The Ring リング 1998- Japan I BOOK VS. MOVIE

Welcome to one of Lights, Camera, Asia's newest content! Having been mentioned through out our site, today we bring you our FIRST movie vs. book review! If this review receives a lot of positive feedback, we will try to do these more often! So sit back and enjoy our review on the 1998 Japanese horror flick The Ring (リング ) versus the novel of the same name by Koji Suzuki. 

As a lover of Asian horror films, I had no idea The Ring was based off of a book, let alone a 3 book series! I felt ashamed that after so many years, I only discovered the book last year. Since I am not only a movie lover but also a bookworm, I took it upon myself to begin the series and in the end it only took me 2 days to finish the first book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the films or mystery/suspense novels. 

So was the movie different from the book??

 Of course with any film adaption, many minor details and parts of a novel will be cut out for time sake or just because it isn't necessary in keeping the film interesting and easily understandable for audience goers. In this case, The skeleton of this book was very much intact in the film. One of the main differences though is that the film decided to make the main character a female instead of a male reporter like in the novel. This difference was also used in the 2002 American adaption. I feel this choice was made because many horror films typically have females as the lead. Maybe Japan felt by having a female reporter it would make the film more suspenseful, or maybe the audiences would connect with her more. In my opinion, changing this was a good idea. However, I did enjoy the male reporter in the novel version.

Another huge difference was a very important fact that the movie version decided to opt out on. I will not go into detail so as not to spoil it for anyone who wants to pick up this book, however, I think it was a very, very right choice to do so! It is a fact that I believe will be explained more in books 2 or 3, but it really would not add anything to the film. I honestly was very surprised when I read this scene, and would like to see if it does have a deeper meaning. 

I honestly was surprised by how un-scary the novel was. The film seriously took this crazy, creepy idea and ran with it! I was expecting to be scared while reading it, on the edge of my seat, scared to be in the dark (like the films), however those emotions never once came to me while reading the book. In my opinion, the book felt more like a mystery novel and not a horror novel. That isn't to say there are not creepy scenes, but they were few and far between. The movie definitely amplified the scary ideas that Koji Suzuki created. Come to think of it, I don't remember Sadako (the ghost girl, in case you don't remember her name :) ) ever being described in the book as having her creepy long hair hanging in front of her face. I also don't remember her EVER crawling out of a TV! So props to Japan's film industry for really molding a fictional character into an icon of Japanese horror films. 

Both the film and the book are great creations on their own, and I was pleasantly surprised how well the film did keep most of the main storyline on the big screen. Now enjoy this ridiculous and amazing Sadako cosplay, and go read the book now! You will not be disappointed!

CHECK OUT THE TRAILER FOR THE RING BELOW!

Have you read the book? If so, did you think it was scary? 
If you have read/seen The Ring, let me know what differences/similarities you saw in the comments below! 

Follow us on twitter @lightscamerasia!

Make sure to subscribe to us on YOUTUBE and like us on FACEBOOK! 

Please subscribe here to stay up to date on latest posts!

❥W