Circle of Fear

In the lead up to October 31st I am going into horror overdrive climaxing with a 3 day, 3 blog extravaganza to end the month and herald All Hallows Eve.

Horror has always been the genre that inspired the most passion in me. From an early age I was enticed by the characters, the sets, the narratives and also the feeling of watching a film marked for 18 and over. I couldn’t get enough of it, slasher, possession, psychological, it didn’t, and doesn’t matter. Things haven’t changed much in that regard. I find myself drawn to the classics of the genre and allow continual disappointment by offering the opportunity of my affection to new releases which rarely satisfy. Apart from the above it is difficult to state what it is exactly that keeps me coming back. When I think about the reasons that people often avoid the genre I find it is this that best explains the key elements for me.

I want to start this series of blogs with the now well known 1998 Japanese horror Ring. I was introduced to this film when it was screened shortly after its release on Channel 4 as the scariest movie of all time. One of the most effective manners to scare the masses is to take an everyday object or situation and have the horror omit from this. Ring selects the television and videotape which is extremely effective in its universal appeal due to its position as the focal point of millions of households throughout the world.

Ring is simply a ghost story centring on a mysterious videotape. What sets it apart from its peers is the atmosphere built around the inexplicable images and the deaths of the viewers within seven days of witness. The videotape itself is a surrealist collection of images, seemingly unrelated (initially), culminating in an extended long shot of an apparently innocuous water well.

Director Hideo Nakata centres on the efforts of Reiko Asakawa to find a break for the curse of the videotape which she establishes was involved in the deaths of her niece and many others. Uncovering a history of child abuse and with a heightening tension as the clock ticks towards the end of Asakawa’s seven days to live the sense of dread is achieved masterfully through the pace and sound of the film.

Or maybe it isn't our fear, maybe it's what we secretly hope is true.

Looking deeper into the films symbolism could lead you to deduce that the film also contains an element of technological backlash. If a device relied upon for entertainment is subverted to the extent that it becomes an instrument of death then horror is behold, manifest and lasting. The final scene of horrific content has become iconic in the years since the films release and Sadako’s emerging from the well and subsequently the television set is the one that stays with you long after the final credits. 

The influence of Ring has been huge in the horror genre since its release in 1998 and is clear in films such as The Eye (2002), A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) and Ju-On (2002) amongst other. The success and effectiveness of Ring led to a sequel, a prequel and both Korean/American remakes. Nothing matches the effective horror of the original.