When the niece of a journalist dies under mysterious circumstances, the journalist undertakes an investigation to discover the truth about what really happened. She learns of an urban legend about a cursed videotape that causes you to die seven days after viewing it. After she watches the tape, the reporter finds out the hard way that the legend is frighteningly true. Teaming with an eccentric doctor, she must solve the tape's puzzle or perish in seven days.

Eun-kyung Shin ("My Wife is a Gangster") is perfectly cast as the cursed journalist racing against time. Not only is the character attractive, she's also strong, highly intelligent and courageous. Definitely someone you'd want on your side with a deadly video circulating about. Jin-yeong Jeong ("Wild Card") plays Dr. Choi, the local coroner/possible love interest, with the right amount of endearing weirdness. But Choi is insightful enough to realize there might be a supernatural explanation for all the goings on, and dogged enough to pursue the angle when most would dismiss the theory as crazy.

"The Ring Virus" has atmosphere and style in spades, thanks to the direction of Dong-bin Kim. He gives the film a peculiar and at times ethereal sense that differs from the numerous other versions. As a writer, Kim's script is different from the other versions as well, but it nevertheless retains the storyline that made the original film so popular. The musical score by Il Won is noticeably sparse, relying more on ambient noise to create the spooky mood instead of synthesizers or orchestra pieces.

The main problem with the film isn't the fault of the filmmakers at all. The original "The Ring" is originally based on a novel by Koji Suzuki, which has since spawned a graphic novel, a film, two sequels ("Ring 2" and "Ring 0: Birthday"), a spin-off film ("Ring: Spiral"), a television film in Japan, this remake, a US remake, an upcoming U.S. sequel, and not to mention a wicked parody in "Scary Movie 3". Essentially, it's a story too often told and there's only so many different ways you can tell it and still keep it fresh.

"The Ring Virus" is well done, with good performances by its main performers. It is an effort worthy of "The Ring" moniker and fans of the films and books will enjoy this retelling. The only thing that hampers the film somewhat is that the story's been told so often it really has no surprises left to offer. That's not the fault of this production, which relates the tale as well as any other medium. But it's probably time to declare a moratorium on anything to do with "The Ring", before the idea gets overdone into mediocrity.

It is hard to describe the story here for several reasons. First of all, it is nearly a scene-for-scene remake of "Ringu." It is most likely that most readers here have already seen "Ringu" (or the American movie, "Ring") and thus already know what the basic plot will be -- but for the sake of anyone who has not seen these movies, I can’t go into detail -- this entire collection of movies is best if seen with no prior knowledge. I will reiterate that if you have seen "Ringu," you do not need to see this one. The few changes made are mostly cosmetic -- our heroine’s child is now a girl (I believe it was the same in the American remake), and the man who help’s our heroine is now a pompous doctor who has lost his credibility, instead of him being her ex-husband. The only other mentionable change is the movie’s biggest let-down -- in order to make it feel different from the Japanese "Ringu" they had to change the feel of the movie -- and in order to do this they cut out all of the suspense. Every suspenseful scene from "Ringu" is here, but the subtle-yet-terrifying aspects are always gone, leaving you with little enjoyment. Without a doubt, the American remake is far more effective than this Korean one -- which is a real shame, since Korean horror tends to be quite good. I think "Ringu" is too painstakingly remade here -- I was hoping that some new twist would appear, but it never did. They did change the past of Eun-Sul/Sadako by giving it a more sexual tone -- and this is presumably supposed to explain the unnecessary dialogue about bisexuality near the beginning of the movie -- but it winds up feeling out of place. The movie would have succeeded solely on being a remake of "Ringu," but the lack of both gore and suspense means that is has very little to offer as a horror movie.

...To sum the entire movie up; it will please die-hard fans of the collection, but it will bore everyone else. If you have not seen the original yet, be sure to watch it before seeing this one.

COMMENTS
Okay, a lot of people didn't know there was a remake of the first RING film already, but like I said up top, this is the Korean remake of the original Japanese film. Looks like the Koreans beat us Americans to remaking the film, but does it really hold up to the original? I don't think so.

I thought this film was trying too hard to be creepy. The first 30 minutes just seems to go by really fast. All the events in the original RING kind of happened slow, but in this film everything seemed a bit rushed. In this remake they changed the story around a bit. I think that's where they went wrong. Sure it's good not for a remake not to be exactly like the original, but when you mess with an innovative story like the original RING has, you're just gonna end up screwing everything up.

In this movie the characters are changed around a bit. They changed the story behind the cursed tape as well. I just didn't get into this movie. Everytime I watched it I would reach the point of just passing out, because it was just boring. The acting wasn't bad, but the directing needed a lot more work.

The ending was a huge dissapointment. In the original RING, the ending was the best and creepiest part, but in this remake it was just lame. I didn't find it creepy at all. Like I said before, they were just trying way too hard to live up to the original.

I would have given the film a lower-rating, but it did have its interesting moments. It's not exactly a BAD film anyway. It's okay on its own, but as a remake, it just doesn't live up.

I'd like to see how we remake the film. I'm sure it'll be better than what the Koreans did with it. Hopefully they wont load it all up with computer generated images or anything. I dont know when the US remake is coming out, but I'm guessing maybe 2003 or so.

OVERALL
A rather disappointing remake. They tried too hard to make it live up to the original and failed.

Sun-joo visits the resort where her niece and friends spent the weekend. There, she finds a tape they had in the room and pops it into the VCR. What she sees on the tape is a succession of blurry, bizarre images, accompanied by text. Near the end of the tape it says “Whoever watches this tape will die exactly one week from now..... If you want to live...” and then the tape cuts off. Instinctively, Sun-joo knows that the message is deadly serious. The only person she feels safe about showing the tape is Dr. Choi, who now assumes, like her, they need to find out where the tape came from and what was the message that was taped over. Together they pool their talents and begin to investigate the tape, decipher its vague clues before their week is up, and the source of this mystery is far stranger than they could have imagined.

THE FILM:
Okay here is the story- The Japanese horror film sensation The Ring (1996 AKA Ringyu) was a big hit, spawning sequels and many imitators. The story originated as a novel first, and before the film, the novel had been adapted into a TV movie... Ring: Virus(1999) is basically an “official” Korean/Japanese co-produced remake of The Ring. And, since the basic tale has so many sources, each one is different in their own way. There are many changes to the story in Ring: Virus, essentially making it less a remake, than a re-telling, the central idea being the same. So, Ring: Virus is not so much a straight rehash, its like the difference between Vanilla Sky and Open Your Eyes or maybe even Yojimbo and Fistful of Dollars. And, the remakes wont stop, since there is also an American version of The Ring that was recently completed.

Enjoyment of Ring: Virus pretty much centers around how much you like supernatural horror films. That is, how much suspension of disbelief do you have? Can you forgive a convoluted, kind of silly plot and give in to the chills? You have to be like the characters in the film, who upon watching the tape, immediately begin to worry, they instantly have faith that this thing is bad news.

The film does have atmosphere in spades, sort of like one part X-Files one part Thesis. And, it almost solely depends on that atmosphere to carry the horror of the film, as opposed to gore or a villainous performance. For me, the story was a tad too messy, especially as they get into the actual source of the tape and possible solutions to breaking its spell, as well as a typical “its not really over” horror film ending. I was impressed by its style, but it didn’t get me wrapped up in it like say The Shining, Phenomena, or the original Haunting. But, recent Korean horror films have been entertaining me, and despite my little grumbles, they are making quite a few really solid good horror films, like this one, and considering the sad state of American horror, it is really quite welcome.

THE DVD:
From Bitwin DVD Korea. Picture- Letterboxed. 16X9. The first reel had quite a few white specs, but they ceased after awhile. Overall the print is pretty dirty, with some grain, very minor softness, and occasional lines. But, they are forgivable flaws, especially for fans of foreign films, and the transfer shows great black levels, strong color, and fair sharpness. I was really impressed with the cinematography, many neat scenes in storms, rain, snow, and well composed dark scenes. Sound- 5.1 Dolby Digital Korean audio with optional Japanese or English subtitles. Sound is strong and clear, effectively enhancing the spooky mood. The subs had a few flaws like, "We've uncovered allot." but overall they weren't abundant. Extras- 7 Chapters- A menu- That’s it.