Harefooted Halloween: Sadako vs. Kayako

What I Liked: Good ol’ fashioned original design Sadako is finally back in action after a sixteen year hiatus and even then her appearance in Ringu 0 was brief.  With the most recent entries Sadako 3D was all stylized like you’re watching a live action anime and Sadako 2 3D is a Ring movie in name only with basically no Sadako.  So to see that sadistic ghost girl out there again doin’ her thang was kickass and really satisfying.

They expand the mythology to include repercussions for interfering with Sadako’s curse.  At one point two cursed individuals go to a shaman for help but Sadako doesn’t like that so during the exorcism she has these people kill themselves.  It’s a pretty intense scene that goes on for a while where shit gets weirder and crazier.

Everything is taken at face value here.  There isn’t disbelief that a cursed VHS tape and a haunted house exist, there aren’t really fake out moments that just extend the runtime, we don’t delve into the backstory or motives of Sadako and Kayako, it’s all very straightforward.

What I Didn’t Like: Why do each of these Ring films change the rules?  This one shortens the number of days left to live to only two, and I guess as long as you’re not staring right at the video you don’t get cursed?  What you see on the video is different too.  They got rid of the iconic well in the woods and replaced it with a large building that has an opened doorway and a walkway leading up to it.  What’s accomplished by changing the contents of the tape?

The filmmakers couldn’t figure out a way to naturally bring Sadako and Kayako together so they copped out and included a know-it-all-take-no-shit guru who helps guide our protagonists through the curses.  Out of the blue he has the idea to have the two entities face off in order to lift both curses from his clients (he’s getting paid to do this).  That’s very lame.

Spoiler on this last paragraph

The showdown between Sadako and Kayako goes how you would expect, they each land a couple of blows using their signature moves but the filmmakers had to be very diplomatic so as to not piss off fans of either franchise.  It’s the same exact mentality as Freddy vs. Jason.  I understand you can’t show one villain clearly overpowering the other but at the same time it’s gonna feel like a bit of a gyp if no winner is officially declared.

Overall Impressions: This is way more of a Ring movie than a Grudge movie which was great in my case.  I’ve seen (almost) all the Ring films but only Ju-on: The Grudge so I’m not as familiar with that series.  The cursed video angle is more intriguing to me than the haunted house concept so to get two thirds of a real decent Ring picture, which hasn’t happened in a long time, was awesome.

With such a silly premise it would’ve been tempting to go over the top in the production design and execution but it’s great that the filmmakers restrained themselves.  Interestingly they went serious on this and tried hard to go for creepy atmosphere/imagery and big scares.  I mean it could’ve been neat if they did an exaggerated take like Sadako 3D except even cartoonier but I’m glad they kept it in the styles and moods that were established in each of these franchises.

And you know what?  This film is surprisingly quite good.  The ending is actually the worst part because it’s dreadfully contrived.  I get that having these horror titans fight each other is supposed to be the whole idea but they couldn’t come up with a way to truly make it work.  And because all the other shit is mostly handled very well it made the brawl finale even stupider.

Look, if you’re a Ring fan check it out.  Those parts are fucking cool.  It could be the second best installment in the series strangely enough.  If you’re a Grudge fan, I don’t know.  It definitely plays second fiddle here so you might not be into that.  Either way this is something we all wanted to see, right?  RIGHT!?