I know, I know.  The ending scene to The Ring in 2002 has been talked about to death, and in it’s own right it’s a pretty creepy scene – especially for a mainstream horror remake.  But let’s talk about the original Japanese 1998 version called Ringu for a minute.

I remember getting a bootleg DVD copy of Ringu off Ebay back in 1999.  This would catapult my Japanese horror obsession that would later include Audition, Shutter, and Ichi The Killer to name a few.  I remember watching Ringu for the first time late at night while eating a bag of Cheetos.  Don’t ask me how the hell I remember the Cheeto part, but they must have been memorable for me to.  I was pretty creeped out throughout the whole movie, and then the ending came…….

My biggest gripe with the ending of the remake version is the obvious CGI that’s involved when Samara is coming out of the TV at Noah.  Still creepy as a whole, but definitely not as creepy as the original.  And while the remake focuses more on Samara’s decaying, waterlogged body – the original seen above focuses on her missing fingernails while she’s crawling on the floor. Fingernail damage in movies always fucks me up.  I also love the more subtle ending of the scene from the original with Samara peeking her eye out of her hair instead of showing her whole face.  Sometimes less is more.  I’m glad I did this post by the way because it makes me want to revisit my Japanese horror collection.  Looks like A Tale Of Two Sisters is getting dusted off the shelf this weekend!