Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Spiral Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 25, 2019

Note: This film is available as part of Ringu Collection.

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 Ringu 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 original film was Ring, so references to that film in particular and the series in general will use that version of the title. That said, the discs in this set sport the Ringu versions of the titles, and so links to films and/or reviews will show that version. Similarly, Spiral is listed with that title on its disc (as opposed to Rasen), so that title will also be used. Confused yet?

Spiral is probably rightly thought of as a sequel to Ringu , though the emphasis should probably be on that indefinite article, for reasons which are outlined in my Ringu 2 Blu-ray review, another sequel to the venerable first film. Both Spiral and Ring 2 share a disc on this release, which is kind of funny in a “meta” sort of way, again as outlined in my review of Ring 2. Watching these films in tandem with each other is kind of like seeing the same (bad?) dream refracted through different prisms, since both films have at least some of the same cast and crew, with some of the cast portraying what are ostensibly the same characters, though with at times vastly different outcomes in the two stories offered. It’s frankly head spinning at times, and may in fact be more inherently interesting than some elements in either “sequel”.

Among the actors and characters shared between these two otherwise rather disparately different sequels are Hiroyuki Sanada as Ryūji Takayama and Miki Nakatani as Mai Takano, but it’s probably not much of a spoiler to reveal that things are “completely different” in Spiral, especially with regard to Ryūji. There’s also a rather interesting development with regard to Yōichi, who assumes a much more central position in RIng 2 (I’m attempting to refrain from any outright spoilers here).

While Mai is on hand here, as documented above, a lot of the investigative work in this entry is given over to Mitsuo Andō (Kōichi Satō), a guy with a history with Ryūji and who is nursing his own wounds from a personal tragedy. There’s a whole “McGuffin” here involving another “artifact” (for want of a better word) tied to Reiko from the first film, but this entire enterprise often feels a little slapdash and not always logical, even within the convoluted confines of the entire Ring franchise.

Spiral Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Spiral is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. While Ringu was granted a complete restoration replete with a new 4K scan of its original 35mm negative, it appears from the verbiage inside the pamphlet sized booklet included in this set that none of the other three films in this release were accorded the same treatment. In fact, all three are lumped together with the following brief explanatory verbiage:

Spiral, Ringu 2 and Ringu 0 are presented in their original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with 5.1 and 2.0 stereo sound. The High Definition masters were provided by Kadokawa Corporation.

Spiral may benefit from some relatively sunnier, more brightly lit, environments than Ring 2, and so its palette arguably has at least a bit more pop to it than the "other" sequel. Close-ups in decent lighting can provide quite good levels of fine detail, but a lot of the film has some pretty heavy blue and green grading that can materially deplete detail levels, as can perhaps be made out by some of the screenshots accompanying this review. Even in some relatively brightly lit outdoor environments, midrange shots don't offer what I'd personally term overwhelming amounts of detail (see screenshot 3 for one example). While grain resolves without any major issues, it can occasionally spike (aside from expected upticks in opticals), with a slightly splotchy yellow appearance (see screenshot 19 for one example).

Spiral Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Spiral features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which supports the film's kind of creepy mood. There are fewer startle effects here than some may expect, and in fact a lot of this film is on the talky side, but there can still be decent surround activity when groups of people are assembled, or when the film ventures outside (which it does with fair regularity). Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track.

Spiral Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: Ring 2 and Spiral share a disc, so supplementary material may relate to one or both films.

• The Psychology of Fear (720p; 25:11) is an interesting archival interview with original Ring author Koji Suzuki. Arrow advertises this as "newly edited". In Japanese with English subtitles.


• Ring 2 UK Trailer (1080p; 00:43)


• Ring 2 / Shikoku Double Bill Trailer (1080p; 1:28)


• Ring / Spiral Double Bill Trailer (1080p; 1:11)

Spiral Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Spiral, kind of like Ring 2 in fact, simply can't recapture the weird, hypnotic "magic" (?) of the original Ring film. Both of these purported sequels are rather interesting in their own way(s), and they make for a really bizarre double feature. Having watched these in close proximity, I personally found Ring 2 at least a little more involving than Spiral, but I'm sure there will be others who feel exactly the opposite. Video is a little lackluster here, but never really problematic, while audio is fine, for those considering a purchase.