In 1998, director Hideo Nakata (Dark Water) unleashed a chilling tale of technological terror on unsuspecting audiences, which redefined the horror genre, launched the J-horror boom in the West and introduced a generation of moviegoers to a creepy, dark-haired girl called Sadako. The film’s success spawned a slew of remakes,
reimaginations and imitators, but none could quite boast the power of Nakata’s original masterpiece, which melded traditional Japanese folklore with contemporary anxieties about the spread of technology.
A group of teenage friends are found dead, their bodies grotesquely contorted, their faces twisted in terror. Reiko (Nanako Matsushima, When Marnie Was There), a journalist and the aunt of one of the victims, sets out to investigate the shocking phenomenon, and in the process uncovers a creepy urban legend about a supposedly cursed videotape, the contents of which causes anyone who views it to die within a week – unless they can persuade someone else to watch it, and, in so doing, pass on the curse…
Arrow Video is proud to present Ringu, the film that started it all, restored from the original negative in glorious high definition and supplemented by a wealth of archival and newly created bonus materials.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
• Brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative, approved by director of photography Junichiro Hayashi
• High Definition Blu-rayTM (1080p) presentation
• Lossless Japanese DTS-HD master audio 5.1 and PCM 2.0 soundtracks
• Optional English subtitles
• New audio commentary by film historian David Kalat
• The Ringu Legacy, a series of new interviews from critics and filmmakers on their memories of the Ringu series and its enduring legacy
• A Vicious Circle, a new video interview with author and critic Kat Ellinger on the career of Hideo Nakata
• Circumnavigating Ringu, a new video essay by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on the evolution of the Ringu series
• Sadako’s Video
• Theatrical trailers
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
