12 Foreign Films That Show Hollywood How A Genre Film Should Be Done
1. Ring
Country: Japan
Genre: Horror
Plot: A journalist watches a cursed videotape that kills every viewer 7 days after they watch it. She tries to lift the curse before it kills her, her son and her ex-husband.
Hideo Nakata's J-Horror film Ring is a genre masterpiece and arguably the best horror film of the last twenty years, largely thanks to its avoidance of jump scares and gore.
Ring is a seriously melancholy movie, especially within the ghost story, which adds real meaning and subtext to all the scares. Unlike many horror films it's actually symbolic of something - in this case modern fears about technology.
Ring is narratively strong, but the real genius of the film is its restraint. It's essentially endless heaps of spine-chilling atmosphere without many actual scares. It's also ridiculously creepy, meaning there's a never-ending sense of dread even though nothing is really happening. It builds the dread up slowly and patiently, before unleashing one of the most terrifying climaxes in horror history.
Ring is a true testament to the power of build-up and a reminder that suspense, emotion and genuine creepiness will always triumph over Hollywood's horror cash cows.
There were two sequels to this: Spiral was released at the same time and sucked, but Nakata's Ring 2 is perfectly OK. The later prequel is unexpectedly awesome.
Remake?
An American remake arrived in 2002 and it was awful. Hollow and scare-free, The Ring is one of the most inexplicably popular films of all time, but at least it's better than its sequels.