Ring 0 [DVD] [2000]

It tells the tale of Sadako herself, the malignant spirit of the earlier two movies; giving her a human face and a personality and soul that we sympathise with despite the fact (or even due to the fact) that we have seen what is going to become of her later (in the original Ring). But, though it is a prequel there are quite a few surprises for anyone who thinks that their knowledge of the first two Ring movies is going to give away the storyline. The story here deals mostly with a part of Sadako's life that wasn't discussed in the other movies and this is more of a standalone story than Ring2 was ... although inevitably it converges to the same subject of the psychic Sadako and pervading evil. The story is great the acting is good (as far as I can tell from a subtitled movie) and the choice of actress for the role of Sadako is just spot on.

For those who haven't seen Ring: this is a great movie that is guaranteed to scare you simply with it's atmosphere without resorting to blood and gore as in most holywood horror. If you like horror, thrillers or suspense movies this is a must see... although I would recommend seeing Ring first.

For those who have seen Ring and liked it (I'm yet to meet anyone who had the guts to see it and didn't think it was a great movie): Get this movie too! It won't let down (infact I'd get this in preference to Ring2)... but if you're still in shock from the first movie be warned that this is almost as scary.

Set 30 years before Ringu, the films follows the mysterious girl from the video Sada as she moves into a new area and tries to fit in by joining a local drama group. however, due to her mother's famed other-worldly powers and dramatic death, fitting in isn't too easy, and many of the cast are very wary and almost resentful towards her. However, one of the male members sees through her mother's reputation and tries to encourage her to become more self-confident and tries to get the cast members to see her as he does. But when the leading star of their production mysteriously dies and Sada takes her place the cast only seem to hate her more.

Much like Ringu, the film is slow, and builds tension throughout the film through minimal use of sound and lighting, director Norio Tsuruta occasionally dropping in the freaky girl in the background which remains as chilling as it was to begin with. For my money, Ring 0 uses too much background sound, and the slow-brooding fear and tension so synonymous with the first one is ultimately diluted.

The aim of the film promised much, but to me it seemed that somewhere down the line Norio Tsuruta forgot what he was doing and ultimately the viewer is left with more questions than answers. Usually this is no bad thing, much like with the orignal, but one of the major questions is; Was that a horror film, or a really weird love film? The emphasis on the relationship between Sada and the rather overly sympathetic promised much, but it is delivered with very little conviction and seems to take up the majority of the film, the mysterious lake and well from the video sadly absent.

Overall, Ring 0 is a very good horror film, and lightyears ahead of most of the Hollywood horrors. But as a sequel to Ringu, the avid fan will feel somewhat cheated.