| Ring 0: Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Japanese theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Norio Tsuruta |
| Screenplay by | Hiroshi Takahashi |
| Based on | Lemon Heart byKoji Suzuki |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Takahide Shibanushi[1] |
| Edited by | Hiroshi Sunaga[1] |
| Music by | Shinichiro Ogata[1] |
Production company | Ring 0 Production Group Production[1] |
| Distributed by | Toho Co., Ltd. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 99 minutes[1] |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Ring 0: Birthday (リング0 バースデイ,Ringu Zero: Bāsudei) is a 2000 Japanesesupernaturalpsychological thriller film directed byNorio Tsuruta, from ascreenplay by Hiroshi Takahashi, based on the short story "Lemon Heart" from theBirthdayanthology byKoji Suzuki. Aprequel toRing (1998), the story follows the life of the character ofSadako Yamamura just before she consigned to her fate seen in the laterRing series.
Ring 0, along withIsola was known for being one of the earliest Japanese live-action psychological thriller-focused films to be released theatrically. as well as the first psychological thriller films which released theatrically in Japan during early 2000s to gross over ¥1 billion in distribution income, preceding other releases likeThe Beach,Unbreakable,Vanilla Sky andPanic Room.Ring 0: Birthday was nominated for the 2001 edition ofFantasporto, but lost toAmores perros.
In the present, a girl confesses to her friend that she watched the cursed videotape. She also recounts having nightmares, including seeing Sadako's murder by Dr. Ikuma.
30 years prior, Miyaji, the fiancé of a fellow reporter who was killed during Shizuko's infamous ESP demonstration, interviews Shizuko's daughter Sadako's former elementary school teacher Sudo, about Sadako'snensha powers. Sudo recounts how Sadako was withdrawn as a child and predicted her classmates drowning in the ocean during a field trip. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Sadako joins an acting troupe as anunderstudy. Her natural charisma infuriates the lead actress, Aiko, whose relationship with the troupe director, Shigemori, sours due to the latter's newfound favor for Sadako. Aiko is later found dead, having been haunted by a figure in white, so Sadako takes her place. Sadako and troupe sound director Hiroshi Toyama are attracted to each other, much to the disappointment of costume designer Etsuko Tachihara, who harbours feelings for Toyama. While praised by Shigemori and Toyama, the other troupe members grow to distrust and fear Sadako, as they suspect that she is the one who caused Aiko's death and other supernatural occurrences, including an apparition of a girl in white with long hair similar to Sadako's.
Miyaji is told by Sudo that Shizuko descended into madness before her suicide, ever since moving to live with Dr. Heihachiro Ikuma, and that Sudo heard strange childlike noises in the attic. Etsuko, wanting to discover Sadako's origins, contacts Sadako's psychiatrist, but he refuses to answer and throws away Sadako's troupe's poster; the poster is taken by Miyaji's assistant, allowing him and Miyaji to locate Sadako in the troupe. When they start photographing her, she telekinetically breaks the camera; the two discover that all the photographs contain ghostly faces and a girl with long hair, confirming Miyaji's suspicion of "two" Sadakos. Shigemori, obsessed with Sadako, says he will kill her if she tries to kill him. Toyama interrupts, and Shigemori is killed through a blow that also wounds Toyama. Sadako heals him just by touching him; later, she helps a disabled man regain his ability to walk. After finishing their last play, the two confess their love and promise to leave the troupe and live together.
The play is a disaster as Sadako, influenced by recordings of her mother's demonstration played by Etsuko, sees visions of her mother during the demonstration and kills her psychiatrist. The troupe members, discovering Shigemori's body, corner her and beat her to death. Pursuing the "second" Sadako, they visit Ikuma at his home, who tells them that Sadako split into two beings resembling each of her parents; the malevolent one, who resembles her unknown father, is kept from growing by Ikuma in the attic. Before they can kill it, both Sadakos merge and escape with Toyama. Sadako stalks and kills all the troupe members in her merged form, including Toyama. Miyaji and Etsuko hide in an empty cabin in the woods. Rather than face Sadako's wrath, Miyaji shoots Etsuko and herself.
Ikuma finds Sadako, who has recovered and is tearfully mourning her actions. Ikuma drugs her and chases her outside to the well. Despite her pleas, he brains her with an axe and throws her down the well before breaking down in tears. Sadako dreams of meeting Toyama again before waking, and screams as the stone lid of the well is slid into place, trapping her inside.
In 1999,Koji Suzuki concluded theRing series by including a fourth entry titledBirthday, which collected three short stories that filled in details of the story.[2]Asmik Ace decided to hireRing andRing 2 screenwriter Hiroshi Takahashi to adapt the short stories ofBirthday,[2] Takahashi decided to only adapt the storyLemonheart fromBirthday due to thecomplex nature of theShort story collection.Lemonheart captured the life of the character ofSadako just before she was consigned to the fate seen in the laterRing series.[2]Hideo Nakata was offered to directRing 0, whileKenji Kawai was offered the chance to compose the music of the film by Takasige Ichise, the producer ofRing andRing 2; however, both Nakata and Kawai turned down the offer.[2]
OnceRing 0 went into production, numerous changes were made to the film production staff. The director for the film was the first change, as Nakata was replaced byNorio Tsuruta.[2] Tsuruta had previously worked on direct-to-video horror scripts such asHonto ni atta kowai hanashi (Scary True Stories) in 1991, and wrote and directed the sequel.[3] After working on twoPachinko-themed feature films in between 1993 and 1994 and eight direct-to-video horror works between 1991 and 1996, Tsuruta subsequently took a hiatus for nearly three years. Tsuruta's first work after his hiatus was "Tatari", the second episode of theKansai TV Tanpatsu dramaHaunted School: Spring Haunting Special in March 1999, which Tsuruta directed while Takahashi took responsibility for the screenplay.[3] Tsuruta was offered the chance to direct by Takahashi, due to their having previously collaborated on "Tatari".[3] Tsuruta referred to the film as "a tragedy" with a theme about "a young woman who is oppressed because she is different from everyone else. In Japan, there is great pressure not to stray too far from the norm".[4] TheAssistant director for Tsuruta would be Shozo Katashima.[a] The second change was the cinematographer, which would now be handled by Takahide Shibanushi.[b] The third change was theSound recording and reproduction director, which was previously handled by Kiyoshi Kakizawa inRing 2; he was replaced by Tetsuo Segawa, a veteran sound recording director who started his sound recording career during the lateJapanese New Wave era.[c] The fourth change was thesound effects director, which was handled by Kenji Shibazaki inRing andRing 2; however, Shibazaki was replaced byShizuo Kurahashi, a veteran sound effects editor/designer when the film went into production.[d] The fifth change was theScript supervisor, which was handled by Kumiko Yoshida inRing 2; however, Yoshida was replaced by Yoshimi Amaike when the film went into production.[e] The last change for the film production staff was theArt director, which was handled by Iwao Saito onRing,Rasen andRing 2; however, Sato was replaced by Osamu Yamaguchi when the film went into production.[f] Genre-wise,Ring 0 retained theJ-Horror trappings found inRing andRing 2. However, thetechno-horror genre that madeRing famous was now abandoned in favor ofpsychological thriller,[5] a genre that manyHollywood directors as well as someEast Asian filmmakers had already explored, such asDavid Fincher,David Lynch,Martin Scorsese,M. Night Shyamalan,Satoshi Kon andKiyoshi Kurosawa,[6][7][8] but many other East Asian filmmakers and screenwriters, including Tsuruta and Takahashi themselves, were not familiar with.
Yukie Nakama was cast in the role ofSadako.[9] After Nakama's friends had seenRing, they teased her about her resemblance to Sadako.[9] Nakama was later contacted by her agent, who mentioned they were looking for actresses for the role of Sadako and tried out for the role.[9] She received confirmation of her having been cast in the role two weeks later.[9]
"finale" by Japanese rock groupL'Arc-en-Ciel, was used as the film official theme song, and it was released asDouble A-side single, three days before the film's release.[10] The band performed "finale" for the first time on the "RESET>>LIVE *000" Concerts at theTokyo Big Sight on December 31, 1999.[11] The music video of "finale" was directed byWataru Takeishi.[g] Unlike many music videos from the songs that were a part of a film soundtrack or featured in a film at that time (such as "I Disappear" byMetallica and"Take a Look Around" byLimp Bizkit, both fromMission: Impossible 2), the music video of "finale" doesn't incorporate any film footage into it.[12] Despite the video not featuring any clips from the movie, it could not be included on any of the DVD releases of the film, although it was included in the band's second video compilationChronicle 2 in 2001.[13] the full track version of "finale" was appeared on the band's eighth studio album, "Real".[14] while the four minute long theatrical cut version of "finale" would only appear in theClosing credits ofRing 0: Birthday, as well as a live performance on music TV shows, such asMusic Station andCount Down TV; it was not included in the film's official soundtrack CD released byKadokawa Shoten Publishing. Furthermore, the name of the theme song was kept secret on all print advertisements, posters, television commercials and press material forRing 0: Birthday, except the theatrical pamphlet and the double feature trailers, as a part ofSony Music Entertainment Japan's decision to use several marketing tactics for "Neo Universe/Finale" to increase sales.
Ring 0: Birthday was released in Japan on January 22, 2000, where it was distributed byToho.[1] It was released on a double bill withIsola.[15] The film was theatrically released in Malaysia asRing 0: The Origin on December 19, 2002, where it was distributed byBuena Vista-Columbia TriStar Distribution Joint Venture.[16] In the Philippines, the film was theatrically released asRing-0: The Birthday on May 21, 2003.[17]
Ring 0: Birthday was released onVHS andDVD format shortly after its theatrical run in Japan, with aNTSC-J region VHS released first on July 21, 2000,[18] followed by theRegion 2-lockedDVD released on October 27, 2000,[19] both from Kadokawa Video.[19] The 2000 Kadokawa Video DVD release presented the film in its original 1.85:1Anamorphic widescreen format with JapaneseDolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, and included the extra features that were unavailable on the VHS released, including the cast and crew interviews,behind-the-scenes featurettes,Deleted scenes,theatrical trailers and TV commercial/teasers for the film.[19]
The film was released in United Kingdom as a straight-to-video release byTartan Video (under their Asia Extreme Label) on February 25, 2002, in both VHS and Region 0-DVD format.[20] The 2002 Tartan Asia Extreme release presented the film in its original 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen format, though it carried no special features apart from filmographies, photo galleries and trailers for other Tartan Asia Extreme releases.[21]
On April 28, 2003Madman Entertainment and The AV Channel co-announced thatRing 0: Birthday would release in Australia through the Eastern Eye Label as a straight-to-video release in June 11 of that same year on both VHS and Region 0-DVD format.[22][23] The 2003 Madman/Eastern Eye release presented the film in the 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen format instead of the original 1.85:1 anamorphic format found in the Kadokawa Video and the Tartan Asia Extreme release, and carried no special features apart from filmographies, photo galleries and trailers forHellsing,Samsara,Spirited Away,Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust andWendigo.[21][24] There is aneaster egg located in the extras features menu. When the Madman Propaganda is highlighted, the viewer can press the leftdirectional button to highlight aKanji character on the girl's tongue, then press the Enter button. By doing this, the cursed video used in the previous films will play.[25]
Tartan later released the film as a part ofThe Ring Trilogy DVD boxset on October 25, 2004, in both 3-DiscKeep case Standard Edition (theRing andRing 2 discs are region-free, while theRing 0: Birthday disc is region 2-locked; all discs include the same special features found on the 2002 Tartan Asia Extreme release)[26] and 4-Disc Region 2-locked DVDDigipakRemastered-Collector's Edition (including the additional disc which containsSleeping Bride and the inclusion of theDTS 5.1 soundtrack option in all discs (the DTS 5.1 soundtrack are recorded at abitrate of 768 kbit/s), both of which are unavailable in the Standard Edition).[27][21][28] The 2004The Ring Trilogy Collector's Edition Released ofRing 0: Birthday presented the film in the 1.78:1 Anamorphic widescreen format found in the Madman/Eastern Eye release, and contain special features including film notes byKim Newman and three extra features found in the 2000 Kadokawa Video DVD release: behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes and theatrical trailers.[21] The 2004The Ring Trilogy Collector's Edition release of the film also included the Dolby Digital 5.1 (recorded at a bitrate of 384 kbit/s) and DTS 5.1 soundtrack option (Both in Japanese), in addition to the Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtrack (recorded at a bitrate of 192 kbit/s) found in the 2002 Tartan Asia Extreme release.[21][27] The film was released direct-to-video in the United States under the titleRingu 0 on August 23, 2005, byDreamWorks/Universal Home Video.[1]
The online film databaseAllMovie gave the film two stars out of five, referring to it as a "mediocreCarrie rip" and that it "can only be truly reviled as a desecration of the originalRingu's uniquely persuasive and subtle horror". The review noted that the "film's effort to explain exactly who Sadako (Yukie Nakama) is and how she became a powerful evil force, the film heaps contrivance upon contrivance, mixing clichés from backstage melodramas with those fromCarrie and all its imitators, and leaving the viewer with little beyond the strength of Nakama's appealing performance and a few mild scares to hang on to".[29]
The film opened in third place at the Japanese box office.[30]
The 'Ring' phenomenon goes back to its roots to find your worst nightmare... Sadako!
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