Although I RARELY prefer remakes and usually prefer Japanese movies over most Hollywood pictures, this original was only a slightly better than average horror-suspense movie. The problem was that although the basis for a good movie was indeed there, so often there were lulls in the picture and this was not as big an issue in the remake. However, the acting was pretty good and the story was rather original, so I applaud the movie because of these factors.

By the way, one important difference between the pictures is that in the Japanese version, the single mom often leaves her 6 year-old home alone for long, long periods of time. In the US, she would have been arrested on child neglect charges had she been caught!

Maybe the biggest and most popular Japanese horror film in recent years – certainly one of the few to garner world-wide attention and an immediate Hollywood remake – RING is a thoughtful, delicately-paced movie that suggests more than it shows. Like all such classic horror movies, the emphasis is on a creepy atmosphere and careful scenery building rather than violence or sudden loud crashes in the music. It's an atypical film, one which (like most of the 'new wave' of Asian horror films) requires a certain amount of patience to be able to sit through all the dialogue and scenes where nothing much in the way of action happens. But viewers are rewarded by plenty of splendidly creepy moments (as in the "leave your lights on afterwards" sense),which build to a genuinely suspenseful climax which even throws in a few twists to startle the viewer who believes he or she is ahead of the game.

RING is a low budget film, but the lack of money helps rather than hinders the project. For a start the film seems realistic, shot in real houses instead of sets, and with actors who turn in accomplished performances as normal, everyday people. The slow pacing makes this feel like a documentary and it's actually refreshing to see a film without needless car chases and fancy FX sequences (unsurprisingly, these popped up in the US remake). Nanako Matsushima is fine as the journalist mother, forever neglecting her son, and the scenes requiring her to show fear are fantastic. Hiroyuki Sanada, one of my favourite Japanese actors of all time, is equally excellent as Matsushima's ex-husband, who also watches the videotape and finds himself desperately investigating the past in order to save himself, his wife and his son in the present.

The videotape is always the centre piece of attention in the movie and the images we see on screen are deliberately thought-provoking, bizarre, abstract, almost dream-like shots which have the power to send a chill down the spine of the most stalwart watcher. The spooky bits get better as the film progresses: the interlude in the soggy well is a frightening set-piece although nothing happens, just the suspense of the situation is enough to make it work. The scenes involving the child apparition Sadako are superbly portrayed and should get a reaction out of the most hardened watcher. RING is a great movie that refuses to serve up a detailed plot line to the audience. Viewers are required to put thought and imagination into the film, in order to work out what is going on and to get the full effect. Those who do will surely agree that this is a successful, effective, quietly creeping horror classic that builds up the best sense of dread in any film I've seen.

Teenagers Masami and Tomoko talk about a videotape that kills you a week after viewing it. Tomoko dies with a horrified expression and Masami goes insane. TV reporter Reiko Asakawa is investigating the killer videotape and is shocked by her niece Tomoko's death. Tomoko and three friends had rented a cabin in Izu. Reiko goes to Izu and retrieves the videotape. She watches the tape herself setting off the cycle once again.

I watched the American version before the Japanese original. I think it actually helped me follow the story because the American movie essentially copied the Japanese movie. This one is not quite as polished as the American version. However it has the same moody atmosphere if not more. This is an effective ghostly horror no matter which version.