Why you can trust 12DOVE Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
Big in Japan, Nakata's ongoing adaptations of Koji Suzuki's Ring novels mix dense horror with folklore, urban myth and, in fine Blair Witch-style, intense fear of the inexplicable.
This first part starts with a mysterious videotape. Watch it, the story goes, and you'll die within a week. Reporter and single mother Reiko (Nanako Matsuma) just can't resist, and when she takes a peak, along with her ex-husband and young son, she has to race to lift the VHS curse. Her fraught enquiries flesh out an intricate back-story about a vengeful ghost-cum-witch, in a middle act that rejects shock tactics for sensitive performances and an affectingly sombre grapple with mortality.
It's cunning slow-burn, and once the two creepy pay-offs arrive, thick with inky shadows and insidious sounds, all the more potent for it. A sure, stealthy shocker which certainly primes you for the sequel.
The Inside Out 2 panic attack scene is one of the best depictions of anxiety ever – and something Pixar director Kelsey Mann is incredibly proud of: "I couldn't be happier"
When making Kingdom Hearts, the "one thing" RPG icon Tetsuya Nomura "wasn't willing to budge on" was a non-Disney protagonist
The Witcher fans in shambles after a new book reveals just how old Geralt really is
