Naomi Watts stars in the US remake of the Japanese blockbuster horror film. (TM and © 2002 DreamWorks, LLC)

Four years ago the latest incarnation of Godzilla attacked New York in the movie Godzilla and glued American audiences to their seats. Now a remake of a more recent Japanese horror film has Americans quivering in fear once again. The movie is The Ring, based on the 1998 Japanese hit film Ringu. And it has helped to launch a genre known as "J-horror" that may soon be coming to a theater near you.

Spielberg's Company Spots a Good Thing
The plot of Ringu (and the US remake) involves people who watch a cursed videotape and then receive a mysterious phone call warning them that they will die in seven days. When this eerie film, the product of director Hideo Nakata, came out four years ago, it quickly became one of those rare hits among Japanese horror movies. It has since spawned two sequels and inspired other horror films, leading to the coining of the term "J-horror" to describe this genre.

The film caught the eye of Steven Spielberg's company, DreamWorks SKG. It had gotten hold of "a very badly dubbed videotape," but the people who watched the film were nonetheless impressed, so much so that they purchased the US rights to remake it within three hours of viewing it. DreamWorks handled the production and signed Gore Verbinski, whose credits include The Mexican, to direct it. The Ring opened on 1,981 screens in North America on October 18, 2002, and took in more than $15 million on the opening weekend, claiming the top spot at the box office, the first time a Japanese remake had done so since Godzilla in 1998. As of November The Ring had earned over $100 million, and it is still continuing as a major hit.

Remake Also Big in Japan
The Ring opened in Japan on November 2, 2002. It collected more than ¥390 million ($3.2 million at ¥120 to the dollar) over the first three days of its run, taking the number-one spot at the box office and marking itself as a hit. It was expected to break through the ¥1.5 billion ($12.5 million) mark by the end of the month.

The story underwent a number of major changes as it was being fine-tuned for an American audience. The name of the girl who holds the key to the mystery is changed from Sadako to Samara, and her mother is no longer a psychic but a perfectly normal woman. And the tone of the film has been altered; while the original is strongly tinged with the feel of a traditional Japanese ghost story, the remake has the character of a modern urban legend. Even so, the basic plot and a number of other important aspects remain faithful to the original.

Mixed Response from American Critics
Commenting on the process of adaptation, DreamWorks producer Walter Parkes says, "There is a tendency in Japanese films, at least for the most recent ones I've seen, of embracing of ambiguity in the storyline, as opposed to a tendency in American cinema to be very concrete. . . . I think that ambiguity is something very exciting and something that has to be protected in adaptation, but it's also challenging for a producer, a writer, or a filmmaker in approaching Japanese titles for American remakes."

American critics were sharply divided in their appraisals of The Ring. One camp did not appreciate the Japanese-style vagueness. A New York Times review stated, "This impassive and cold feature fails . . . to deliver the thrills," while the New York Post called the film "stylish but depressingly generic and not particularly scary." Other media outlets, though, hailed the work as a horror masterpiece. The Washington Post called it "the creepiest, clammiest, twitchiest squealfest in months." Rolling Stone wrote that it "creeps you out in high style," and Entertainment Weekly described it as "a very elegantly crafted piece of gothic snuff hokum."

Japanese critics were generally positive about the film and appreciated its faithfulness to the original. The Asahi Shimbun wrote, "It is faithful to the Japanese movie on which it is based; what is especially impressive is that it produces the same effects of the disquieting country atmosphere while using a different setting." Sankei Sports commented, "The original work and the structure of Hideo Nakata's treatment come through. . . . But regrettably, the Japanese sentiments have faded."

Other Nakata films are also on course to be remade in the United States. Spurred on by the success of The Ring, Parkes is reportedly keen to take on the two sequels. And the remake rights to Nakata's 1996 movie, Joyu rei (Don't Look Up), and his 2002 project, Honogurai mizu no soko kara (Dark Water), have reportedly been sold to a US company. So it looks like Hollywood will be treating us to its version of J-horror over the years to come.