Leofwine_draca This prequel to RING tells the story of the unfortunate Sadako and her eventual demise, events that led up to the mysterious videotape curse that we know so well from the Japanese films and their American counterparts (the importance of the videotape is never explained, though, which is slightly disappointing). It tells a story that's entirely different from the formula we know so well from RING and RING 2, which is great because I think the format was starting to get a little stale during the second movie.RING 0: BIRTHDAY is a slow build drama with plenty of suspense and foreboding to retain the viewer's interest. Sadako, as played by Yukie Nakama, is a sympathetic character often at the mercy of her fellow students. There's an element of CARRIE in the narrative, with Sadako depicted as 'other', forever at the mercy of the in-crowd and classed as an outsider by pretty much everybody else. Nakama does a really good job of getting the viewers on-side.Strange, inexplicable events start occurring as the story goes on, until a dramatic set-piece that really pays off the tension that's come before. Then there's a final, all-out-horror half an hour which takes place in a woods and is more of a full-blooded body-count type affair. Although Hideo Nakata didn't return as director, he isn't missed with Norio Tsuruta ably handed the reins. If anything this is even more subtle and sedate than the previous two films in the series, but that seemingly laidback style hides an eerie, unsettling atmosphere. The scare sequences are well-handled and effective, and overall I felt this was a fine way to tie up the original trilogy.

gothic_a666 Prequels walk a very thin line. On one hand a prequel has to expand the already established universe with enough information to justify its existence on the other it must conform to canon events without much deviation lest it become a spin-off instead. Ring Zero manages to accomplish both of these goals: it adds a new point of view by placing the focus firmly on the psychological around which the plot as we know it is constructed.The result is a movie that is not particularly scary but very interesting and even moving. Sadako is at the center of the story. No longer a shifty figure barely glimpsed in distorted scenes she is now a real person and an agreeable one at that. The staples of the franchise are of course present (the well, the sea, blurred television shots, garbled sounds) but they are used soberly and sparingly. Sadako's ordeal is of course a given but it is rescued from being a mere horror convention by the addition of the human element.More than a horror movie Ring Zero is a tragedy. It proposes an explanation as to what Sadako but what is memorable about it is that it elicits sympathy from the viewer. The psychological slant is linear enough (unlike most of Asian horror that follows such an approach) but it is solid and fleshes out the character convincingly. Unlike most movies in the genre here we do not have the typical creepy villain but a well rounded character all around. In the end the real horror is not so much the supernatural that is of course not absent but societal pressure and lack of empathy. And that makes Ring Zero worth watching indeed.

ferbs54 The original "Ringu" (1998) is a truly creepy, modern-day Japanese horror classic; its sequel, "Ringu 2" (1999), is a sometimes confusing anticlimax of sorts, but still quite fun, nevertheless. And in "Ringu 0" (2000), the prequel to the original, we get to see the face of Sadako Yamamura, heretofore mostly hidden behind long, stringy hair, and, as played by actress Yukie Nakama, it is quite a lovely face indeed. We also get to discover some of Sadako's back story, and learn what she was up to 30 years before she began slaying via videotape. We see her as a woman of around 20, an aspiring actress in a dramatic troupe, and all seems to go well with her, until her otherworldly powers begin to manifest themselves, and her fellow thespians start to drop faster than victims of tsutsugamushi disease. Compared to Carrie White in the 1976 film "Carrie," Sadako is far nastier, and just like in that earlier film, all heck breaks loose following an instigated public freakout. "Ringu 0" is a fairly slow-moving film, and a surprise revelation concerning Sadako that comes halfway through is very hard to swallow. But since it effectively doubles the Sadako quotient, why quibble? Sadako is certainly a fascinating character, and the film's final 1/2 hour does repay the slow buildup. Coming full circle (closing the ring?), the film culminates with the terrible act of attempted murder that we partially witnessed in the original "Ringu," and fans of the series will perhaps understand me when I say that, um, all's well that ends well!

Jessica Carvalho Sadako is a shy girl who becomes a student of a drama club. The director likes her and think she is very talented girl, but other actors and actresses are jealous of her and find her strange, Toyama being the only exception. The lead actress of the play of the drama club suddenly dies, and the director chooses Sadako to be in her place. Many mysterious deaths starts to occur, at the same time, we have a reporter who knows the truth about Sadako's secrets and who is going to makes her life even harder, specially when everybody starts to be suspicious that Sadako was the responsible for all the deaths.''Ringu 0: Bâsudei ''is the prequel to the horror film Ringu. Here, we can see all the reasons why Sadako became the bizarre spirit crazy for vengeance. The only problem is that the movie doesn't explain many things that will happen in the next movies( like the cursed videotape) or other things, like Sadako's twin sister (who doesn't see to have any logic at all in her existence).In my opinion it is very weak as a horror movie, and staying only with the first''Ring'' would be a better choice for the series.