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The Real Japanese Story That Helped Inspire ‘The Ring’

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"The Ring" 2002

The story of The Ring is actually based on a real Japenese ghost story dating back to the 16th century. As with most films, “based on a true story” means a slight push in sales. Attaching that tagline to a supernatural film adds a layer of subliminal plausibility to the plot no matter how ridiculous it is.

The Ring may seem a bit tepid now surviving the J-Horror explosion, but the concept terrified audiences back in 2002 when Gore Verbinski helmed The Ring, a remake of the Japanese movie Ringu (Ring).

However, even Ringu wasn’t an original concept. For that, we have to travel back to the times of the Japanese samurai and an ill-fated servant girl; about 300 years.

Himeji Castle is Japan’s largest, and behind its walls many years ago it is written that a great crime took place, one of the heart. A samurai named Tessan Aoyama was smitten with his servant girl named Okiku and wanted her as his mistress. But she did not reciprocate Tessan’s affection which threw him into a rage.

Determined to get what he wanted, Tessan hatched a plan. The royal family tasked Okiku with protecting 10 golden plates. Tessan thought that if he could hide one and tell her she lost it, Okiku, rather than face a death penalty would love him instead. But Tessan’s extortion plan backfired.

In one version of the story, Okiku, more willing to kill herself than love the deviant samurai, threw herself down the castle’s large stone well.

Enraged even after death, Okiku began to visit Tessan at night. The distraught spirit believed that she had indeed lost one of the plates and could be heard inside the well counting them over and over again, even smashing them against the wall in anger.

Clad in her white funeral dress—her long dark hair soiled and stringy—Okiku would crawl out of the well to visit the terrified samurai in the early hours of the morning. She looked pretty much like the modern film version. In Japanese, these ghosts are called yūrei; a spirit who is not at peace in its afterlife. 

Today, the well, now named after Okiku, still sits where it did when she threw herself into it. People have said they can still hear her counting to ten even after the castle is closed.

The fear of her haunting the castle is so real a large covering has been placed over the cistern to keep her from escaping.

Okiku's Well

Okiku’s Well

This is just one version of the story, there are many. But the result is always the same; the ghost rises from the well to terrorize the castle and its inhabitants.

In 1998 Kôji Suzuki’s novel which tapped into the legend of Okiku became a horror movie titled Ringu. It was adapted for American audiences in 2002 and translated to The Ring. 

Suzuki’s modernized story is a little different than the ancient one, but it still captures the haunting properties of Okiku and her troubled spirit who climbs out of a well to haunt the living.

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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