Sadako (Movie Review)

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

PLOT: Whan a young girl survives a tragic occurence, she finds herself under the care of a young and sympathetic doctor. However, when the doctor's YouTube celeb brother disappears, she realizes that the girl may be a key to something familiar and terrifying.

REVIEW: Back in 1998, a Japanese filmmaker by the name of Hideo Nakata brought us a vengeful spirit ready to freak folks the f*ck out with RINGU. The film offered enough chills to bring this story of a videotape and a creepy girl in a well back for more with sequels, and a well received remake called THE RING directed by Gore Verbinski. It was a success, and it only helped continue to bring scary girls with long black hair to the cinema on a regular basis. From THE GRUDGE to THE RING, this became a common theme in horror, but it was also one that grew a bit tiring after a few too many similarly themed tales of terror. Included in that were a number of sequels for the American and the Japanese versions.

And now, in 2019, we have yet another flick involving the benevolent ghost that haunted the original films. SADAKO brings this story to the modern age with YouTube personality references, and of course, that creepy young girl who feels the need to crawl out of television sets only to scare folks to death. This time, when a mysterious young girl (Himeka Himejima) appears in a hospital after surviving a horrific experience, her appearance leads to questions for a young doctor named Mayu (Elaiza Ikeda). Things get especially complicated when Mayu’s brother Kazuma (Hiroya Shimizu) decides to go to the crime scene in hopes to get hits for his YouTube type series. All of it leads to the return of a familiar face in the J-horror world, and there’s not a TV she won’t crawl out of.

THE RING or RINGU are both intriguing films. However, it’s questionable how well this specific horror tale really holds up. Nakata – and screenwriter Noriaki Sugihara – have crafted a modern take on the cursed child SADAKO. The images from the creepy video are back. The spooky well that hides a girl’s vengeful spirit is back. And of course, be weary of a flickering television with disturbing images, because that’s back too. The only thing missing is the video tape, because now, the curse is taking advantage of the internet and spreading the word of fear far and wide without a crappy VHS player. Yet even with the inclusion of new media, this sequel/continuation or whatever you want to call it, is quite dull and only occasionally interesting.

As far as the cast is concerned, the only one that left an impression was Ikeda as a kind-hearted doctor trying to help a girl in need. The actress is sympathetic enough to engage in, but unfortunately the story around her is so ridiculously convoluted that it takes a lot to keep involved. Much of the problem is the exploration of the “YouTube generation” and the wannabe internet celebrity of Kazuma. In fact, his entire involvement is forced and feels like a desperate attempt to breath more life into this predictable tale. The connection between Mayu and her brother lacked any real drama, and frankly I was far more interested in the connection between Mayu and the girl who survived the tragic occurrence – yes I’m purposefully being vague so you have a least one or two surprises from this if you decide to watch.

Perhaps your enjoyment of SADAKO will depend on how much you like this particular franchise in general. If you’ve been entertained by the sequels, this may be tolerable to you. However, if you appreciated the original and either haven’t seen the following films or just didn’t connect with them, this probably won’t reignite the fire. That’s not to say that this is a terrible film, it’s simple serviceable at best. You’ll find nothing new aside from the whole YouTube celebrity angle. Hideo Nakata hasn’t reinvented the wheel here. He’s taken the videotape away, but it doesn’t make this nightmare feel any more relevant or interesting. And more importantly, it’s just not scary.

SADAKO is yet another attempt to make a girl crawling out a television scary again. The film offers a couple of interesting ideas, but little more than that. Even if you’ve seen one RINGU movie, you’ll find little that’s new or entrancing here. Ultimately this is a continuation that lacks any of the suspense or terror that was found in the original films. What you will find is a convoluted tale that manages to make the mythos of Sadako a bit stale and unimaginative. The performances are fine, and the look of the film is satisfactory, but unless you’re desperately craving a new J-horror flick, you might want to see if there are any other creepy girls with their long, black hair covering their face. Because this time, Sadako feels like she is just going through the motions for another mediocre attempt as genuine scares.