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 introducing 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 the genre-defining trilogy – Ring, the film that started it all, plus Hideo Nakata’s chilling sequel, Ring 2, and the haunting origin story, Ring 0 – as well as the ‘lost’ original sequel, George Iida’s Spiral, gathered together in glorious high definition and supplemented by a wealth of archival and newly created bonus materials.
SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE –
Brand new 4K restoration of Ring from the original camera negative, approved by director of photography Junichiro Hayashi
High definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations
Lossless Japanese DTS-HD master audio 5.1 and PCM 2.0 soundtracks
Optional English subtitles
Bonus feature: Spiral, George Iida’s 1998 sequel to Ring
New audio commentary on Ring by film historian David Kalat
New audio commentary on Ring 0 by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
The
Ring Legacy, a series of new interviews from critics and filmmakers on
their memories of the Ring 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 Ring, a new video essay by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on the evolution of the Ring series
Spooks, Sighs and Videotape, a new video essay by critic Jasper Sharp on the J-horror phenomenon
The Psychology of Fear, a newly edited archival interview with author Koji Suzuki
Archival behind-the-scenes featurette on Ring 0
Ring 0 deleted scenes
Sadako’s Video
Multiple theatrical trailers for the Ring series
Limited
edition 60-page booklet containing new writing by Violet Lucca,
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Jasper Sharp, Kieran Fisher and Kat Ellinger
Limited edition packaging featuring original and newly commissioned artwork