Ring (1998)
Here's a confession that probably undermines any claim I have to serious horror credibility: I watched Gore Verbinski's American remake of The Ring years before I ever sat down with Hideo Nakata's original. The remake absolutely terrified me at the time, burrowed deep into my brain and refused to leave. So when I finally came to the 1998 Japanese version that started it all, I was braced. Blanket ready. Lights on. The works.
What I actually got was something considerably calmer than I was prepared for, and I mean that in the most genuinely interesting way possible. Because Ring isn't really a horror film in the way most people probably expect it to be. It's much closer to a meticulous, slow-burn psychological crime thriller, a procedural about grief and obsession and the dark, tragic origins of a curse. The characters here aren't running from something in a darkened corridor. They're investigating. Researching. Playing journalist and sleuth, picking apart the mystery of that infamous cursed tape frame by frame.
For the vast majority of the runtime, that investigation is the film. And honestly, it works. There's a genuinely compelling quality to the way the story unfolds, a creeping, unsettling atmosphere that keeps you leaning forward even when the film isn't doing anything conventionally scary. Nakata has a real patience to his direction, a confidence in letting scenes breathe and letting dread accumulate slowly rather than going for cheap jolts. The problem, for me at least, is that the actual horror elements don't truly kick in until the very late stages. By the time the film really commits to frightening you, it's nearly over.
The performances, though, are genuinely excellent. Hiroyuki Sanada is an absolute standout, as he so often is wherever he appears. He brings a grounded, emotional gravity to proceedings that perfectly anchors all the supernatural weirdness around him. You believe in his character's fear and his investment in the mystery, and that matters enormously in a film like this, where so much depends on the audience buying into the investigation.
I should also say something about the sheer importance of this picture, because you simply cannot ignore it. Ring effectively kicked off the entire J-horror wave that swept through the early 2000s and influenced genre filmmaking across the globe. Its DNA is woven through so many films that followed. The pale figure with the dark hair. The found footage with a supernatural charge. The dread built from implication rather than spectacle. You can trace a direct line from this film to a huge chunk of the horror output of the following decade. That's a monumental legacy for any film to carry.
But here's where I have to be honest, and I suspect some horror purists will want to come for me over this. Watching it now, through a modern lens, it hasn't aged as gracefully as its reputation might suggest. Some of what felt groundbreaking in 1998 has become so thoroughly absorbed into the genre's vocabulary that it no longer carries the same punch. That's not really the film's fault, but it does affect the experience of coming to it late, as I did.
Three stars.
Ring is a thoroughly decent, deeply influential piece of work, and I'm genuinely glad I finally watched it. It just didn't frighten me the way I expected, and I think that's worth saying plainly. If you go in expecting a relentless scare-fest, you might feel as surprised as I did. Go in expecting a slow, atmospheric mystery with a horror finale bolted on, and you'll find something well worth your time. It's important cinema, full stop. It's just not quite the nightmare-inducing classic I'd built it up to be in my head.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 1998 | Watched: 2026-07-06
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Arrow Video Amazon Channel · Shudder Amazon Channel · ARROW
Rent: Apple TV Store · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Apple TV Store · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies · Sky Store
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Philo · AMC+ Amazon Channel · Criterion Channel · Shudder Amazon Channel
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Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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