A Film directed by Chisui Takigawa

I’m sure most everyone over the age of twenty with even a small interest in horror cinema has seen some version of The Ring, probably the blockbuster 2002 American version at least. What some people may not know is that The Ring was based on an older film from 1998 of the same name (or Ringu due to Japanese pronunciation and to differentiate the two over here), which in turn was based on a 1991 novel by Koji Suzuki. What even fewer may realize, outside of those who’ve read the Wikipedia page about the franchise in the last decade, is that the 1998 Ring wasn’t the first adaptation of the book.

A made-for-TV version aired on Fuji-TV in 1995. Simply called Ring, the film was later released on VHS and LaserDisc in 1996 under the name Ring Kanzenban (“Ring: The Complete Edition”), purportedly with added scenes. I was able to track down this film, in all its grainy 1996 VHS-rip glory on YouTube, and was amazed at just how different it was from what the franchise eventually became.

For those unaware, the story of Ringu follows journalist Kazuyuki Asakawa (played here by Katsunori Takahashi) as he investigates the mysterious deaths of four teenagers who all died simultaneously under seemingly natural but inexplicable circumstances, one of whom is his niece. His search leads him to a cursed videotape that shows disturbing, fragmented images followed by a message warning viewers they will die in seven days unless they perform a specific task. The problem is that somebody taped over the end of the video, leaving the solution missing. Asakawa, with the help of his friend Ryuji Takayama (Yoshio Harada), races against time to uncover the origins of the curse, discovering it is linked to a woman with powerful psychic abilities.

It has been a long time since I read the first book in this series, but I recall it being vastly different from any filmed version I had seen. As far as I can tell, Ring Kanzenban is the closest adaptation to the book and, as a result, feels very different from nearly every other version of the story. The franchise’s staying power owes a lot to the directorial vision of Hideo Nakata’s 1998 Ringu, and every subsequent version has built on that foundation. It’s fascinating to see such a different take. That isn’t to say Ring Kanzenban is bad, I actually quite enjoyed it, but its more stripped-down approach was never going to ignite a global franchise. It reminds me of how Michael Mann’s 1986 Manhunter went largely ignored until its “sequel,” The Silence of the Lambs (1991), blew up and brought massive attention to the franchise and the original books.

For starters, you might assume that the original Ringu books fall into the horror genre, but that would be incorrect. They, and by extension Ring Kanzenban, are more in the realm of mystery/thriller with some supernatural elements (and later, even science fiction). The tension in this film comes not from jump scares or horror tropes, but from the ticking clock faced by those who watched the cursed videotape, and whether the protagonists can solve the mystery in time. Aside from the videotape, which is more eerie than outright scary, there’s little in the story that feels unsettling. To me, the film plays more like a police procedural than a horror movie.

Some other huge differences include none of the later iconic imagery that wasn’t in the original books. This includes the interpretations that the “Ring” refers to either a ringing phone or the lid of a well, as established in the 1998 film and its successors. Here, “The Ring” refers simply to the cyclical nature of the curse, which spreads through tape copying and sharing – leaving the viewer with the choice to copy or die. The implication is that eventually almost everyone on Earth could be “infected” in some way. Another major difference lies in the presentation of Sadako Yamamura. She is not the drenched, long hair in her face, figure in a white nightgown familiar from later films. Instead, when she manifests toward the end, she appears largely nude, reflecting the state she was in when murdered. The film also conceptualizes her killing method differently: rather than killing by sheer terror, victims die of sudden heart failure. When Asakawa watches the tape, he hears a heartbeat and clutches his chest as if having a massive heart attack.

I mentioned that this version’s Sadako is very different, and the film leaves little to the imagination when she appears on-screen. Because of this, the movie contains a surprising amount of nudity for a TV production. I’m not sure what Fuji-TV’s content guidelines were, or if this aired at 3 a.m., but it includes one explicit sex scene and a few near-misses. It also tackles very dark subject matter, including incest and what amounts to a hate crime against Sadako, which becomes the catalyst for the curse. I strongly recommend not watching this with children. Outside of the sexual content, though, the film is not graphic or gory. Without those elements, it could have passed for a typical TV drama. I can’t help but wonder if the “complete edition” label refers to these added scenes.

In terms of presentation, the film clearly reflects its modest budget, with visuals resembling older J-dramas and appearing to be shot on video rather than film. That was expected, given it was a TV movie, but worth noting. There are clever shots here and there, with interesting set design, location work, and creative direction helping fill in the gaps. The music is serviceable, with one synth-heavy piece reminiscent of Tubular Bells standing out as it recurs throughout the film. Overall, the production looks and feels bigger than a typical TV movie of its era.

Overall, I wouldn’t go out of my way recommend this to casual fans of The Ring, but for fans of the original novel, or completionists, it’s definitely worth seeking out. It’s fascinating to see how the same source material can inspire two such radically different visions. To me, the 1998 film remains the definitive version in Japan (however, I actually think the American one is the scariest), but Ring Kanzenban has some compelling ideas, and I appreciated seeing the book’s characters brought to life more faithfully – especially since the 1998 film gender-swaps the protagonist and makes other major changes. As far as I know, this version hasn’t had a legitimate release since 1996, so you’ll need to rely on bootlegs or simply watch it on YouTube, which is how I found it without much trouble.