Sadako

Director: Tsutomu Hanabusa

Year: 2012

Oh dear...

It's been 15 years since Hideo Nakata introduced the world to dripping wet dead girl, Sadako. A demonic spirit determined to kill whoever watches her cursed videotape. During those 15 years Sadako has been the focus of sequels, prequels, international remakes and TV shows. People really need to learn when enough is enough. The franchise is as dry as an old well...

Disgraced artist, Seiji Kashiwada, vows to get revenge on his belittler’s and the world by resurrecting Sadako. Kashiwada broadcasts his death live, thus spreading Sadako's curse throughout the internet.
It's not long until rumours spread of Kashiwada's cursed video and of the viewers who commit suicide instantly after watching.
Schoolteacher, Akane, overhears her students talking about the mysterious video and when they start dropping like flies she begins to investigate. With the help of her boyfriend, Takanori, and his geeky friend they begin to learn of the videos origins. Things go awry after Takanori is kidnapped by Sadako, though luckily Akane possess a special power (as you do) that can destroy the evil spirit and save the world.

Any sequel is going to face harsh expectations especially with a franchise as popular as Ringu. I, on the other hand, went in with an open mind. I knew from watching the trailers and the 3D gimmick that Sadako was being taken in a different direction to previous entries but I never expected it to be this different.

The thing that made the original Ringu so terrifying was it's relentless brooding atmosphere. You could feel the tension and horror in every gloomy lit scene. An evil of great power was lurking just beyond sight and we never knew where or when she would strike.
Sadako instantly leaps into the shocks. She pops out of TVs, phones and PCs like some hyperactive Jack-in-the-box. It happens so often and expectedly that it just isn't scary; it's laughable. It might have been slightly more 'shocking' if I had seen it in 3D, although the CGI is so atrocious I hardly doubt it.

The plot moves so rapidly that it can be hard to follow. Too many characters and locations make it feel cluttered. Characters are barely given an introduction before they are killed off or we are expected to know the details of their lives automatically. Character development obviously wasn't the focus of this film but there is so little of it in Sadako that you can't emphasise with them and ultimately give up caring. It wasn't until half-way through the film that I realised Akane and Takanori were a couple. That is just how lifeless and flat these characters are portrayed. 

Even the actors are horrified at what they are watching...

Around the half-way mark the plot really fails and the film crumbles around itself even further. I still don't understand the final set piece in which Akane is chased around an abandoned warehouse by an army of spiderlike Sadakos. There really isn't anything worth watching for, not even for a small slice of entertainment you might expect from a film like this. Sadako disappoints in every possible way.

I can't even recommend it to die-hard fans. There is no horror, intelligence or fun to  be found here. Sadako wants to be so much but it doesn't get the balance right. It's 60% slasher, 30% creature feature and 10% mystery/thriller. Actually its just 100% bullshit.