13 Best Horror Movies On Shudder Right Now
4. Ring (1998)
In the current pandemic lockdown, throwing a slumber party might have to be done remotely via some sort of conference call app. However, if you’ve got enough know-how (and friends who want to get creeped out) to throw one, Ring is the movie to watch.
Whether you’ve seen the American remake The Ring (2002) or not, Ring is essential viewing. Even if only for that TV-crawling scene. It’s slower paced than the American remake, and its scares are more subtle. There is an underlying creeping dread that pervades the movie, almost like TV static, as you await for something terrifying to appear on screen.
Without going into which version is ‘better’, Ring’s Japanese-ness is a huge part of what makes it so good. Sadako, the movie’s supernatural antagonist, is a prototypical yūrei (Japanese spirit), her appearance having influenced countless imitators since, to the point of parody. That in Japanese culture, the seriousness of which folklore and spirits are still treated resonates throughout Ring. And there’s something less obnoxious about Japanese high schoolers in cinema than their American counterparts...
Just keep your ringtone on silent.