[This post is part of the Halloween 2009 theme.  Don't worry, I'll cover more non-horror movies after the 31st!]

US Title: Ringu 0
Japanese Title: リング ０： バースデイ

I’m sure by now you’ve either seen, or heard of, the big hit J-horror movie, “The Ring.” Either the US Remake, or the original Japanese film “Ringu” by director Norio Tsuruta.  The gist of that film is this:  There’s this videotape, and if you watch it, you will die.  OK, straightforward enough, and it actually made for a pretty creepy film.

Then there is the ‘prequel’ to “The Ring,” “Ringu 0″, or as it’s subtitled in Japan, “Birthday.”

All I can say is, WHY?!  This movie offers little to no explanation as to the source of the tape, why it kills people, or anything.  In fact, the first 2/3 of this movie is a complete waste of time!

The girl from the first movie, Sadako Yamamura (Yukie Nakama) is in the care of some doctor in an asylum, and has joined a drama troupe as part of her therapy.  Of course, bad things start happening, as one of the members dies after seeing a young girl’s ghost on the set.  But its not Sadako! Or is it?

Anyway…  play out the whole drama troupe thing until Sadako inadvertently causes the death of the director, Mr. Shigemori (Takeshi Wakamatsu), at the hands of her nearly-boyfriend Tooyama (Seiichi Tanabe)….

…then there’s the invesigating psychic (I think) who is searching for more information on Sadako and the “incident” with the reporters.

All of these events converge in the theatre on opening night, and Sadako meets her demise at the hands of the crowd, almost.  Then they load everyone up and head off to the house on the island, and the well.

OK, NOW we can get to the story.  I think.  At least things finally take a turn for the creepy and surreal, as we find that there are now TWO Sadako’s, and another strange doctor-type has been keeping the malevolent one in a room with the TV.

Finally bits of scenes from “the tape” start to appear, and if they’d started here, maybe some sort of explanation would have created itself.  But nooooo.

SPOILER Alert!:  The film ends with the doctor sealing the now “recombined” Sadako into the well.  So supposedly that story has been told.

But the problem is that (much like Wookiees living on Endor) it just makes no damn sense at all.  During the whole “play” thing I was about ready to call it quits.  Wondering what in the F any of this has to do with “the tape” or the well or anything from the first movie at all, apart from a girl with the same name.  When they finally get to that point, its far too late, and my interest was lost.

Apart from a few bits that you might recognize from “the tape” making an appearance, and finally the well coming into play, its all bloody irrelevant.

Short Version: Just don’t bother.  You’ll be bored to tears before it gets anywhere.  And I wasted a Netflix queue slot! $^@!#$%%

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0235712/
Amazon: Ringu 0 (2000) / Rasen (1998) (Double Feature)

(This clip is about the scariest part of the movie, which should give you some idea of what I mean)