Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

youtubemisticaluser We live in times where VHS tapes are quite unpopular and idle, so of course a premise which focuses on a cursed VHS tape would not work anymore, as in scaring people who spend most of their times on their tablets, IPhones, Blu-Ray, Netflix etc. Then, through an insane worshiper, the curse reaches Internet, whereby Sadako's ghost searches from a supernaturally gifted host to occupy and live once again. This greatest plot ever thought to upgrade the "Ringu" premise is, unfortunately, misused in "Sadako 3D", which is surprising coming from the J-Horror genre full of such great films, "Ringu" itself included, that left Hollywood jealous and out of attention, forcing them to remake several Asian films. "Sadako 3D" has a plausible plot for this high-tech times, but is visually absurd and spends most of its length focusing more on action and abusing of 3D effects, forgetting the new kind of thriller the story should provide. Basically, it turns out too much violent and noisy for a "Ringu" (or a J-Horror) film. Hopefully, this is an isolated case and won't happen to upcoming films, otherwise, be sure Japanese horror itself is cursed.

politic1983 Wow, we have a new format. Quick, let's exploit it by remaking/rereleasing an old film in said new format and millions will be made.Now, 'Ringu' is a film that actually might work with the 3D format… except that it isn't. 'Ringu' is largely a suspense film, as a reporter seeks to unravel the mystery behind the deaths of some local students. The film is very darkly shot and uses slow, moody shots, before one final moment at the end that would be made that bit more special in 3D. Therefore, to justify making a film based on Koji Suzuki's original novel 'Ring' and ripping-off Hideo Nakata's film adaptation in 3D format, there needs to be a lot more thrown in to make it seem worthwhile.With this the case, the suspense, intrigue and fear created by 'Ringu' is thrown out the window for endless moments designed simply to make you jump by adding unnecessary bangs and people walking up behind someone to make their pulse race. It's the 21st Century, so video is thrown out for viral content on the Internet and the cast all seem younger and more attractive (sorry Yurei Yanagi, you look like a monkey), and as such are much worse actors.Being in Nihon-go, I couldn't fully understand the plot, not that that was particularly necessary. People try to watch a video online, if they succeed they die soon after. Simple. The ending, however, becomes farcical, again trying to justify the 3D format further and is neither scary nor good. The best part of the film is the end credits, for more than one reason.With two trailers before it for the new 'MIB 3' (do we need this?!) and the new 'Amazing Spiderman' – a character necessary to remake with a new lead actor as there have only been at least three Spiderman films made in the last decade – it seems that films are merely going to be lazy remakes of old stories in a new format, displaying a lack of creativity or substance, from here on in. So, just like the cinema of the last ten years then…www.politic1983.blogspot.com

rgblakey When the 1998 film Ringu aka Ring hit theaters it took the world by storm becoming not only the highest grossing horror film in Japan, but spawned two sequels, a video game as well as two American versions. With not much word of the series for some time it's back with an all-new installment named for the famous focal point of the series Sadako 3D, but can it live up to the creepy nature that made the original film so great or is it just another forgettable sequel to a once great franchise.Sadako 3D follows a high school teacher who discovers Internet footage that her students have been watching of someone's suicide that is rumored to drive anyone who watches it to commit suicide as well. While she doubts it at first, she soon discovers that it is actually of a man whose intention is to create chaos in the world by bringing back Sadako and her curse. Initially this film takes some interesting directions shifting the curse from the VHS to update it to the current Internet nature. There are some creative moments using cell phones and computer screens that should have delivered but never really push the envelope the way it should have. Even with these issues the film still could have worked pretty well, but due to the decision for 3D they opted to over saturate the film with CGI effects that were not all that great. Part of the charm of the original films was just the pure creepy especially the Sadako character. She did very little in the originals other than climb out of the well and inch towards you, but the look and vibe was very effective. Sadly that is all gone with the exception of a few moments until the end when things change completely. This series has always been a cursed haunted genre film, but this entry takes it out of that all together at one point turning it into somewhat of a monster film losing the entire point of this series. While it loses the Ring aspect, it still could have been pretty cool had they not used some pretty poor CGI to bring these creatures to life.This movie had lots if issues, but all stuff that could have still worked well had they not gone complete CG for everything. Fans of the original film will most likely have some real issues with this film as it plays more like a reboot than a sequel and fails to live up to the classic that came before it. Word is that there is a sequel to this film coming as well and hopefully they will take some of the good ideas here and deliver something a lot better.

3xHCCH The original "Ring" film is a horror movie classic. Its central character is Sadako, a girl in a white dress with very long black hair who climbed out of a well and into the living rooms of her victims through the TV. The creepy way Sadako's disheveled tresses covered her face and the jerky way she would creep and walk were copied shamelessly in several other Asian horror flicks, even several years afterwards. When I first saw the ads of this film, it was pretty exciting. This movie promised to bring Sadako in all her 3D glory, and I could not wait to see her crawl right through the silver screen right at us. However, when I got to the theater earlier, it turned out that locally, it would only be shown in Digital 2D. In fact, it had been re-titled "The Ring 3." Groan.Anyway, "The Ring 3" is about Akane, a young teacher in a Catholic girls school. One of her students gets obsessed in searching the internet for a certain "cursed suicide video" which rumors say allegedly showed someone committing suicide, and resulted in the viewer in getting killed as well. That cheerful student unexpectedly commits suicide one night by jumping through a glass window and falling to her death. More and more people inexplicably take their lives. When Akane's own boyfriend Takanori gets lassoed into a giant advertising LCD screen, she was hooked into a search for the truth behind this cursed online video and find a way to stop its deadly consequences.First, the positives. Akane is played by a very pretty young actress named Satomi Ishihara. She really pulled off the sympathetic character of the tormented teacher. She is very charming and great to look at amidst the horror, and despite the weird "super power" the writer gave her. There was also a little puppy love flashback episode to show how Akane and Takanori first became friends. That was a nice touch.There is really something so clean about Japanese cinematography. The contrasts are so stark and simple, they look beautiful. Those scenes where Akane was simply walking under the arches of a lonely corridor, or when she was walking on the rooftop against the bright blue sky. So nice and calm. Next, the negatives.While the first Ring films successfully conveyed dread and fear with the simple and even crude special effects of Sadako creeping towards her prey. This film goes OVERBOARD with its ridiculously unbridled use of excessive fake-looking computer-generated imagery! Despite this supposedly advanced computer graphics, the parts that were supposed to be 3D, like the hand or the hair that "popped" out of the computer or cellphone monitor, looked very bad indeed. The most absurd and over-the-top idea of them all is the terrible idea of transforming the iconic scary image of a lone Sadako into a HORDE of monstrous spider-like Sadakos with very long jointed hind legs and vampire-bat-like mouths. The ironic kicker here is that, they apparently can be easily subdued by sweet little Akane, after which they simply dissolve into a swarm of black moths! Senseless and stupid. Certainly, less is more.Overall, this is a disappointing movie, undeserving of being called a sequel of the original Ring films. I am giving it a couple of extra stars solely because of the beauty and performance of Ms. Satomi Ishihara as Akane. As for the character that gave this movie its name, Sadako, sadly lost her edge and practically became a caricature of her original self because of this film's indulgent director.