Rasen (1998)

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.

Director:

Jôji Iida

Writers:

Jôji Iida (screenplay), Kôji Suzuki (novel)

Stars:

Kôichi Satô, Miki Nakatani, Hinako Saeki

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kôichi Satô	...	Mitsuo Andô
Miki Nakatani	...	Mai Takano
Hinako Saeki	...	Sadako Yamamura
Shingo Tsurumi	...	Miyashita
Shigemitsu Ogi	...	Maekawa Keibuho
Yutaka Matsushige	...	Yoshino
Daisuke Ban	...	Heihachirô Ikuma
Naoaki Manabe	...	Kobayashi
Naoto Adachi	...	Funakoshi
Eri Kakurai	...	Rieko Andô
Ryûichi Sugahara	...	Takanori Andô
Masanobu Yada	...	Junsa Buchô
Ryûma Uchida	...	Kansatsui Joshu
Chû Takatsuki	...	Kirokui
Kôzô Satô	...	Shashin Gakari

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

death | pathologist | videotape | curse | sequel | 

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Taglines:

The Spiral brings the dead back to life.

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

31 January 1998 (Japan)

Also Known As:

A spirál

Company Credits

Production Co:

Omega Project, Imagica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The author of the book, Kôji Suzuki, makes an appearance as the smiling father with his family in the fairground train.

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Quotes

Ryuji Takayama: You couldn't slit your wrists but you happily tore apart me!

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Connections

Follows Ring (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Yuganda tokei"
Performed by HIIH

User Reviews

Has a familiar ring to it.

Forget everything you might have seen in Ring 2 and Ring 0: Rasen (AKA The Spiral) takes a different approach to the other sequels of Hideo Nakata's influential J-horror Ringu.

In this version of the events that follow the first film, Koichi Sato plays Mitsuo Ando, a grief stricken pathologist who contemplates suicide after the tragic death of his young son, but who finds himself unable to go through with the act.

When he is called upon to perform an autopsy on his old friend Ryuji Takayama (Hiroyuki Sanada), Ando discovers the existence of the cursed VHS tape that caused so much trouble in Ringu. After cracking a code left to him by his deceased pal, Ando comes to believe that the deadly tape was intended as a macabre present which would provide the solution to his suffering.

The truth, however, is far more sinister: Takayama's gift to Ando is actually the return of his son, but for this feat to be possible, Ando must first betray the whole of humanity by allowing Sadako's curse to spiral out of control.

Although a slow moving and often rather confusing movie, Rasen is not an entirely worthless experience: the film introduces some interesting ideas about the true nature of the curse and reveals its objective—to alter the course of the entire human race. Casual horror fans might be disappointed by the distinct lack of scares, and once again gore is almost non-existent, but Rasen should be enjoyable enough for those who love creepy Asian flicks and don't mind doing a bit of research to fill in the blanks (apparently, reading the books helps a lot with understanding the story).