to watch the original which I found to be quite a tame affair. I imagine the storyline may have aged slightly. The videotape would now be an mp4 viral on the internet. Or else the grainy images within the cursed tape would be restored, colour added, motion stabilised and any apocalyptic devil shots could be photoshopped and airbrushed to make them look lovely! (I am joking btw just in case any Hollywood producers are reading this) So whilst it maybe considered a classic horror, other classics have aged slightly better. The video theme makes the story rather antiquated and less personal.
[rating=2]

Buy Ring (1998) on DVD