Yes, this is about the horror movie The Ring, so please save the Wagner jokes for other threads. I wasn’t all that impressed with the movie when I first saw it, but after the Japanese original was released here in the US, I rented it to check out the differences.
In case anyone cares, my opinion is that the remake is better, but only slightly. The original tells the story with fewer plot-holes, has a better climax overall, and manages to do some genuinely creepy things just with reflections in TV screens; it keeps a more “folklore supernatural” feel to the story. But the remake is just plain creepier, especially with all the subconscious manifestations of Samara’s power, the fly coming out of the video, the videotapes from the asylum, and the whole theme of abandoned and neglected children.
So I went to this excellent Ring fansite to read more about the movies, and completely lost interest in anything else having to do with the series.
Note when I say SPOILERS, I’m including spoilers for THE JAPANESE SEQUELS AND BOOKS as well as the original material:
According to the website, the original book, and the book’s sequels, present the story with a more pseudo-scientific origin. Specifically, the culprit isn’t just Sadako’s ghostly psychic rage, but an actual physical virus (created psychically by Sadako) that spreads through the tape.
This bugs me to no end. First, it’s just plain silly. Second, it’s unoriginal – the whole “apocalyptic killer virus” theme has been done ad nauseam, with “Resident Evil” and “Parasite Eve” all the way back to “Day of the Dead” and “The Andromeda Strain.”
Most damning, it loses the urban folklore aspect of the story. The idea of a cursed videotape is incredibly intriguing, and it’s more like the creation of a new urban legend than anything I’ve seen recently. And the way that it’s presented in the movie(s) is great – a rumor spread by teens, a ghost story with a technological update. And spreading it on is integral to the story, but in the folkloric sense, not as a literal virus.
The site linked to above mentions that a sequel to the American version is in the works, and it’ll have a new story. What kind of stuff do y’all think it should/will include? Obviously, I’m inclined to say they should just ignore the source material altogether and keep it a tale of the supernatural instead of trying to rationalize it with a psuedo-scientific explanation. But then, where to go? Samara continues her rampages now that she’s been “freed”? Or do you think the whole “virus” is a good idea?
