Ring 0

Ring 0 (2000) is a Japanese horror film you can watch online on iFILM — a prequel to the original Ringu, directed by Norio Tsuruta and starring Yukie Nakama. Runs 99 minutes.

Thirty years before the cursed tape, Sadako is just a young woman trying to exist. She joins a theatre company, keeps to herself, and fails at both. Her crewmates sense something wrong about her — and they are not entirely mistaken. She carries something inside her that she cannot control, and the people around her are far less careful than they believe they are.

Where the original Ringu runs on dread of the unknown, this prequel turns the camera around: Sadako is not yet a monster. What the film argues, quietly and without much comfort, is that ordinary cruelty does most of the work. A worthwhile entry for anyone who follows the J-horror franchise past the first film. Stream Ring 0 (2000) online on iFILM.