Hmm. Saw the Japanese version last week… it sounds, from this thread, as if the remake has, if anything, introduced more plot weaknesses and diluted the suspense. Fair comment? Is there any way in which the remake is an improvement?
The remake helped pick up the pace from the original, which for many an American movie goer, is a good thing. I prefer the Japanese to the American version, because it is more solid and a lot creepier, but you have to admit…it moves reaaaaallllly slow. I call it “building suspence,” my friend Harriss called it “nap time.”
I agree with you though that the remake does create a lot more plot weaknesses, and the cut of Rachel driving to Noah’s as the video plays REALLY pissed me off, because it took what should have been a super creepy moment and broke the viewers focus on it, and that was a dumb thing to do.
The original is superior, yes, but I still found the remake enjoyable, and really creepy.
Saw it last night. Can’t say I was actually scared of it, but I did think it was a quality film. Definitely a coffeeshop movie on the order of *Six Sense, Usual Suspects, Memento, *etc. Something to talk about in the coffeeshop with your friends after seeing it. I’ll probably see it again to recreate the puzzle with 20/20 foresight.
One thing I noticed was that were a fair amount of girls who much like Samara, had long black hair, like Rebecca and Noah’s girlfriend. I thought it might tie in with the distorted and scratched-out faces throughout the film. Samara wanted to disfigure anybody who didn’t look like her, maybe?
I also thought it was a good subtle marketing ploy at the end to show the main characters copying the movie with the intention of showing it to others. Makes me wonder if the movie will only be released on tape?
I really don’t mind when people in the theatre gasp and scream at a scary movie. It adds to the suspense. It’s also an experience to see a scary movie in a theatre where the audience is mostly black. They really freak out. “Girl, you BETTER NOT go in that room!”
I saw it tonight. I thought it was okay. There were moments that were pretty jarring and suspenseful, but overall I thought it was a basic popcorn movie.
But man Rachel was hot. And didn’t Noah look like either a younger Matthew Modine or Edward Burns?
Can anyone give a spoiler for the plot of the japanese sequel?
The Ring hasn’t been released here yet but I have been preparing myself for its terror by reading everything about it. I can’t go through another cinema embarrassment like with Signs (yeah - I know it wasn’t supposed to be that scary - that’s WHY it’s so embarrassing for me) when I screamed with terror at one point and the whole cinema audience turned around.
I wish I could just muffle my screams. Or not get scared. I never scream on fairground rides. But Mothman Prophesies, Dragonflies, Signs, The Others - they just do my head in. I spent Event Horizon huddled up in a small ball in the cinema whimpering with fear and wanting to leave, but I couldn’t (a) because I wanted to know what happened and (b) I was too damn scared to move in that darkened cinema.
So I can’t wait to see The Ring, even though I know it will scare the hell out of me.
That was “what we call in the industry, a cigarette burn” to notify the projectionist of a reel change. Watch Fight Club. 
Nuh-uh. I saw Fight Club. This one was tiny (about one tenth the size of a cigarette burn), and it was in the middle of the screen, against the backdrop of the night sky. And it looked just like the glowy O outline from the poster. Cigarette burns are bigger, noticeable, and appear in the corner of the film.
The Japanese film Uzumaki was about spirals. Throughout the film, in random spots, small, moving spirals would appear, distorting the picture. It was a neat and creepy effect. I’m pretty sure this was something similar.
istara, the plot of the Japanese version is essentially the same. My and others’ posts earlier in this thread have described most, if not all, of the differences between the two.
One thing I noticed were all the subliminal images in the film. There were two “rings” and I could have sworn something else as well. Did anyone else notice the images?
Perhaps I stand corrected. All I noticed were the cigarette burns, and one or two instances where the ring image from the video is flashed on the entire screen for a frame or three.
All right, I saw this movie on Friday. I kept hearing how great it was, and our local paper gave it 3 1/2 stars, saying it had a “mind blowing ending.”
It was a good movie…kind of creepy, but not all that suspenseful. I fully support movies that don’t use blood and gore to be scary but I still didn’t think this was any super fantastic film.
Although, the part where she came out of the tv was pretty sweet.
And, what’s this about a mind blowing ending? Are they talking about the false happy ending? I thought it was a cool twist, but nowhere near the lightbulb ding that Sixth Sense gave me.
Meh. I liked it, was duly creeped out, even had a dream about it…but was still slightly disappointed.
Okay.
After reading this, all I can add is there is NO WAY IN HELL I’m seeing this movie.
I shook for two hours after Silence of the Lambs and had nightmares for weeks. No need to puch that envelope again.
[sub]I’m such a wussy.[/sub]
Istara, the second film follows around the ex-husband’s assistant/girlfriend as she goes around trying to figure out what happened to him, his ex-wife and their child. The movie opens with the corroner examining the body of the reporters father, and you find out she had him view the film in order to save her son’s life. They also make reference to the fact Sadako apparently only died about three years prior. Why? I don’t know.
Anyway, the assitant ends up viewing the tape, and with the help of one of the reporter’s co-workers, manages to find her and her son in a search to find out what happened and why Sadako is still killing people.
As far as sequels go, it was pretty good. Not as creepy as the original, but it still had it’s moments (like when the girl goes to the cottage and sees the mirror…and Sadako’s mother standing in front of it…who then turns around). Good, but I’m sure if the American’s make a sequel, it will be nothing like it.
As the spoilers have been flowing like mad with tags, and as the title says, “spoilers”, and as my whole post is a spoiler…
I absolutely hated the ending. I thought this movie was fantastic save two points; one, which El Elvis Rojo mentioned, being the cut scene to Naomi Watts driving, the other being the actual end. I wanted to to scream, “I can figure some things out, you know.” Very spoonfed. It should have ended with Rachel saying, “What did I do that he didn’t?” and then [maybe, though even this shouldn’t have been necessary] a very quick dolly to the tape with a buildup of music then … credits.
I didn’t think I was scared at all until my phone rang. My second clue was being awake at two in the morning last night after a 7:30 show.
Samara, in the end, reminded me of a monster from the Silent Hill video game by Konami, quite possibly the scariest thing I have ever subjected myself to in my life.
The girl in the theater behind me got up and said, “I don’t get it.” Baffled boyfriend told her, “It was stupid.” Uhhhh… OF course, it might have helped a little if they came in the theater before the first 20 minutes of the movie had played.
See, I loved the ending. I loved how the kid looked at the audience and then the screen went blank. Almost makes you feel like you’re next…with just a pan to the tape, you’d lose that chill. Also, most people would not understand the whole copy deal. And it also would leave the possibility open that you just need to copy it, not copy and show it.
Overall, I loved the movie. I don’t know if I want a sequel made…it stands well on its own. I might see if I can find the Japanese sequel, but other than that, I’m content now.
Jman (who didn’t put ‘spoilers’ in his message, since the OP says this is a spoiler thread)
Yeah, I too didn’t find it that scary… and then huddled in my bed in horror that night. It’s pretty freaky, even though some parts could have been done better. Hey, does anybody know of any pics on the internet with the girl’s hair over her face? I looked for a while but couldn’t find any…
I got a Silent Hill vibe from the movie too. (Great game, BTW.) I’m not sure why, though. Both Samara and Cheryl are half demon (well, something horrible), but I can’t quantify any other similarities. Thoughts?
It’s probably going to be a movie that suffers from Blair Witch Disease - a movie gets hyped and marketed as a scary film, raising everyone’s expectations unreasonably. So people go to the movie and aren’t as scared as maybe they oughta be.
Knight, the television scene with Cheryl in the Silent Hill Historical Society was sorta reminiscent of the static on the tv in the movie. Sorta. A stretch? I can’t quite place what gave me the feeling, either, now that I think about it.
Well, it’s also sorta reminiscient of Poltergeist.
What is silent hill? Not to off topic this thread, but is it like the movie? Is it worthy buying for the PS2?