- Film Review
- Reviewed By Adam Smith
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3 out of 5
The words "Hollywood remake" may fill film fans with dread - foreign language movies ruined by a refit for the multiplex crowd - but this version of Hideo Nakata's Japanese horror classic from Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski is a surprisingly good effort that retains much of the unnerving, creepy atmosphere of the original. An unlabelled videotape is in circulation, bringing death after seven days to anyone who watches it. One of its victims is the niece of journalist Naomi Watts, who decides to uncover the source of the tape and find out whether this "curse" is real, a quest that's given added urgency after Watts chooses to view the video herself. Verbinski makes a couple of inventive additions - a horse going berserk on a car ferry is a brilliantly surreal innovation - and although the spine-chilling terror of the superior 1997 original is muted by the overuse of CGI, this is still a worthy substitute if you're not in the mood for subtitles.
Plot Summary
Hollywood remake of Japanese horror thriller Ringu, starring Naomi Watts. Investigating the mysterious death of a 16-year-old girl, reporter Rachel Keller discovers the existence of a haunted videotape - anyone who watches it will die within seven days. Is it an urban myth or will Keller suffer a gruesome fate?
Cast and crew
Cast
- Rachel Keller
- Naomi Watts
- Noah
- Martin Henderson
- Aidan
- David Dorfman
- Richard Morgan
- Brian Cox
- Dr Grasnik
- Jane Alexander
- Ruth
- Lindsay Frost
- Katie
- Amber Tamblyn
- Becca
- Rachael Bella
Crew
- Director
- Gore Verbinski
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