22 March 2019

Review: Ring Limited Edition Collection

Blu-ray: Ring Limited Edition Collection (Ringu – 1998, Ringu 2 – 1999, Ringu 0 – 2000, Rasen (AKA Spiral) – 1998)

The 1st ever UK Blu-ray release of Ring is a perfect 20th anniversary celebration of a classic J-Horror movie that made people do a double take at their televisions whenever the picture went a bit wonky, and also spurned a series of sequels and remakes. Nothing however compares to the original.

When a group of teenage friends are found dead with their faces contorted and stuck in a permanent look of complete fear, Reiko (Nanako Matsushima); a journalist and the aunt of one of the victims, digs deeper into what caused the deaths.

Reiko discovers an unsettling urban legend about a supposedly cursed VHS tape, that when viewed, causes anyone who watched it to die a week later…unless they can make someone else watch it and then the curse is passed on.

The urban legend slowly becomes more tangible as Reiko digs deeper into the story, and the imminent death which she at first dismissed, becomes ever more a reality as facts are uncovered and the days keep on passing by.

Helped by her ex-husband, and thrown into a panic when their son watches the tape, Reiko is in a race against time to save them all before the curse takes yet more lives.

To give any more away would be to spoil what is a twisting and slow burning narrative down a very dark and imaginative set of movies. The time taken to get to know the characters and their motivations pays off in a big way when the tension is turned up and the supernatural happenings come to the fore. These are no throwaway characters that are only there to build up a large body count for the antagonist. These movies concentrate on families and give the time to get to know them all, creating empathy for them, and ultimately more fear as the stakes are r

Surely everyone is now familiar with the sight of a young girl with long black hair crawling out of a television set? But do you know her full story? With this fantastic limited edition collection from Arrow Films, not only will the full story be available for you across multiple movies, but they are also accompanied by an incredible selection of special features.

The visuals and sound are as good as they’ve ever been…turn out the lights and turn up your speakers…then be prepared to be very scared indeed.

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

Brand new 4K restoration of Ring from the original camera negative, approved by director of photography Junichiro Hayashi
High definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations
Lossless Japanese DTS-HD master audio 5.1 and PCM 2.0 soundtracks
Optional English subtitles
Bonus feature: Spiral, George Iida’s 1998 sequel to Ring
New audio commentary on Ring by film historian David Kalat
New audio commentary on Ring 0 by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
The Ring Legacy, a series of new interviews from critics and filmmakers on their memories of the Ring series and its enduring legacy
A Vicious Circle, a new video interview with author and critic Kat Ellinger on the career of Hideo Nakata
Circumnavigating Ring, a new video essay by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on the evolution of the Ring series
Spooks, Sighs and Videotape, a new video essay by critic Jasper Sharp on the J-horror phenomenon
The Psychology of Fear, a newly edited archival interview with author Koji Suzuki
Archival behind-the-scenes featurette on Ring 0
Ring 0 deleted scenes
Sadako’s Video
Multiple theatrical trailers for the Ring series
Limited edition 60-page booklet containing new writing by Violet Lucca, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Jasper Sharp, Kieran Fisher and Kat Ellinger
Limited edition packaging featuring original and newly commissioned artwork