20 Awesome J-Horror Movies Every Horror Fan Should See
10. Ring 0: Birthday
Plot: The tragic origin story of Sadako, which covers the time shortly before her death.
Is this the best horror prequel ever made? Well, it's certainly one of the best and it's easily the most underrated of them all.
Yes, a prequel with Sadako as the protagonist sounded like an awful idea at first, but Ring 0 is, against the odds, great. It tells a deeply moving dramatic story that's absolutely loaded with pathos, but what takes this to the next level is that it packs in all the usual terror and reaffirms Sadako as one of cinema's scariest ghosts while still making her a tragic, sympathetic character.
Obviously, it's not as good as the original and it does feel a little too derivative of Carrie at times, but otherwise Ring 0 is a wonderful ghost story that's as terrifying as it is sad. Unsurprisingly, the franchise has never reached these heights again.
The subsequent films - Sadako 3D, Sadako 3D 2, Sadako Vs. Kayako and Sadako (2019), for which the original's director Hideo Nakata returned - are passable enough (except for the dire Sadako 3D) but they're for die-hard fans only.