Ring

A blockbuster in Japan, this restrained horror film crosses urban legend conventions with Asian ghost story traditions, and the results are truly spooky. It opens as high schooler Masami (Hitomi Sato) tells another girl the story of a cursed videotape. If you watch it, Masami says, you'll get a phone call shortly after; no one will be on the line, and you'll die exactly one week later. Having suitably scared her friend, Masami admits that she and three friends actually saw the tape while away for the weekend at a country inn in Yitou. She pulls out a photo of the group: All the faces are mysteriously blurred. Moments later, Masami is dead of fright and her friend has...