Arrow’s gorgeous box set collects the first 3 (actually 4) films of the Japanese RING/SADAKO franchise.
1998, Hideo Nakata’s Ringu landed in a post-Scream horror genre full of teen slashers and, along with its 2002 US remake The Ring, completely rewired our collective thinking on what is possible in a horror film and launched the modern J-horror phenomenon. Instead of relying solely on jump scares, splatter, or hip subversion mechanics, Ringu took a more artful and intelligent — but no less terrifying — path: one of intense psychological dread, taking Japanese supernatural lore and marrying it to technology. And Ringu’s incredible feat of turning your television into an object of abject terror ensures that the unease continues even after the movie has ended.
I’ll eventually review the three Ringu films in more detail, either as a standalone review or in our Arrow Heads Roundup column, but in the meantime I need to share just how gorgeous this set is with a detailed unboxing.
External Box Views
I love this particular motif which is used on both the spine and covers — when placed side by side, the progression of the artwork shows Sadako approaching the viewer. I nearly always flip my Arrow video covers in favor of the original poster designs, but on this one I think I’ll keep the incredible new art.
Detail View — Disc Contents
Note that while the set focuses on Hideo Nakata’s original trilogy, the set also includes the original but decanonized sequel Rasen (Spiral) as a bonus feature on the Ringu 2 disc.
Booklet
Individual Cases
Ringu
Ringu 2
Ringu 0
A/V Out.
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Buy Arrow Video’s Ringu Collection
Except where noted, all 16:9 screen images in this review are direct captures from the disc(s) in question with no editing applied, but may have compression or resizing inherent to file formats and Medium’s image system. All package photography was taken by the reviewer.