OutRun2

Which one is scarier and which one should I get?

Supermallet

Both are nothing but rip-offs of other, better horror films. Get the Japanese Ring instead.

RichC2

The Ring > (Japanese) Ring
Ju-on > The Grudge (though this is really comparing shit to shit)

J-Horror has entertaining atmosphere but is kind of overrated, and in a really bad dry spell now.

Groucho

Neither are great, but I give a slight edge to The Grudge as the stories in it are a bit more cohesive.

areacode212

Yeah, neither of them is especially good, but The Grudge is slightly less repetitive. Ju-on is entertaining in its own way, but it's too long, and feels like the same scene played over and over again.

My favorite of this batch of movies is The Ring (American).

OutRun2

thanks guys. I think I'll go ahead and skip both of them

mikelowry

You may buy both movies and see for yourself. I enjoyed both versions.

TheBigDave

I really enjoyed Ju-on 2 much more than the first Ju-on (the Japanese versions). While there are better Japanese horror films, both movies are pretty good. And if you're not tired of the long-haired-Asian-ghost-girl genre, then you should give these a spin.

I'm not a big fan of the American remakes. They aren't totally horrible like many remakes. But I think the originals are much better.

In regards to The Ring, I preferred the American remake over the original.

CKMorpheus

I really liked The Grudge. In a dark room with 5.1, it's extremely unnerving, and because it's very rhythmically paced (Calm, suspense, mystery, climax, calm suspense, mystery, climax) you know to expect something, which makes it all the more unnerving.

Matthew Chmiel

I call bullshit. The last two minutes of the original runs miles around the entire American production.

RichC2

Pssh, I call fanboyism. The original's ending worked a little better but didn't run miles around anything. And the final extra act of desperation really didn't have the intended effect, imho. Doesn't help that the rest of The Ring is leagues better than the rest of Ring. I will say, however, when I saw the original Ring I commented "If they remake this, it will be huge in the US." due to how well executed the ending was (and as a nation of film goers, we seem to love our twist endings)... The remake captured most of that just fine.

And I agree with whoever recommended Ju-on: The Grudge 2. That movie was fun, it's like the director realized how over the top it was all getting and decided to goof around with it a bit. The puzzle-structure of the kills and the finale were great.

Supermallet

In what way is The Ring better than Ring? Verbinski isn't a bad director, but he's got no sense of atmosphere. Hideo Nakata, on the other hand, keeps raising the tension, like the turning of a screw, until it's completely unbearable, and only then does he pull out the ending, which is so far beyond The Ring in craft and terror that there's no comparison to be made. Verbinski goes for more jump scares, but it doesn't award him the big payoff. Nakata's film is all about simplicity, Verbinski's is much more scattershot and far less effective.

RichC2

The way I see it, if you reversed Nakata and Verbinski in your comments you'd have my general reaction. I rarely had a feeling of suspense in Nakata's version, everything seemed to serve as a plot device and there was never a sense of urgency (though the US version lacked this as well), and things were generally scattershot. I also was not a fan of the, as I remember it, more supernatural back story for Sadako's mom. Plus the flashbacks, while a weakness in both films, felt more grounded in the US version. In short, I thought the US Version flowed a lot better.

The atmosphere was far better developed in the US version and the visual styling was generally more effective, imho. Generally speaking, I was fidgeting with the original, and while the ending was cool, it came more as a "finally" than a "whoa!" or anything of the sorts. I will say, though, the original scores points for being original, and the remake loses points for some clunky dialog. Overall though, I still greatly prefer the remake. While the film making merits can be argued to death, enjoyment factor really can't.

But regardless, I own the Ringu Collection dreamworks put out a while back and The Ring as I find the series entertaining in its own right. My preference is just with the (again with the imo) more atmospheric and beautifully shot remake.

Edit: Pardon the rambling nature of this post, kind of pretending to work while I type it.

Supermallet

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree. Throughout The Ring I continually found myself asking why Verbinski felt the need to keep adding in more and more (some of the stuff is from the Japanese sequel, and some of it, like the horses, is just completely made up), when the original was so brilliantly minimalist. Also, Ring hews much closer to the book, which is a great read in its own right.

RichC2

The horse scene fit the scenario for the remakes plot, with the notable changes. It wasn't trying to be a scene for scene remake which affords it come credit, though i know what you're saying. And I agree, the book was a good read.

While we're on the subject (asian horror I guess), has anyone seen Epitaph?

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Like the style, even if it does seem like more of the same.

Kurt D

I'm casting my vote for Juon: The Curse, it's the original DTV (1.33:1) version of Juon: The Grudge, and pulls no punches - basically just 5 or 6 slowww scenes of building tension with little in the way of 'American' style shock-release. BUT - if you are at all familiar with what happens in the varying Juon scenarios the impact is far less.

For my money, each successive version is worse than the last.

DullandWitless

juno.

Rival11

I agree with this.

Brack

that Ellen Page scared the bejesus out of me.

Gunde

Juon 2 is a good movie. Much better than 1.

However try and see if you can track down the original Ju-on tv movie that spawned all the rest. That one's creepy as hell

DullandWitless

I want to do her.

Zeitgeist

After watching Hard Candy there is no part of me that wants to do Ellen Page.

I could go into why, but I rather those who haven't watch Hard Candy to sit back and enjoy the hilarity.