Are you old enough to remember VHS or even Beta cassettes in your house? I only ask since it’s been almost 25 years since the arrival of a DVD player in my living room. And the DVR has been recording your TV shows for at least 15 years. When was the last time you had to worry if there was enough tape on the cassette to record an episode of The Sopranos? During the ’80s and ’90s, the VCR and the video cassette revolutionized how we watched not merely movies or TV shows, but our home movies. My family was all about recording stuff. There was a massive pile of video cassettes around the TV set. We were also pretty bad at writing what was being recorded on the handy stickers provided with the blank cassettes. Who knew what was on the tapes? They could be an episode of Gunsmoke, a sporting event, OJ Simpson’s White Ford Bronco chase, a relative’s wedding or a Cinemax After Dark presentation. It could still be blank. You put the mystery tape in the VCR and pressed play. Could be good. Could be regretful. This unmarked tape fun became the basis of one of the biggest horror hits in Japanese cinema. Ringu became part of the J-horror wave upon release in 1998. When Hollywood was looking for the next big thing in horror, they remade the film as The Ring only a few years later. They had to act fast while people still rented VHS tapes from Blockbuster.
The Ring (2002 – 115 minutes) has two girls talk about the latest urban legend of a mysterious tape after watching, you get a phone call saying you’ll be dead in seven days. At first it seems like they’re recounting something they read about in an AOL chatroom. But it turns out Katie (The Grudge 2‘s Amber Tamblyn) had seen the tape a week ago. She had gotten the call. And in a matter of minutes, she will encounter something that leaves her scared to death. During the funeral, Katie’s mom asks her sister Rachel (King Kong‘s Naomi Watts) to investigate the death since other friends of Katie had died that night. She tracks down a lodge in the wet woods near Seattle that they stayed at the week before. Among a pile of used tapes in the lodge’s lobby, Rachel finds a mysterious unmarked video cassette on the shelf. She goes back to a room and watches the tape. It’s a strange black and white artsy tape that features the image of a ring of light among other shots including a woman and horses. After the tape is done, she gets the seven days phone call. The death clock is ticking. She pockets the tape when she leaves the lodge. Things begin to get weird as she returns home to her son Aidan (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre‘s David Dorfman). She gets her ex-lover and son’s father Noah (Grey’s Anatomy‘s Martin Henderson) to help her breakdown the videotape before the week is up. They get a bit of a breakthrough when they identify a woman in the film as Anna Morgan, who had a horse farm on an island. She’s dead, but her husband (Succession‘s Brian Cox) is still around and might be the key to the mystery of what’s happening in the tape and how Rachel might survive the week.
The Ring translated into a massive box office smash. Audiences were still in a VHS mood and were frightened by the little dead girl Samara (Donnie Darko‘s Daveigh Chase) that was at the core of the mystery and the nightmare. Naturally they had to make a sequel. In a weird twist, the producers brought over Hideo Nakata, the director of Ringu. Instead of having him remake his sequel, he made a whole new film with different scares.
The Ring Two (2005 – 110 minutes) opens up six months after the original and you do need to see the short film “Rings” (which is in the bonus features). Turns out teenagers have decided to turn the evil video cassette into a new version of Tag. The kids have discovered how they can escape the murderous approach of Samara at that last minute. Although in the opening scene, we see how this can backfire. Rachel (Watts) has moved to Oregon to work at a small newspaper. She gets pulled back into the world of the tape when a teenager dies in a way that she recognizes from her time in Seattle. Making things worse is Aidan is having strange health issues. She fears that Samara is taking control of her son. The local authorities think that Rachel is abusing her kid and want to take him away. This will be another all-out battle for Rachel to defeat the girl in the well before her life is torn apart.
The movie once more did well at the box office although not quite has huge as The Ring. We get quite a few new characters including the woman that was Samara’s biological mother played by Sissy Spacek (Carrie). Along with the PG-13 theatrical cut, there’s also an unrated version that nearly 7 minutes longer. This includes the disturbing toilet scene. I recommend watching the Uncut version first to get the full effect. It would be over a decade before the third installment when the VCR had become a retro fad as we were deep in the digital video age.
Rings (2017 – 102 minutes) opens up on a bumpy passenger jet making its descent. A guy passenger tells the person next to him that he’s not scared of the turbulence. He explains how he saw the videotape and it is day seven. He’s about to beat the clock. As Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” Things start going bad as the cockpit flight panels begin to flash images of the well. Turns out Samara has frequent flier points. Later at a flea market, Professor Gaberial Brown (The Big Bang Theory‘s Johnny Galecki) buys the VCR formerly owned by the “lucky” guy from the plane. Turns out there’s a tape stuck inside. Guess what’s on it? After he watches the film, his cellphone rings and he’s given the “seven days” message by a mysterious woman’s voice. He knows something is messed up when a fly comes out of the end of his cigarette. He needs to figure out what’s happening before he becomes a major victim of “Publish or Perish.” Can he figure out how to put an end to Samara’s reign of video terror. Even more disturbing is discovering that the tape has been transferred to digital and being shared online.
The Ring Collection is a trilogy that works as an adaptation. Special Effects Legend Rick Baker’s version of Samara is creepier than the Japanese version. You’ll not want to see her climbing out of your TV screen. The first film reflects Ringu‘s plot, but the two sequels go their own way. If you’ve seen the Ringu films, you’re not going to feel like you’re watching remakes of either sequel. Samara is allowed to crawl where she wants. You might get scared after seeing the tape now that it’s been upgraded to 4K UHD resolution. The Ring Collection will shock you back to the time when unlabeled VHS could be frightening.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic for all three films. The 4K UHD transfer bring out the details even if the original spooky tape is standard definition a box TV. Things look great when Samara climbs out of the TV sets. The Audio for the 4K UHD discs has 5.1 DTS-HD MA and 2.0 DTS-HD MA for the first two movies. Rings has 7.1 DTS-HD MA and 2.0 DTS-HD MA choices. This is also true for the audio on the Blu-ray discs. With the surround speakers cranked, everything sounds clear and creepy when the kids have seven days. All three movies feature English subtitles.
Three Blu-ray Discs contain the movies and all the bonus features.
The Ring
Ghost Girl Gone Global (92:29) delves into the arrival of J-horror and its journey to Hollywood. There is talk of the book’s success in Japan and how novelist Koji Suzuki chose Hiroshi Takahashi[to write the screenplay and Hideo Nakata to direct. Both men discuss how they altered the book to make it work cinematically as Ringu. The video tape had a warning on the screen that you were going to die in 7 days. But it seemed clumsy for a film. Nakata talks about making the sequel from his own ideas. Ringu 2 was a bigger hit than the original. We get to how Gore Verbinski ended up making the American adaptation. Members of Rick Baker’s effects crew discusses what they made to scare even people who saw the original Japanese film. There was a lot of makeup for Samara look waterlogged and wrinkled.
Don’t Watch This (15:26) is deleted footage mixed with elements from the cursed videotape. There’s a great reveal in a closet that was snipped. They also cut out kids watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force. We get more footage of Blockbuster.
“Rings” – Short Film (16:42) was made in 2005 as a bonus feature for a special edition DVD. We get to meet Jake Pierce before The Ring Two. He’s part of a group of kids who watch the tape and videotape their experiences before they get someone else to watch the film. It’s an online version of chicken and bug chasing. You should watch this between the two films.
The Origin of Terror (3:58) is about urban legends that goes from the hook hand on lovers’ lane and gators in the New York City sewers. There’s talk of message boards and chat groups on the internet. It’s a promo for the theatrical release of The Ring.
Cast and Filmmaker Interviews (7:58) has Naomi Watts, Gore Verbinski, Walter Parkes, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman and Brian Cox talk about making the film. Verbinski talks about why he cast Watts.
Theatrical Trailer (2:10) has use warned about the videotape.
The Ring Two
Audio Commentary with Film Critics Emily Higgin and Billy Dunham is only on the Rated version. They get into how the film differs in tone from the first one including the worst first date as the guy wants her to watch the tape. They also discuss how this isn’t Ringu 2. They’re fans of the film.
“Rings” – Short Film (16:42) is the same as on The Ring. In case you forgot to watch it after the first film, you can see it before the second.
Deleted Scenes (18:37) has characters shopping for a sofa and the nosy neighbor visiting. There’s also a newspaper story about the tape being squashed by an unlikely character. There’s timecode on the screen.
Fear on Film: Special Effects (5:45) gets into the movie magic used for the Well, deer and bathroom sequences. The deer weren’t real. Director Hideo Nakata talks about what he was trying to bring to the screen.
Faces of Fear: The Phenomenon (6:12) has Naomi Watts, David Dorfman, Walter Parkes, Simon Baker, Rick Baker and Hideo Nakata. Baker discusses how do you make someone look frightened to death. Dorfman swears the last great horror film was Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Who was letting this kid watch a videotape of The Shining?
Samara: From Eye to Icon (5:48) has everyone talking about what’s underneath the child’s hair. Hideo Nakata mentions he made the Japanese version. Baker talks about what he did to make Samara look like she lived at the bottom of a well. There’s also talk of how they came up with her movement such as her climb up the well.
The Power of Symbols (5:20) has them discuss icons for the videotape that would touch an American audience. The symbols in the Japanese version are different. They break down a few elements including the burning tree.
The Making of The Ring Two (13:02) gets into what happens when more kids see the videotape. There’s a focus on Hideo Nakata coming to America to direct horror. Naomi Watts enjoyed seeing the first two Japanese Ringu films so she was excited to work with him on the American sequel.
Theatrical Trailer (1:30) has a creepy visit to a cell with a TV set in the corner. We’re promised “Fear Comes Full Circle” before a shock montage.
Rings
Deleted/Extended Scenes (18:35) has Rick Baker’s cameo.
Terror Comes Full Circle (12:37) has the cast reflect on how The Ring hit them when they saw it 15 years before they made Rings. There’s talk how this new film updates the technology since Samara is no longer the nightmare of tape traders as she’s been digitized and can be streamed online.
Resurrecting The Dead: Bringing Samara Back (9:19) has Arjen Tuiten discuss taking over the makeup effect designer gig from the legendary Rick Baker. We see what Bonnie Morgan went through to play Samara. The contortionist enjoys getting to play Samara again after The Ring Two. She did the crab walk up the well in the previous film. She demonstrates her bending ability.
Scary Scenes (6:35) has the cast talk about being scared at horror films. Alex Roe swear he is scared by Vincent D’Onofrio’s scenes.
Scream Factory presents The Ring Collection. Directed by Gore Verbinski, Hideo Nakata, F. Javier Gutiérrez. Starring Naomi Watts, David Dorfman, Martin Henderson, Daveigh Chase, Brian Cox, Amber Tamblyn, Sara Rue, Simon Baker, Kelly Stables, Sissy Spacek, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Elizabeth Perkins, Gary Cole, Ryan Merriman, Emily VanCamp, Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Vincent D’Onofrio, Aimee Teegarden & Bonnie Morgan. Boxset Contents 3 movies on 3 4K UHD discs and 3 Blu-ray discs. Rating: Rated PG-13. Release Date: March 19, 2024.
