The Ring DVD (1 Viewer)

[JonS]

Are there any plans to release this great Japanese horror movie onto DVD here in the U.S. I found one available on Ebay, HERE, but i can't find any reviews for it. Does anybody know if it is a quality disc and is it in widescreen. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

I would just go for the Region 0 edition which you can get from DDDHouse or HiViZone for pretty cheap. For the most part, their prices will beat anything on Ebay.

 

[Richard Michael Clark]

It's been out in R2 (UK) for a while and R4 Australia has just been released. (both versions are the same I believe).
Thing is the company in the UK who released it (Tartan) used a cinema print to master the DVD. So it is anamorphic but it's too dark and the English subtitles are burnt in but they are white and often they disappear into the image (when it too is white!)
the audio is also quite annoying as it has a lot of hiss.
BUT Tartan have been getting better and better recently. They have begun using new prints and player-generated subs on their latest titles (mostly art-house horror / Asian cinema).
For example their new version of "Battle Royale" is NTSC, progressive scan and in DD5.1 (it's also R0!), whereas their first release of "battle royale" was a crappy cinema print with burnt in subs and bad audio!
SO, it's possible that there will be a decent re-issue of "Ring". The above info also applies to their release of "Ring 2", by the time they got to "Ring 0: Birthday" they were using player generated subs.
So I'd wait a bit if I were you and see what they do.
Unfortunately they are a small-ish company and their website doesn't seem to be online yet!
have a look in the R2 sections of www.play.com and www.blackstar.co.uk for cover scans etc. Blackstar ship worldwide and will be cheaper than ebay probably.

 

[Richard Michael Clark]

btw the Ebay seller is lying. The R2 disc is PAL not NTSC

 

[Dave Gilbert]

FYI - the DreamWorks remake is now under production, starring Naomi Watts and directed by Gore Verbinski.
The trailer is on the movie's japanese website:
click here

 

[Sean Patrick]

after seeing the trailer for the remake, i'm eager to see the original.

is there ANY ntsc region 0 version available?

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

Sean,

I believe there is. Check the aforementioned DDDHouse and Hivizone.

 

[Sean Patrick]

i can't find a region 0 ntsc version of THE RING on either site - just a VCD on one of them.

 

[Chris Xolotl]

Only PAL DVDs of the Ring with English Subs. The only NTSC is Ring Virus (Korean remake).

 

[Chris Xolotl]

Oh. Just remembered, there is a scumbag selling R0 NTSC Rings that are BOOTLEGS on e-Bay. This came to everyone's attention when someone in another forum complained about the horrid quality of the NTSC Ring DVD, which was without a doubt is a crappy boot.

 

[Chris Xolotl]

Duh. Should've edited my messages and read the above post. The first post does link to the aforementioned bootleg.
And no, I will not edited my posts since the caffeine is still at its peak.

 

[Brian Kidd]

Unfortunately, I doubt we'll see a proper R1 release of THE RING here for some time. Seems Dreamworks isn't going out of their way to let the American public know that their version of the flim is a remake. Would make them seem unoriginal. Imagine that from a Hollywood studio!

 

[Chris Xolotl]

I believe they bought the rights (Dreamspurts) to remake the movie. So I supposed that could mean they have right not to release the original in the States.
They are trying to hide the originals to make it look like Hollywood is putting out something fresh and exciting