so a few of us watched ringu (japanese, 1998) last night. we had all (some at diff times) seen (most of) the ring (american, 2002), a remake. now granted, a couple of us haven't seen the very beginning of "the ring," it was 20min longer, and it was made 14 years later. but everything i'd read indicated that "ringu" was better/scarier/etc . . . but man do i strongly disagree. i felt "the ring" had a significantly more sophisticated plot/script and was filled with much more frightening images/passages/scenes/ideas. perhaps translation flaws account for some of the weakness ("frollic in the brine, goblin be thine?" ugh.) but the out-of-the-blue deus ex machina of moments like "i have ESP too" just bit the big one. ok, back to work. maybe rach will post her comparison of the coming-out-of-the-tv sections.