Ringu
Sam Ashurst Selects
•
1h 35m
1998 • Japan • Directed by Hideo Nakata
In 1998, director Hideo Nakata (Dark Water) unleashed a chilling tale of technological terror on unsuspecting audiences, which redefined the horror genre, launched the J-horror boom in the West and introduced a generation of moviegoers to a creepy, dark-haired girl called Sadako. The film’s success spawned a slew of remakes, reimaginations and imitators, but none could quite boast the power of Nakata’s original masterpiece, which melded traditional Japanese folklore with contemporary anxieties about the spread of technology.
A group of teenage friends are found dead, their bodies grotesquely contorted, their faces twisted in terror. Reiko (Nanako Matsushima, When Marnie Was There), a journalist and the aunt of one of the victims, sets out to investigate the shocking phenomenon, and in the process uncovers a creepy urban legend about a supposedly cursed videotape, the contents of which causes anyone who views it to die within a week – unless they can persuade someone else to watch it, and, in so doing, pass on the curse…
Arrow is proud to present Ringu, the film that started it all, restored from the original negative in glorious 4K and supplemented by a wealth of bonus materials.
Up Next in Sam Ashurst Selects
-
Switchblade Sisters
1977 · United States · Directed by Jack Hill
THE WILDEST GIRL GANG THAT EVER BLASTED THE STREETS!
From Jack Hill, legendary director of Spider Baby, Coffy, Foxy Brown, and The Swinging Cheerleaders comes another iconic cult classic, Switchblade Sisters!
Lace (Robbie Lee), the leader of inner c...
-
Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter
1970 • Japan • Directed by Yasuharu Hasebe
The Stray Cat Rock series stars Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood, Blind Woman’s Curse) who with these five films began her reign as the badass action queen of the era. In these five tales of rebellious youth she stars alongside the gorgeous Bunjaku Han (Love ...
-
Blind Beast
1969 • Japan • Directed by Yasuzô Masumura
Blind Beast is a grotesque portrait of the bizarre relationship between a blind sculptor and his captive muse, adapted from a short story from Japan’s foremost master of the macabre, Edogawa Rampo (Horrors of Malformed Men, The Black Lizard, Caterpilla...
