This is an earlier TV version of the seminal Japanese film "Ringu", which was later remade in both America and in Korea and spawned plenty of sequels in all three countries. It is basically the same story as the later "Ringu" film except the female reporter and her child has been replaced by a childless male reporter, and his partner is now a middle-aged college professor, who takes time out from banging his nubile female students to help his younger friend deal with the cursed videotape. This is not as good as "Ringu" or the first American reboot "The Ring", but it is an entertaining enough film that only recently became available with "fansub" English subtitles.The only thing new this really brings to the table is some "pink" (sex) elements that the later films didn't have. Besides, the lecherous professor, you have one young couple who die while having graphic sex (a scene that includes a surprising flash of not entirely pixillated female pubic hair--I expect the Japanese censors hung the editor upside down and beat him on the soles of his feet). The nude/sex scenes don't really add to the movie, but they don't really distract from it either. I did find some of them hilariously exploitative, like the first scene where the protagonist's ill-fated niece, who here is a lone teenage girl rather than a pair of them, runs into the bathroom for some reason only to drop dead in the shower, which then turns on for no other apparent motive than to get her t-shirt wet and display her breasts. (This is obviously a little more low-rent affair than the later Hideo Nakata film. . .). The biggest changes in the film meanwhile are to the evil "Sadako" character who, instead of being a child, in this movie is a sexy and oft-naked young woman (once again, for obvious exploitation reasons).Still, as a fan of both "Ring"-type movies and Japanese "pinku eiga", I couldn't very well pass this up. It's pretty much what I expected overall.

This film was produced by and originally shown on Fuji TV in Japan. Nevertheless, expect a bit of nudity (five scenes in all) and an attempted rape.For a TV movie, this is surprisingly well filmed. People who are familiar with the 1998 theatrical film will follow the plot just fine. It's essentially the same, with some minor differences (Sadako's back story is different and the reporter is a male, for example).I live in Japan, and this is the first "Ring" movie that most of my Japanese friends saw. Many of them claim it is scarier than the theatrical remake, but I cannot concur. The warped photos, videotape, ending, and generally eerie feel of the Japanese theatrical version make it far superior.