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Ring (1998) [DVD] [2000]
 
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Ring (1998) [DVD] [2000]

DVD ~ Nanako Matsushima
4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (141 customer reviews)
RRP: £15.99
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Frequently Bought Together

Ring (1998) [DVD] [2000] + Ju-On - The Grudge [DVD] [2003] + Dark Water [2003] [DVD]
Total RRP: £41.97
Price For All Three: £27.14

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Ring (1998) [DVD] [2000]
72% buy the item featured on this page:
Ring (1998) [DVD] [2000] 4.2 out of 5 stars (141)
£11.98
Ju-On - The Grudge [DVD] [2003]
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The Ring/Ring Two [DVD] [2002]
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The Ring/Ring Two [DVD] [2002] 3.5 out of 5 stars (6)
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Ring Trilogy (4 disc Collector's Edition) [DVD] [1996]
5% buy
Ring Trilogy (4 disc Collector's Edition) [DVD] [1996] 4.5 out of 5 stars (16)
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Product details

  • Actors: Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani, Hiroyuki Sanada, Yuko Takeuchi, Hitomi Sato
  • Directors: Hideo Nakata
  • Writers: Hiroshi Takahashi, Kôji Suzuki
  • Producers: Makoto Ishihara, Masato Hara, Shinya Kawai, Takashige Ichise, Takenori Sento
  • Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
  • Language Japanese
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: All Regions
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Palisades Tartan
  • DVD Release Date: 19 Mar 2001
  • Run Time: 91 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (141 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000058CB6
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 8,140 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

    Popular in this category:

    #2 in  DVD > Horror > Asian Horror

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
A major box office hit in the Far East, Hideo Nakada's Ring is a subtly creepy Japanese ghost story with an urban legend theme, based on a series of popular teen-appeal novels by Susuki Koji. Far less showy than even the restrained chills of The Blair Witch Project or The Sixth Sense, Ring has nevertheless become a mainstream blockbuster and has already been followed by Ring 2 and the prequel Ring 0. A Hollywood remake is in the works.

Investigating the inexplicable, near-simultaneous deaths of her young niece and three teenage friends, reporter Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima) learns of a story about a supernaturally cursed video-tape circulating among school kids. As soon as anyone has watched the tape, allegedly recorded by mistake from a dead TV channel, the telephone rings and the viewer has exactly a week to live. Those doomed are invisibly marked, but their images are distorted if photographed. Inevitably, Asakawa gets hold of the tape and watches it. The enigmatic collage of images include a coy woman combing her hair in a mirror, an old newspaper headline about a volcanic eruption, a hooded figure ranting, people crawling and a rural well. When the phone rings (a memorably exaggerated effect), Asakawa is convinced that the curse is active and calls in her scientist ex-husband Ryuji (Hiroyuki Sanada) to help. He watches a copy of the video a day after Asakawa is exposed and willingly submits himself to the curse. Even more urgency is added to their quest when their young son is unwittingly duped, apparently by the mystery woman from the tape, into watching the video too, joining the queue for a supernatural death.

On the DVD: For a film made in the digital era, the letterboxed (16:9) print is in mediocre state, with a noticeable amount of scratching, though the Dolby Digital soundtrack is superb, making this a film that's as scary to listen to as it is to watch (the squeamish might find themselves covering their ears rather than their eyes in some scenes). Otherwise, there are trailers for the first two Ring films and Audition, 10 stills, filmographies for the principals, a review by Mark Kermode, blurb-like extracts from other reviews and the ominous option of playing Sadako's video after a solemn disavowal of responsibility from the distributors! --Kim Newman

Video Description
DVD Special Features: UK Exclusive Trailer
Mark Kermode Film Review
Interactive Menus
Stills Gallery
Star and Director Filmographies
Ring 2 Trailer

Language: Japanese Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English
Video Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen


See all Reviews

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Customer Reviews

141 Reviews
5 star:
 (92)
4 star:
 (17)
3 star:
 (10)
2 star:
 (10)
1 star:
 (12)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (141 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Note to would-be horror directors: watch and learn, 24 Jul 2001
By A Customer
Ring is that rarest of breeds, a genuinely scary horror movie. The writer and director have understood that "shock" is not "horror" and that the scariest things are not the ones that jump out at you but the psychological terrors that build up in your mind.

The story is straightforward: a group of teenagers have died under strange circumstances, seemingly scared to death. A rumour is going around that the deaths have something to do with a cursed videotape: you watch it, then, a week later, you die.

A journalist finds the video and watches it. Determined to get to the root cause, and beginning to believe in the curse, she and her ex-husband find themselves in a race against time to solve the mystery.

For most of the film, you feel that Ring is creepy rather than scary, a well-acted, well-directed mystery story rather than a full-on horror movie. There are no expensive special effects, and the film prefers to hint at its horrors rather than put them on full view.

The finale, though, is something else. Simple, effective, and devastatingly scary; the director know to let the suspense build, and let your imagination do the hard work. It was still scaring me a week after watching it...

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest ghost story every told on film, 1 Jul 2002
This review is from: Ring (1998) [VHS] [2000] (VHS Tape)
No blood, sex or swearing, and only one act of violence (which lasts all of four seconds and is seen from a distance). Nakata's 'Ring' isn't a horror movie -- it's a stunning example of that trickiest of genres, the ghost movie. They don't often work, but the ones that do are unforgettable -- think of 'The Innocents' or the original version of 'The Haunting.' 'Ring' might not have the psychological depth of those classics, but its malevolent atmosphere bears comparison with them, and ultimately it's scarier than either.

Like all the best ghost story tellers, Nakata spends almost the whole time hinting that he's going to scare the pants off you -- any minute now. There are numerous passages of uncanny creepiness, tension and anxiety, yet only one sequence of all-out terror. But that's all he needs; by the time it comes you're so unsettled that the pay-off is truly devastating. Best of all, Nakata goes for the standard 'just-when-you-think it's over' ploy, but in this case it's crucial to the plot rather than arbitrarily tagged on.

I watched the movie several days ago and it's still bothering me. I'm just glad I didn't watch it alone. M R James would have loved 'Ring', and there's no higher praise than that.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Eerie and Atomspheric, 14 Mar 2007
By J. Roberts "Jinny" (Maryland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This is what you call a decent 'horror' film. It does not rely on endless gore and a high body count in order to 'scare'. Instead, it relies on suspense, striking visual imagery and an airtight script to have viewers on the edge of their seat.

If gore's your bag, skip this, because it has none. Rather, it follows the story of a young journalist who, after the death of a young woman who watched a suspect video tape, begins to investigate the tape's origins. What she discovers is both unnerving and creepy.

This film's strong point is it's visual imagery, most notably in the tape itself, which is both weird and unpleasant. The plot ticks over nicely, providing just enough suspense to keep the viewer's interest piqued. The script is also strong, and it is very telling that this is the highest grossing Japanese horror film ever. It has also found global success, adding a much-deserved boom to the Japanese horror film industry, along with the equally sinister 'Grudge' and 'Audition', plus many other far more violent flicks.

This film is superbly directed, and the acting is also of a very high calibre, convincing and strong. The plot itself is very original, if a little far-fetched, but then, this is the horror genre, so it shouldn't make perfect sense anyway!

Please don't confuse this with the vastly inferior American remake, which massacres the original script and deviates wildly from the plot. Subtle Japanese film-making should not be tampered with by money-grabbing Western film-makers who have absolutely no artistic integrity whatsoever.

To conclude, this is an imaginative, frequently gripping and well directed horror, with an intelligent, thoughtful streak running right through it. It is well worth a few hours of your time!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars classic horror film
first one of its gernre, chill you right up to your bone. you need some background of japanese culture to completely understand this film. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Yi Kang

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't believe the hype
I really am surprised at myself for not liking this version of the film... In fact, to be fair I did 'like' it, but that's about it... Read more
Published 5 months ago by PrivateRyan

4.0 out of 5 stars An all time classic.
Ring is a classic horror film that has influenced many horror films, east and west, since. It also stars Hiroyuki Sanada, an excellent actor who you can see in Last Samurai and... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. J. Fraser

5.0 out of 5 stars Materpiece (Did this happen to anyone else?)
I first watched the ring, not really knowing what it was. I just recognized the Japanese language and thought 'Hey a Japanese mystery or something.'. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Sir Squidshaker

5.0 out of 5 stars watch it, WATCH IT
For any true fan of the genre this should be in their collection ahead of the remakes, why? Its the best, that is why. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Peter J. Hodgson

5.0 out of 5 stars It is spine-tingling, it really is!
I 1st saw this film when it was finally released in the UK for rental. I had never seen a Japanese ghost movie before. Read more
Published 15 months ago by A. Joseph

4.0 out of 5 stars An iconic, inventive and at the time, highly original mystery/suspense thriller.
The thing I like best about Japanese horror is the sense of atmosphere. The use of lingering, slow burning tension, when a character approaches a closed door that we know they... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Jonathan James Romley

3.0 out of 5 stars a good film but maybe a little overrated
in 1998 hideo nakata directed this film based on a book,which deals with urban legends,this case being ,that a videotape exists that if you watch means that you die a week... Read more
Published 20 months ago by sean paul mccann

5.0 out of 5 stars Ring
Being highly favourited as "One of the best Horrors of all time" and incredibly loved worldwide, there's no surprise that it's also one of my favourites as it's terrifying, full... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Dave Kraven

1.0 out of 5 stars A big disappointment
Having looked forward to seeing this film for some time now and being unmoved by the US version, I was utterly bored when I finally came to watch it. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mr. MM KELLY

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