The Ring Virus

Infobox Film
name = The Ring Virus


caption = Poster to "The Ring Virus"
director = Kim Dong-bin
producer = Mauricio Dortona
writer = Kim Dong-bin
Kôji Suzuki (novel "Ringu")
starring = Shin Eun-Kyung
Lee Seung-hyeon
Jeong Jin-yeong
music = Il Won
cinematography = Mauricio Dortona
Hwang Chul-hyun
editing = Mauricio Dortona
distributor =
released = June 12, 1999
runtime = 108 min
country = flagicon|South Korea South Korea
language = Korean
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:309449
imdb_id = 0289424

"The Ring Virus" (aka 링(링 바이러스), 'Virus' Ring) is a South Korean horror adapted from a novel by Koji Suzuki. A joint project between Japan and Korea, this version has Park Eun-Suh as the creator of the cursed videotape. Although the film-makers claimed that the film was adapted from the novel, there are various scenes in the film that match the 1998 film "Ringu", such as the gender of the lead character, some of the scenes on the videotape as well as copying other film scenes directly from the original film, including the film's climax.

Differences between film and book

As opposed to the Japanese adaptation "Ringu", this movie follows more closely Koji Suzuki's storyline, while keeping some elements first introduced with "Ringu".
* The main character from the novel is a man called Kazuyuki Asakawa, while in the film, the main character is a woman called Sun-Joo Hong.
* The villain from the novel is named Sadako Yamamura, while in the movie, she is called Park Eun-Suh.
* Ryuji in the novel is a philosophy professor that also achieved medical studies, whereas in the movie, Choi is a doctor who made a mystical pronouncement at the scene of one the deaths about supernatural forces having been at work.
* Even though the film kills its supporting character the same way "Ringu" did, the movie shares the book views on a pseudo-science-fictitious medical-mystery approach with its title and Choi's scientific research on viruses and the conclusions that he does before his death.

Similarities between film and book

There are similarities between this movie and the novel that contrast with Hideo Nakata's adaptation.
* The cursed tape in the movie is very similar to the one in the book, although the book-version is much longer and more complicated. Both videotapes feature a message at the beginning along the lines of "Watch until the end, you will be eaten by the lost..." and ending with "Those that have viewed this tape are to die at this exact time seven days from now. In order to survive, you must...", the rest of the end message is taped over, and it isn't until the end that Eun-Kyung Shin realizes that the rest of the message is about copying the tape and showing it to someone else.
* Choi also analyzes the tape sequences the same way Ryuji does in the book. He categorizes the parts into two categories: real scenes and abstract scenes. The realistic scenes are easy to spot, since they have dark blurry edges, and instants of darkness. Choi quickly concludes that those instants of darkness are eye blinks. The average man blinks 20 times per minute, whereas the average woman blinks 15 times per minute. Considering this fact, this video was created by a woman, scenes filmed through her own eyes and images in her mind.
* Sadako / Eun-Suh is hermaphrodite in both the movie and the book. She has Testicular Feminization Syndrome, meaning she is anatomically female, except she has a pair of testes beneath her vagina (she evidently does not have a penis). The movie starts with Eun-Kyung Shin interviewing a gallery owner that explains the theme of her exposition: the beauty of women and the strength of men combine in one individual, a hint for those who have read the book.
* The movie is faithful to the storyline of the book, including the search for Sadako / Eun-Suh's clinical records, her origin story and her rape before being murdered.

External links

*imdb title|id=0289424|title=The Ring Virus
*amg movie|id=1:309449|title=The Ring Virus
* [http://www.obrasilero.com/ring/ The Ring AREA] - Contains clips of the cursed videos of the Ring cycle and their scene-by-scene analyses, as well as lots of other useful information.
* [http://www.mandiapple.com/snowblood/ringcompare.htm Snowblood Apple Ring Comparison] Comparison of "Ringu", "The Ring", and "The Ring Virus" movies.