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"If I take one more step"
"It'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been"
In its most basic form
Almost all stories are about someone leaving their normal life behind
And journeying into an unfamiliar world
For horror, that world might be Dracula's castle
Crystal Lake
Or, god forbid
A family gathering of white people
In Psycho, that long drive out of the sunny city
Through the rainy night
Into Bate's Motel
Takes almost 15 minutes
That slow build-up of tension and dread
Eases the audience into that horror
If she leaves the city and immediately arrives at Bate's Motel
It wouldn't be nearly as foreboding
Wouldn't you say?
That is the power of a well-written initial journey
And in this regard
Few movies did it as well as my favorite horror film of all time
Ringu
Scene after scene
The film inches us towards a mystery
Never revealing the whole truth
The film holds our curiosity hostage
And makes us desperate to know more
Keeping us engaged
Until we drive ourselves into a doomed fate
Ringu is a masterclass in writing the horror first act
And today, I'm going to dissect it for you
Let's take a look at this J-horror classic
And go on a journey too terrifying to look away from
[How Ringu Eases You Into the Horror]
[Chapter One]
The film begins with two schoolgirls
Sharing horror stories with each other
"I saw a weird video the other day."
We didn't know it yet
But this scene has two important points
Point number one:
It lays out the rules of the curse
"So he recorded it on the VCR in their room."
"But when he played it back at home"
"There was a woman on the screen."
"You will die in one week, she said."
"The kid stopped the tape, and then the phone rang."
"You saw it"
Presented as an urban legend
This story even has multiple variations
"But that night..."
"...Iwata found this weird video, and we all watched it."
"Just after it ended, someone phoned us."
"Today it'll be one week."
Through repetition
The film cleverly reinforces our memory of the rules
You watch something on TV
You get a phone call
You die in 7 days
Yet, with just enough variation
The rules also feel hazy, undefined
The importance of that will become clearer as we go on
Point number two:
The main character is not in this scene
This scene actually begins mid-conversation
Without introducing either character
These characters are either framed from far away
Or with foreground obstructions
Emphasizing the distance between us and them
This scene feels voyeuristic
The audience is spying on strangers
To learn about something that may or may not be real
This narrative distance further obscures the curse
As the opening sequence continues
It becomes clear that what we learn from the conversation
Is likely to be factual
And it sparks our curiosity
Which version is true?
It's like that egg sack opening up in Alien
It calls to you
Lures you into peering inside
You know it's a bad idea
But your curiosity is too much to bear
And the next thing you know
That's the end of your normal life
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[Chapter Two]
Now, let's speed things up a bit
We first see our main character, a journalist named Asakawa
Interviewing a bunch of school girls about the curse
Note the much more intimate introduction shot
Brings us closer to her than other characters
"They say if you watch late-night TV, she appears"
"And then the phone rings"
We heard yet another version of the story
But this time, we have a surrogate present
We went from hearing a rumor in the distance
To hearing it through the main character
"No, they were found dead in a parked car."
"He'd seen the video, too"
Next, back in the office
Asakawa finds a news article
"Young Couple Found Dead in Car"
Suddenly, something factual is now tied to the curse
The rumor has been given shape
It became news
Later that night, Asakawa and her son attend a funeral
"Why did Tomo-chan die?"
Funeral for the girl from the opening sequence
"They all died the same day"
"Yoko told us they'd all seen this weird video..."
"When it was over, they got a phone call..."
And now, what was originally a distant
Cold and emotionless news report
Is given a personal touch
It's now a secondhand account from people who are affected
Notice how in each successive scene
Two things are happening:
One: We are gradually closing in on the curse
We went from a fictional boy in an urban legend
"So he recorded it on the VCR in their room."
To some real-life strangers we didn't know
"No, they were found dead in a parked car."
To a relative in the family
"Why did Tomo-chan die?"
The matters at hand get more and more personal
And thus, more impactful
Indeed, Asakawa pays a visit to the victim's mother
And we see the aftermath of the curse
Two: As we approach the curse
The rules also become clearer
At first, it was a VCR recording
"So he recorded it on the VCR in their room."
And then, it was a midnight channel
"They say if you watch late-night TV, she appears"
To finally, it was made clear that it's a video
"Yoko told us they'd all seen this weird video..."
The closer we get
The clearer it is
With each passing scene
The danger inches closer
And the tension is raised
It's slow, but the momentum is unstoppable
What's even closer than a secondhand account?
A firsthand experience
What's even clearer than knowing the rules?
Playing with the rules
Asakawa's investigation leads her to the source of the curse
The haunted cabin
Where she finds the videotape
The curse calls to her
And in a way, calls to us, the audience
By this point, after hearing so many versions of the curse
After inches towards it for half an hour
We are one step away from knowing the final truth
We all know this is a bad idea
But our curiosity has been teased for so long
We have to do it
So, we all end up watching the tape
And everything we learned about the curse
All comes together
"The kid stopped the tape, and then the phone rang."
"Just after it ended, someone phoned us."
"And then the phone rings."
"When it was over, they got a phone call..."
And that rush of realization and horror
Is sheer brilliance
Welcome to the world of horror
[Conclusion]
And that was just the first act of the film
Just 30 minutes in a 90-minute movie
I won't be spoiling the rest of the film
Even if you've seen the movie before
I highly suggest giving it a rewatch
Pay close attention to what we've looked at today
And apply it to the rest of the film
You'll be amazed by how well this film handles tension and escalation
She's already cursed to die
How can you raise the stake any further?
Well, the film finds a way!
In film school, I did this exercise
Where I would watch a movie
And write down what's happening every minute
If weren't for this effort
I wouldn't have noticed the subtle brilliance in this film's construction
The thoughts that go into a movie are incredible
Every little interaction
Every composition
Every line of dialogue
Every decision was made with a purpose in mind
And all of that is there
Only for us to never notice them
We've all been tricked into being scared
And we didn't even know it
Now that's movie magic