Ringu 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Ringu 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 25, 2023

Arrow has given horror fans an early Halloween treat (?) with a new 4K UHD release of one of the most iconic J-horror films of all time. Arrow's 1080 release came out a few years ago, and parts of my original 1080 review are repeated here, as appropriate.

J-Horror.

What do you think of when someone mentions this “national” genre? If you’re like any number of fans, and as both commentator David Kalat and even the back cover verbiage of this release mention, the Ring* series will no doubt be at the top of the list. Interestingly, the back cover states that the original Ring film “launched the J-horror boom in the West”, though Kalat takes at least some issue with that assertion in his appealing analysis of the film. Kind of interestingly (and maybe just a bit peculiarly) given this series' outsized reputation, none of the Ring films has evidently been released on Blu-ray for the domestic American market before this, but Arrow, long the curator of niche items for some devoted collectors, has once again come to the rescue with both a standalone release of Ring, as well as a boxed set including four films.

*Kalat makes a cogent case that the coinage Ringu is due to the transliteration of Japanese orthography, and that the film's director himself told Kalat the name of the film was Ring, so this review will utilize that name.

Note: While my hunch is there aren't that many people who aren't familiar with the basic story of Ring, especially given The Ring, its well remembered American remake, and while this review won't include any outright spoilers, for those who are unacquainted with the basic story, there are some salient plot points discussed below, so proceed at your own risk.

Having spent much of my adult life offering opinions on various home media fare, including too many “straight to video” entries than I care to name (and/or remember), I only half jokingly state that, yes, there were cursed VHS tapes back in the day. Ring of course plays upon that conceit, beginning with a kind of excited but slightly nerdy discussion between two female schoolmates who are aware of the supposed existence of a weird tape that, when watched, begins an inevitable series of events leading to the viewer’s death. Unfortunately for one of the schoolgirls, it turns out she saw the video, and it probably doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happens next, though director Hideo Nakata does hedge his bets just a little by refraining from any truly graphic imagery (and in fact Ring on the whole really doesn’t traffic in “traditional” horror blood and guts).

A relative of the now deceased girl turns out to be investigative reporter Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), who knows of the stories of the cursed video and who begins looking into the death not just of her niece, but some of her niece’s friends. That ultimately leads to an isolated cabin in the woods (not this one), where the victims evidently vacationed before their demises, and it’s there that Reiko, because she’s the focal female in a horror film, finds a mysterious tape and decides to watch it. I'm obviously joking again when I say that the video probably would have only gotten half a star from most reviewers for both content and video quality, as it's an inchoate "story" delivered via a pixellated, grainy mess with hard to make out imagery exacerbated by some tracking problems. One way or the other, it's clear (or at least implied) that Reiko may be the latest person to be cursed, and it's that unsettling feeling that informs most of the rest of the story, even as Reiko attempts to ferret out the meaning behind the patently bizarre imagery.

Reiko and her ex-husband Ryūji Takayama (Hiroyuki Sanada) start poking around to figure out what’s going on, a quest made more panicked after Reiko discovers their young son watching the video. There’s arguably just a bit too much extraneous material stuffed into both these and some other supporting characters, as Reiko’s understandably desperate attempts to get to the bottom of things (no pun intended, for those who know the revelation the film offers) ends up involving a host of paranormal phenomena before getting to what is in essence a murder mystery.

Ring is rather notable both for its intriguing subtext(s) and for its completely unsettling mood, a mood which is arrived at without (as mentioned above) much in the way of truly graphic imagery. There’s an elegiac quality to the film that’s really quite remarkable not just within the annals of the horror genre (J- or otherwise), but I’d argue within the larger context of relatively contemporary film itself.

Ringu 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ring is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the restoration, which both repeats some information from their 1080 booklet while adding some new data:

Ringu has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with stereo and 5.1 audio.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution at Imagica, Tokyo. The film was restored in 4K and graded in HDR10 at R3Store Studioes, London. Dolby Vision grading was completed by Fidelity in Motion, New York. The stereo and 5.1 mixes were remastered from the original audio files at Deluxe Audio Services.

All materials for this restoration were made available by Kadokawa Corporation.

The 2K grading was supervised and approved by Director of Photography Jun'ichirō Hayashi. The 4K HDR grading used this approved grade as our primary color reference.

This frankly not be a film that (horror film title pun forewarning) Screams for a 4K UHD presentation, given its often downright cold palette and reliance upon "distressed" video, but this version actually is quite interesting, offering some nuances in the palette and some subtle upticks in fine detail levels, at least in some of the more brightly lit moments. This is another 4K UHD offering where HDR and/or Dolby Vision can either cool or warm things, depending on the scene. The opening sequence with the schoolgirls, for example, struck me as at least somewhat warmer looking than Arrow's 1080 version, but later in the film a lot of the newsroom material had a somewhat cooler, and noticeably more brown to beige appearance. There are some passing improvements in shadow detail, notably in the last third or so of the film, but there are certainly still moments where relatively little can be discerned within the frame. The use of "video" throughout leads to some variant results, with some of the supposedly "contemporary" video footage actually not coming off too badly with the increase in resolution this format offers, but much of the actual "cursed" video footage still retaining the intentionally ragged, shoddy appearance it has always had. Grain is very heavy at times, to the point that some of the seafaring material somewhat later in the film looks like there may be an insect swarm flying through the skies, but on the whole, resolves without any issues. My score is 4.25.

Ringu 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ring 's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is alternately subtle and overpowering, and as such will probably delight a lot of audiophiles. The film's sound design is peppered with fun and at times spooky ambient environmental effects, and there are bursts of both LFE to encourage "startle" reactions and some high frequency "whines" that will almost inherently cause an unsettling feeling. There's a really good accounting of things like ambient reverb in settings like the cloistered environment of the film's climax. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track.

Ringu 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 4K UHD disc ports over all of the supplements from Arrow's previous 1080 release, and adds an interesting new one with Jasper Sharp.

• Audio Commentary by David Kalat


• The Ring Legacy (HD; 27:34) comes replete with a spoiler warning, but offers a slew of talking heads reminiscing about what the film has meant to them and the public at large.


• A Vicious Circle (HD; 21:12) is an interview with Kat Ellinger where she discusses Hideo Nakata and the entire Ring series.


• Circumnavigating Ring (HD; 24:56) is an interesting video essay by Alexander Heller-Nicholas where she discusses the Ring cycle (sorry, couldn't resist).


• Spooks, Sighs and Videotape (HD; 37:29) bears a copyright date of 2019, but was not on the 1080 disc I reviewed several years ago, perhaps due to size limitations. This offers the always insightful Jasper Sharp giving a history of J-horror and an overview of Ring and its legacy.


• Sadako's Video (HD; 00:50) is for those wanting to tempt fate, I guess. You're going to watch, aren't you?


• Ring / Spiral Double Bill Trailer 1 (HD; 1:11)


• Ring / Spiral Double Bill Trailer 2 (HD; 2:03)


• UK Trailer (HD; 00:53)


• Image Gallery (HD)

Additionally this limited edition features a reversible sleeve, a double sided fold out poster and an illustrated booklet with essays by Violet Lucca and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. Finally, packaging features a slipcover.

Ringu 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It may not seem like it now due to so many sequels and/or remakes, but Ring really was kind of sui generis when it first appeared in 1998, and it's still a uniquely unnerving film in several regards. Arrow's release sports solid technical merits and appealing supplements. Highly recommended.