ROUND 1: SPOOKY STORY
THE RING: The Ring tells the story of a videotape that causes its viewers to die seven days after watching it. Reporter Rachel Keller sees it and must uncover the secret to its power before it kills her and her son.
THE GRUDGE: Meanwhile, The Grudge is a curse left behind in a would-be haunted house where a woman and her son died in a violent rage. It terrorizes all who enter, including Karen Davis – an American nurse working abroad in Tokyo.
An American student hardly has a place in a film which is otherwise dominated by Japanese customs. The Ring scores!
SCORE: THE RING – 1
THE GRUDGE – 0
ROUND 2: LEADING LADY
THE RING: Naomi Watts takes centre stage of The Ring’s horror. She does a brilliant job, acting as both a mother and journalist, not to mention her very convincing blood-curdling scream.
THE GRUDGE: For Buffy the Vampire Slayer alumnus Sarah Michelle Gellar, combating supernatural forces is nothing new. In fact, Gellar is easily the one thing that keeps the viewer interested enough to keep watching, but only just.
Frankly, I was expecting more from Sarah Michelle Gellar. Naomi Watts wins.
SCORE: THE RING – 2
THE GRUDGE – 0
ROUND 3: REMAKE REBOUND
THE RING: After its wild success in Japan, ‘Ringu’ was remade into ‘The Ring’. While the English remake manages to preserve the spookiness of the original film, it does away with most Japanese references.
THE GRUDGE: The director of ‘Ju-on’, the film on which The Grudge is based, returned for the remake, as did many of the Japanese cast members. For that reason, The Grudge is very much like the original picture.
For fans loyal to Japanese storytelling, this one goes to The Grudge.
SCORE: THE RING – 2
THE GRUDGE – 1
ROUND 4: CONCLUSION CONTEST
THE RING: Through Rachel’s investigation she discovers that there is a certain way to escape the curse by copying the tape and showing it to someone else. The Ring’s conclusion remains open-ended, but not unresolved.
THE GRUDGE: On the other hand, The Grudge simply chooses to not have an ending. Karen learns why the house is cursed in her search, but she doesn’t find out how to save herself from it. So, really, what’s the point? Just show the girl die and get on with the credits. But then it wouldn’t be that great of a movie, which it already manages to not be so well.
Sadly, The Grudge still fails to please.
SCORE: THE RING – 3
THE GRUDGE – 1
ROUND 5: FEAR FACTOR
THE RING: For the plain fact that there could actually be a real killer videotape sitting on a video rental shelf somewhere makes the urban legend-like premise for The Ring altogether believable. Flashbacks and subliminal frames add to The Ring’s already chilling atmosphere.
THE GRUDGE: The Grudge relies on strange noises that echo that of a frog to instil fear in its audience. Moreover, we see the cursed house in the film, so you’d have to be pretty thick to go inside it if it were real. And since it’s set all the way in Japan, I’d say we’re home-free.
The cat boy would agree, next to The Ring, The Grudge is a yawn.
SCORE: THE RING – 4
THE GRUDGE – 1
ROUND UP: If “Before you die, you see The Ring,” then you will have seen the finer of these two freaky flicks. The Ring has frightened moviegoers since its release and as a result, people continue to do with The Ring what it was designed to do: Pass it on.
Web Links:
www.thering-themovie.com
www.sonypictures.com/movies/thegrudge