Movielogr
The Spiral (1998)
Directed by George Iida
Twitter Facebook Google+Horror | Supernatural | Science Fiction
Most recently watched by sensoria, zombiefreak
Overview
A young pathologist seeks answers to the mysterious death of a friend and soon comes into contact with the same cursed videotape that caused the death of the friend’s wife and son, which is haunted by the curse of Sadako, a relentless spirit.
Rated NR | Length 97 minutes
Actors
Koichi Sato | Miki Nakatani | Hinako Saeki | Shingo Tsurumi | Shigemitsu Ogi | Yutaka Matsushige | Daisuke Ban | Naoaki Manabe | Naoto Adachi | Eri Kakurai | Ryûichi Sugahara | Masanobu Yada | Ryûma Uchida | Kôzô Satô | Tomohiro Okada | Suguru Kamioki | Yoshiyuki Tanno | Hiroyuki Sanada | Hiroshi Shimizu | Nanako Matsushima
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02/22/2020 | TV | DVD | Library | 6 stars |
| (Average) 6 stars |
Viewing Notes
TIL RASEN (aka SPIRAL) is the immediate sequel to RINGU (1998) and was released on the same day as RINGU b/c the studio figured why not? This was only 22 years ago but just the idea of that seems quaint. Can you image that happening today?
I always thought RINGU 2 was the direct sequel to the first movie but I was mistaken. This flick picks up where the first leaves off w/an autopsy of Takayama (Hiroyuki Sanada) from the first film which leads the pathologist (Koichi Sato) down the dark path of the Sadako curse. Miki Nakatani shows up and I was like oh shit b/c she’s awesome in these genre films and super gorgeous. She actually has three different looks here for three different characters. She’s great. However, it was a bit eh to see her and Sato together b/c she was 21yo when they shot this film and he was 37yo. Not as bad as Hollywood, esp. old Hollywood, but 16 years is still a big age difference. When I turned 40 my jp gf was literally like “oh you’re an old man now. I don’t know if I can be with old man.” (she’s 9 years younger than me; 31yo at the time).
That said, Miki seems way beyond her age here (tbh I thought she was older than 21 in this) with a mature performance juggling different character types. She’s really good and the main reason to see this bizarre sequel. It’s bizarre b/c I still don’t know exactly wtf was going on with that ending. I mean, I think I know what went down but I can’t believe that’s the choice they made. What makes the movie a downgrade is that it dispatches with the hook that made RINGU so great and instead focuses on possession / reincarnation / DNA nonsense that just gets lost by the end.
BUT it still has the excellent Miki Nakatani performance plus Hinako Saeki as Sadako; she’s smoking hot (see EKO EKO AZARAK or ASSAULT GIRLS). Sadly it just doesn’t have the exquisite suspense and overwhelming sense of dread from the first film.
How crazy would it have been to go see RINGU in the theater then buy a ticket for RASEN and get this movie?? They really are two different movies and now I understand why RINGU 2 was a return to the RINGU formula.
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