Monster of the Day #784

Updated on October 9, 2013 By Ken Begg 37 Comments

Monsters very seldom enter the cultural lexicon anymore; this might be the primary example of successfully doing so this century. And the American remake is a rare example of turning out a very good, discrete version of an Asian film.

Aside from the fact that monsters just don’t grab mass audiences the way they used to, I think one reason this has caught on so well is the simplicity of the design. By nature, ‘iconic’ usually means basic. I think CGI has allowed people to create overly complicated beasties, which ultimately don’t grab the imagination the same way. The early Toho monsters are the most beloved, and hell, even the early stage original Pokemon, I think, sank into kids’ minds and hearts more than the latter, more complicated ones.

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  • Flangepart

    Yeah. Over-wrought detail is okay for some people, but give a kid too much detail they get confused. Keep it as simple as most kid friendly artist, and you can keep their attention.

  • Gamera977

    To add to the idea of over-complicating horror may I point out the awful sequels to this movie? It worked with having a supernatural curse- the later ones that made up some balderdash ‘scientific’ explanation strained my credibility to the breaking point.

    So the Hollywood adaption was good? I’ve avoided most take-offs of foreign films.

  • Ken_Begg

    I don’t know, G, those Star Wars movies got a lot better after they introduced the idea of midi-chlorians.

  • bgbear_rnh

    you so funny

  • Gamera977

    Lol, that’s one of the first examples I thought of Ken. After we found our the ‘real’ origin of ‘The Force’ I started to wonder about midi-chlorian ‘doping’. Why not kidnap some Jedi, extract some of their midi-chlorians, clone massive amounts of them in a lab, and then inject as many into your followers as their bodies will tolerate- creating your own army of super-jedi…

  • zombiewhacker

    Another gold star! I’m definitely going to raise your question in the Red Letter Media forums.

  • zombiewhacker

    The American remake is good, but they ruined the ghost in the machine ending by making it all CGI.
    The same sequence in Ringu was simpler and scarier.

  • Greenhornet

    One of my additions to the “Horror Movie Survival Guide” fits this Monster Of The Day:

    “When the Creepy Girl is half-way out of your television, TURN IT OFF.
    If that can’t be done, wail on her with a baseball bat before she can get out.”

  • Greenhornet

    I just remembered; there was a “Ring” game! It was reviewed on “The Spoony Experiment” and has what is perhaps the GREATEST moment in horror history: when the heroine gets THE phone call, her co-worker answers the phone and PUTS THEM ON HOLD!
    That would be awesome to have in a horror movie.

  • Flangepart

    Hah!
    Sounds like that belongs in an RPG.

    “You get the evil spell over the phone, what do you do?”

    “I put them on hold, sending the eldrich horrors into a tail chasing spiral that puts them in eternal limbo!”

    “…You read the rule book for this one, didn’t ya?…”

  • Rock Baker

    Well, there was that Gremlin that got put on hold…. “They come in electric too?”

  • The Rev.

    To be fair, that was only with the first sequel, Rasen, which I want to say started life as a non-Ringu story (and also had a different director than the original). The other sequels go back to the supernatural explanation, and at least one of them had the original director (I think Ringu 2).

    After seeing both versions, I was actually glad I saw the remake first. It played with the mystery aspect of what was going on for a lot longer (and I’d purposely avoided everything I could so I would be surprised); the original had an earlier reveal and then spent more time on trying to stop it. The practical effect for the TV scene is much creepier than the CG version, but I actually prefer the appearance of the victims in the remake by a bit, not the least because of the hints to the mystery they provide in retrospect, and also the questions I found myself pondering as a result.

    I thought both versions are quite good, is what I’m saying. How often can you say that about a movie and its remake? Not too often, I’m sure we can agree.

  • The Rev.

    Looks to be spooky Asian ghost week. Curious as to what else will come up.

    Well, I have a good guess as to one, assuming it wasn’t previously used…

  • zombiewhacker

    Original: creepier ghost, scarier climax
    Remake: better victim makeup, better mystery, Brian Cox

  • zombiewhacker

    If so, does this mean we’ll be seeing Kwaidan soon?

  • This is the rare story where I’ve liked all the adaptations I’ve so far experienced (the Japanese original, the American version, and the novel, for the curious.) The only other story I can think of that I can say that of is Who Goes There/The Thing

  • Gamera977

    Ah, guess I was thinking mostly of Rasen which I really hated, Ringu 2 I don’t remember that clearly except that it was better than Rasen. Ringu 0 I thought was decent though not anywhere near the original.

    Thanks everyone for the lowdown on the Hollywood version- I’ll have to get my hands on it some day just to check out the differences.

  • Gamera977

    Hmmm, add it to the list of monsters that could be defeated by caller ID ;)

  • Gamera977

    It’s sad when everyone on this forum puts more thought into stuff like this than Lucas ever did.

  • SteveWD

    I remember watching ‘The Ring’ for the first time and the quick glimpse of the victim girl in the closet really got me (that’s really saying something). I think Rick Baker worked on the makeup.

  • SteveWD

    I love Kwaidan, but I don’t think I have ever watched it all in one sitting.

  • SteveWD

    If Ringu/The Ring were made/remade today would it still be a haunted video tape? There’s just something not scary about a haunted dvd or streaming video but just think if Samara went viral.

  • The Rev.

    The first story is all right, the 2nd is easily the best (godDAMN was the Snow Woman creepy), the 3rd is also quite good, and the fourth is…well, it is what it is. Probably would’ve been a neat story had they actually finished it. I know what the reasoning was, but that doesn’t make it better.

  • SteveWD

    ‘Woman of the Snow’ is definitely the best. The first time I saw it I remember thinking “wow, Tales From the Darkside: The Movie” really ripped this off.

  • Sandy Petersen

    The hollywood adaptation was “ok”. Better special effects, but they slightly overdid the glitz factor and thus (IMO) weakened the horror. It was little stuff, like finding the well because a TV fell through the floor, instead of just looking under the building. The Korean version was better than the American version.

  • Rock Baker

    The closest I saw to this was SCARY MOVIE 3…. It still wasn’t very good but it was a gigantic leap above the first two films. Seems like the basic premise borrowed heavily from THE CHANGELING (the George C. Scott movie, not the Star Trek episode).

  • SteveWD

    THE CHANGELING – one of my favorite horror movies. Ringu/Ring owes a lot to THE CHANGELING. I first saw it when I was about 11 or 12. The wheelchair ‘chase’ and the necklace coming out of the ground (simple reverse shot, but man is it effective). That stuff sticks with you.

  • MrTongoRad

    I saw that one in the theaters on its original run, so it’s long been a fave of mine. The scene that stayed with me that first time was the wet ball bouncing down the steps- such a well done moment, with only the mysterious sound at first until you get to the reveal. But that movie does have so many other great ones.

  • The Rev.

    That is a pretty well-known story that I’ve seen a couple of times in movies,and TFtD:TM is indeed one of those. I wouldn’t be surprised if the story that was the basis for “Woman of the Snow” was the original.

  • The Rev.

    I really need to see that at some point.

  • FEnM

    “I just remembered; there was a ‘Ring’ game! It was reviewed on ‘The Spoony Experiment'”

    “Let’s see how long it takes for them to fuck it up…”

    [SPLORT!]
    “[laughing] One second! How do you fuck up a *title screen*?”
    “Are you okay lady?”

  • Marsden

    I don’t want condemnation of Jabootu or his disciples, but I thought Midi-chlorians were just a side effect of the Force, like it’s a blood test to see how strong you are, but not the source of them and Force sensitive people develop them from using the Force, not the other way around. However, I agree that; when I first saw that I disliked it and we have all certainly put more thought into it than Lucas did.

  • Marsden

    I hate to open myself to more ridicule, but although I recognized the Ringu girl, I thought that screen shot was her coming through a doggie door.

  • Gamera977

    Actually I like your idea better than the idea that they’re responsible for ‘the Force’. If I ever run a SW RPG I may borrow it if you’re ok with it.

  • Gamera977

    You know that would make a pretty awesome movie too!

  • FEnM

    Rasen was based more faithfully on the novels. Ringu was made by one director, based on a… loose version of the novels, and Rasen was done about another director, and was based more closely off the original material. Rasen did poorly, so they had the director of Ringu make another sequel that followed the first movie more closely, which is Ringu 2.

  • Gamera977

    Interesting, I had no idea. I’ll have to hunt up the novels some day. Thanks!