Sadako 3D centres on Akane (Satomi Ishihara), a high-school teacher who hears a rumour from her students of a cursed video clip on the Internet. The video clip contains footage of a man killing himself and is said to drive anyone who watches it to suicide. Akane dismisses the rumour as ludicrous at first, but when a student of hers suddenly dies after watching the video, she takes it upon herself to investigate the truth behind this chilling affair. In the process, Akane and her boyfriend Takanori (Koji Seto) find themselves tangled in a complex web of paranormal activity as Akane`s past comes back to haunt them.
With Sadako 3D, Hanabusa revives the classic horror tale of Sadako, the pale, long-haired Japanese spirit first originated in the novel Ring by Koji Suzuki. Since the novel first published in 1991, Japanese cinema and Hollywood alike have seen several interpretations of a character that`s scared and wowed cinematic audiences across the world. This time the 3D aspect of the movie really amps up the in-your-face terror. From the eerie opening shot of a body falling down a well to the occasional moment where Sadako literally reaches out to the audience, the 3D effects are gripping and very clearly the movie`s selling point.
Yet the visual and auditory construction in Sadako 3D are still quite hit-and-miss. While the 3D elements are great in a `this is so gross but I can`t look away` manner, they go over-the-top at times and end up compromising both the narrative and the scare factor.
While we won`t deny that there are some chilling sequences in Sadako 3D which will make your hair stand on end and talk about the hair in this movie the most disappointing part is that some major `scare moments` in Sadako 3D end up falling flat and being ridiculous instead. (At this point we have to disclaim that we`re never the type to find horror flicks funny instead of scary; we saw The Shutter and was paranoid about something crawling up the foot of our bed for weeks after). There`s a general lack of the psychological elements that truly unsettling horror movies are usually rife with, the effects get too fantastical and border on gauche, and the fact that the writers felt the need to resort to cheap jolts every now and then kind of bummed us out.
Summary: Sadako 3D feels like an opportunity to blatantly pander out 3D visuals, and even then it isn`t enough to make up for the lack of complexity as a story. Not exactly nightmare material.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Zimin Ho