This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Although Spiral contradicts many things in the original film ringu it is actually based on the sequel book written by the original author of Ringu. He also worked closely with the director when making Spiral. He actually wrote three books in total but the third hasn't been made into a film probably due to the lack of popularity of spiral. If anything this version/universe of Ringu is more to what the author intended and is not an awful film I thought it had quite a good plot twist at the end, however it isn't wholly satisfying as it does contradict the original to much and takes away most of the horror aspect of Sadako. I think it should be appreciated as it is a well made film and is based on the authors original intentions as a sequel to the Ringu he created in his original novel and not despised as an attempt at a sequel just made up by this director as that isn't the case.

"The Spiral" or "Rasen" starts with us meeting the suicidal Mitsuo Andou (Japanese star Koichi Sato), depressed and sorry that he allowed his son to drown in the sea. However, he can't bring himself to slit his wrists. That morning he gets a call from his buddy Miyashita (Shingo Tsurumi) telling him that the guy on the chopping board that day is Ryuji Takayama (played by the great Hiroyuki Sanada), who was Andou's old rival in Med. School.During the autopsy (which is about the only scary thing in the movie!) Andou has a flashback about how he and Ryuji used to always make number codes for words. When they find a clot in Ryuji's neck, guess what's there! Nope, one of the number codes! (So some how, Ryuji managed to swallow that before he died, even when he didn't know he'd happen!) After doing the autopsy, the inspector tells them that he's suspicious of Ryuji's ex-wife Reiko Asakawa, whom they seem to think murdered him. Trying to find out more answers, he talks to Ryuji's girlfriend, the boring and extremely dull Mai Takano (played bluntly by Miki Nakatani). Some how (despite the fact that in 'Ring' Ryuji never told anyone about videotape and never went near anyone but Reiko), Mai knows everything about the cursed videotape and says that's why Ryuji died.That night, Andou take the numbered paper found in Ryuji's throat home and decides to work it out. The codes come up as 'D-N-A'. Andou thinks it's rubbish. (Insert boring and pointless moment with Mai here). Andou goes to the lab to show Miyashita why Ryuji really died. It turns out that he had a tumor in his heart. Just then, Andou and Miyashita are called on to do a quick autopsy... Reiko Asakawa and Yoichi Asakawa have been found.As soon as Andou hears that Yoichi died too... He cries (the only mourner!). Suddenly, Yoshino (Reiko's head of dept.) turns up and points out that a video deck is in the car.Andou finds that strange, and he starts to believe Mai was right! (Insert yet another pointless view of Mai walking down the street looking sorry for herself!) Cut to Mai getting a letter with maths info and a picture of a man and a young boy, holding hands...What it means... We'll never, ever know... believe me.2 out of 5 stars.

Set almost immediately after the events of Ringu (1998), Rasen/Spiral tells us the story of Mitsuo Ando (Koichi Sato), a forensics doctor who gets wrapped up with the "Ring curse" when his the body of an old friend, Ryuji Takayama (Hiroyuki Sanada, reprising his character from Ringu), makes its way onto his autopsy table. Will the curse continue? Series Note: There are many different films, television series, books, comic books, etc. based on the "Ring Universe", and it's very complicated trying to sort them out. Rasen/Spiral was the original "Ringu 2". As such, it should be watched after Ringu (1998) (which you can choose to watch after Ringu 0: Basudei (2000), which is a prequel) and before or after the now official Ringu 2, made in 1999, which was made when audience reaction to Rasen/Spiral was less than favorable.Like the other Japanese Ring films, Rasen/Spiral is a mixed bag. For much of its length it is a relatively slow moving drama, with only subtle horror elements. Yet, much of it is very atmospheric and when the horror material arrives, it is as effective as anything else in the series. In fact, if the film had continued with the tone of the first ten minutes, this would easily be my favorite Japanese Ring film--a far cry from the travesty that many claim. As it turned out, writer/director Joji Iida doesn't sustain that level of excellence, but he periodically returns to it. Rasen/The Spiral is also notable for the bizarre sci-fi turns it takes, which gradually become more absurdist (a good quality in my book) until the climax. If you're a fan of that kind of material, and you do not mind sequels with vastly different tones and foci, you should like this film a lot. For some others, the attempted scientific explanations of the "Ring curse" are a turn-off that saps some of the supernatural creepiness out of the rest of the series.At the end of Ringu, scripter Hiroshi Takahashi and director Hideo Nakata suggested that the Ring curse operated something like a paranormal, deadly chain letter. In one of the better moves of Rasen/Spiral, Iida quickly trashes that idea. He pulls the rug out from our expectations and dispatches characters who were the focus in the previous film. On Iida's account, and possibly in the Koji Suzuki novel (also called Spiral) upon which Rasen/Spiral's script is based, The Ring curse is much less benign than such an easy solution would have it. Of course, audiences often feel alienated when their former heroes are so wantonly disposed in a sequel (and I'm guessing that's part of the reason for making an alternate reality Ringu 2 where the characters Reiko (Nanako Matsushima) and Yoichi Asakawa (Rikiya Otaka) return), but it's a move I love. I'm definitely a fan of nihilism in films, especially in light of its relative rarity. An American film that alienated audiences in a similar way, and which I also loved, is Alien 3 (1992).Suzuki and Iida make Rasen/Spiral nicely parallel symbolically to the overall metaphors of the series. "Ring" is called ring for many reasons. The ring of the phone, the circle of the well, the moon, the shape of the mirror, the chain letter aspect, Sadako's eye, the circuitous route the curse takes via its video instantiations, and even the temporal period between encountering the video and the curse coming to its resolution, if one takes a cyclical view of time (as is more the case in many Asian cultures). Spiral is an extension of a Ring, figuratively and literally. The sci-fi aspect of the story this time around has the curse as more of a virus, which under the microscope looks ring-shaped with a "bruised" side, corresponding to the crack in the well. The path of the curse is more complex and spiraling this time around. And of course, a strand of DNA is a spiral.DNA is important in this film. Ryuji first gives Ando an indirect clue to DNA via a piece of paper that Ando finds in Ryuji's stomach, and which he translates as "dada" (or "father", or "parent/parentage"), then "DNA". This thread of the plot eventually supplies the outrageously strange climax, which is just as much in the genre of "rubber reality" films as sci-fi, and keeps with the admirable nihilism evidenced earlier on.Except for one small episode, and a few flashbacks or expository "fill-ins" to get new viewers up to speed, Sadako (Ringu's villain) is barely present in this film in her "normal" instantiation (she also happens to be portrayed by a different actress--Hinako Saeki, rather than Ringu's Rie Inou or Ringu 0's Yukie Nakama). The nature of the curse has changed. The subtext of the film makes Rasen/Spiral easily interpretable as an allegorical doom-harbinger for eugenics. Past evils have produced a quick, contagious and deadly mutated virus, only conquerable by genetic manipulation, which could just result in a new species supplanting Homo sapiens. The scientists--all doctors in this case--are both the saviors and the villains. Appropriately, Iida has physician supporting characters mysteriously vacillating from helpers/heroes to the infected/untrustworthy.Unfortunately, some of this heady nightmare and ghost-fueled reality twisting is dampened by extended forays into "serious drama-land", and even a touch of an obligatory romance, ala Ringu 0. But it's never too long before the next supernatural occurrence, and to keep you entertained on the way, Rasen/Spiral has some of the better cinematography of the series.I'm not someone who finds any films scary (even as a kid I never did) so I can't compare Rasen/Spiral to the rest of the series in that respect, but as a quality artwork touching on serious, important themes, this film deserves to not be missed, especially if you're at all a fan of the Ring series.

I just want to start by saying I don't find this film anywhere near as bad as most seem to. The mistake is viewing this as a direct sequel to "Ringu", made at the same time by a different director it of course does not have the same feel, or menace as its predecessor. Since most people will watch the original first the change in tone is hard to accept. A lot of people also declare this to detach itself too far from the original and explain too much of the mystery with science. When in fact the first two Ring novels have a firm root in science. I also found "Ringu 2" to be just as guilty at favouring science over the unknown, the difference being "Rasen" does explain things thoroughly. The major disappointment here is that I never really felt anything close to fear, or even uneasiness. However in terms of drama, and expanding on the first this film succeeds. The cinematography is just stunning, and the final scene is a scene I find just as disturbing as the ending of "Ringu", not in a fear inducing way, but in a contemplative sort of way. It is also a beautiful scene, and the whole film is well shot. Unlike "Ringu" the acting is a mixed bag, Koichi Sato just about holds up, but as the lead he seems to struggle with acting with emotion, which is a minus considering his character deals with suicide. Overall I think the film should be watched, as a side-note to "Ringu" but judged on its own merits, as it certainly surpasses many scientific thrillers around.