Scarecrowber: Ringu
October 21, 2026
The tale of a killer VHS tape in this groundbreaking Japanese shocker will claw its way out of the screen and into your brain.
When Hideo Nakata’s Ringu first appeared in 1998, it somehow broke containment into the West and spread like a virus, kicking off what would become the J-Horror boom. It’s fitting then that this, the proverbial OG, is about the distribution of a deadly videotape that brings about the wrath of a ghostly little girl who kills anyone who watches it (note to horror movie protagonists: don’t go looking for stuff! You’ll find it). Ringu’s themes of social disconnection and technology in conflict with the resentful past still resonate, but today the VHS vector plays differently, almost as analog’s final assault, angry for being discarded just like the film’s spectral killer.
- Director: Hideo Nakata
- Principal Cast: Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani, Yuko Takeuchi, Hitomi Sato, Rie Inō
- Country: Japan
- Year: 1998
- Running Time: 96 min.
- Producer: Shinya Kawai, Taka Ichise, Takenori Sento
- Screenplay: Hiroshi Takahashi
- Cinematographers: Junichiro Hayashi
- Editors: Nobuyuki Takahashi
- Music: Kenji Kawai
- Language: Japanese with English Subtitles
- Has Subtitles: Yes