YouHeart I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

lorcan-61881 Ring and Ring 2 were fantastic horror films that I to this day love and terrify me. Ring 0..Ring 0 tells the story back in the 50's where Sadako is represented as two sides;a good side and a bad side. The good side is in a theater group and soon enough the staff start to die mysteriously and it all leads up to Sadako,the evil side is a little girl who is not really in it that much. Ring 0 sounded like it was going to be the best film in years I mean two Sadako's ehhhh WOW! sadly,i was wrong..Ring 0 was a very boring movie. I think that this should have stood out as a movie on its own like maybe a different film but same idea. I think the problem was the director,Hideo Nakata did not sadly return to make this film. The ending scene was kind off what kept it from being a pile of crap but ehh..ya. Ring 0 ruins the Ring franchise sadly what used to be the scariest horror franchise is nothing now..

Desertman84 Ring 0 is a Japanese horror film that serves as a prequel to the film Ring. The film features Yukie Nakama,Kumiko Asou, and Tanabe Seiichi. It was directed by Norio Tsuruta, based on a screenplay,written by Hiroshi Takahashi,is based on the short story Lemonheart from the Birthday anthology by Koji Suzuki.Ring 0 provides the background story of how Sadako later became the vengeful murdering spirit. The story starts with her as a shy, somewhat withdrawn, college student who nonetheless gets involved in a drama club. The director thinks she has talent, but some of the other performers start to get jealous of the attention he gives her. Meanwhile, a reporter investigating Sadako's spiritualist mother thinks there's something very suspicious about the young woman, and arrives on campus to confront Sadako just as a series of strange deaths start sweeping through the drama club.The prequel fell short in matching the greatness of Ring.Aside from the fact that parts of the film felt draggy and it was slow on some parts,it wasn't scary and horrifying enough to become a horror classic.Aside from that,the characters aren't intriguing enough for the viewer to really care about them.It becomes a case of an "exercise" of who and how one gets killed and a matter of how daunting and horrific one gets killed or not.Too bad that a lot would have expected it to be better than Ring or at least match its greatness would definitely feel disappointed.But nevertheless,it does not fall short in entertainment as a decent horror film.

Lee Sherman This review has serious spoilers. I'm unsure exactly how to rate this film, since I'm not sure if the things that confused me when I watched it were due to bad writing or a failure on my part. None of the other reviews seem to mention the things I'm referring to, probably because they're impossible discuss without giving away major plot twists. So I'm going to give away the major plot twists. Don't read the rest of this review if you don't want to know them.First I'll talk about the stuff I did get. The direction is true to the original (the director is different, but you'd never know without reading the credits). It's also truly amazing. Scenes that on paper would seem old-hat really get the heart pounding, thanks to the excellent way they are portrayed. Lighting, camera angles, music, and other tools are used to terrific effect. Another thing I like is how several shots of the normal human Sadako seem to foreshadow her appearance as a specter with face-obscuring hair in "Ringu." The depiction of the dream of the well is less successful in my opinion. There is some filter added to the footage to make it look washed-out (to look like the killer videotape, I guess), and I find it annoying. It's much more annoying later on when the same filter is used in shots of waking reality for no apparent reason. But for the most part, the visual aspect of the film is fantastic.The storytelling is also fine. I realized as the film was reaching its one quarter mark that a huge amount has been shown and told to the viewer, yet it seems quite natural, without any problems of pacing or clumsy exposition. The shot of the girl, circa 1998, at the beginning is unnecessary, and caused confusion for me because for a while I thought other things were being shown in a nonlinear fashion. I can see the purpose: This whole tale is based on the sort of supernatural rumors/urban myths that are common in Japan. But I think it would've been better to begin in the '60s. The style of that little prolog is also jarring, with rapid cuts and techno music. But moving on, the pacing is good and there is a lot of tension and creepiness throughout. It transforms into a more immediate sort of horror in the last third.Some minor continuity issues are created. It seems unlikely that Asakawa Reiko in "Ringu" wouldn't run across any news reports or verbal accounts of tragedy at the play, or the aftermath. I mean, there was a whole audience there when it happened. People were killed. There would be a newspaper report, and probably a police investigation. Also, nobody ever calls the police in the whole movie, although that might be a cultural thing I don't understand. But for the most part, the movie rings true (no pun intended). It's not one of those sequels with massive retcons.On to the main thing I don't understand. As I understand it, Sadako has an identical twin who her father has been keeping locked up all these years, and has given drugs so she never underwent proper puberty. This twin is a physical person, not a spirit. The stuff with Sadako's mother as the "other person" was apparently a red herring, although her ghost is really there and is playing some nebulous role. But Sadako's twin's astral self has been following Sadako around and causing these problems, and eventually takes partial control of Sadako's mangled body. But at the end it's Sadako who's killed, and her twin is unaccounted for. We don't even see the twin except for in one shot in the forest, and even that could be an astral projection. So what happened to her? And why wasn't she in the room that Miyaji went into? And why doesn't her father make some attempt to save her from the murderous mob that randomly arrives at his door? Also, why does Touyama go along with the mob? And what was that business with Sadako's body distorting itself in the room with Miyaji and Etsuko? A random creepy thing for effect, or something important I'm failing to connect? None of these things make sense to me. I haven't read any of the books, so that might be where the problem lies.Now a couple miscellaneous observations. There are some sort of secret messages in the film, symbols that appear on the screen for a few frames. I noticed two, but there are probably more. I'm assuming this is a clever little thing done to foreshadow the cryptic videotape in the sequel, and not a mastering error on the D.V.D. I'm rather annoyed that so many reviewers bring up "Carrie." This film owes nothing to "Carrie." They both just happen to be based on the same real-life phenomena.This is a riveting, truly scary movie that may be better or worse than how I've rated it depending on whether or not the "plot flaws" I see in the final third are actually plot flaws.

Matthew Berard Rasen tried its hardest to create an entertaining novel-based movie. Somebody learned their lesson...Ring 2 tried its hardest to live up to Ring by explaining way too much. Somebody learned their lesson...Ring 0 tried its hardest to create a human-driven drama, while adding in the horror the series is well known for. Somebody knew their lessons!You will feel emotionally for Sadako. Her performance, played by Nakama Yukie, is absolutely beautiful. She is able to manipulate your mind into feeling sorry for her, and then watching her in fear, and then feeling sorry for her... it's just one crazy ride. Unfortunately, we all know what has to happen in the end... sounds like Carrie.This movie, fortunately or unfortunately, is more drama then horror... sounds like Carrie. In fact, there is only a couple of scenes that will scare you. We learned that this character we have feared is just another tortured woman with an unfortunate life... sounds like Carrie. The acting in this movie is just great. The characters are too convincing. Too bad some people dislike this movie for the same general movie. It's slow burning. What this means is that it takes just about forever for the extremely exciting climax to start kicking in. For some, they just die for the suspense and do not feel cheated. For others, they just get so sick because they are bored out of their mind. The latter could be you, so take caution.Sadako has just joined an acting troupe to "restart" from he old life. Unfortunately, a woman who's husband died at the infamous psychic test with Shizuko Yamamura, and is hell-bent on tracking Sadako down. The problem is that the Sadako she finds is a young girl who is clearly a "freak". The other Sadako is blamed for the mysterious deaths at the troupe. What is going on? What's with two Sadako's?You owe it to yourself to watch this film, put up with the subtitles, and enjoy it