WTF Japan?!?: Sadako 3-D

After all of you went online this week, it is important to remember what you avoided.  Today's Film is Sadako 3-D, the 5th Film in the Ringu Series (provided you count Rasen).  After a long period away, what does the Series have to offer?  Well, we are much more in the Internet Age than we were then, so they try some new stuff.  The 'Kill You in 7 Days' Video is now online and we have a secondary Villain to boot.  In this Film, we see a city under siege by a mysterious video.  Why is it killing people?  Why does it seem to want to choose someone?  Our Protagonist is a nice, young Teacher with a secret that makes her a target.  Will this one be as well-regarded and memorable as *most* of the Series is?  Will the 3-D gimmick look silly when I watch this in 2-D?  To find out the answers to this and a few other questions, read on...

Who is this Michael Jackson-looking fellow and why does his video suicide lead to many deaths?

This girl- like many- is curious about the phenomenon associated with the 'Cursed Video' online.  She looks for it quite a bit, leading to the Film's Secondary Star: 404 Error Page.

Seriously, they show the 404 Error Page about 20x in this Film.

She doesn't find the video, but Sadako kills her anyways.  That's...kind of cheating, right?

I also have to ask whether or not this girl's clothes were checked for prints?  That may seem like a silly thing to you, but it came up in the last one of these I saw!

Another girl tries to play the video later, triggering an attack of hair by Sadako.  Our Teacher runs in and...yells, stopping the attack.  Why?  How?

Well, since she's a Japanese lady in a movie like this, she has mental power.  In this case, she makes all the glass in a hallway explode (in a flashback that they drag out over half the Film).

On the plus side, they didn't kill this one.

As you may have guessed, Sadako is now targeting her as a vessel.  Oh look- 3-D!!!

In lieu of any more SPOILERS, here is some hilarious examples of how the Film was marketed in Japan.  You can't make this shit up!

One more for the road!  Take me out the ball game, kill people through the screen.  The End.

For what its worth, it is good.  Sadako 3-D is a decent Film that doesn't do anything all that new.  Do you have to be super-innovative and unique to be good?  Some may say 'No.'  Some may say 'Yes.'  For me, this is decent, but not much more.  The Film is all about atmosphere, 3-D effects and jump scares.  They don't pull the 'It's just a Cat' trope, so that's a point for them.  The Film is mostly a set-up to different Scenes of Sadako popping out of different screens and killing people.  Would the 3-D have helped?  Maybe.  I've seen 3 Films in modern 3-D (shocking, right?).  The first- Avatar- made use of the effect to make the world a bit more immersive (although I did get a headache).  The second- Piranha 3-D- went hog-wild with the effects and works better because of it.  The third- Gravity- has moments where you feel like you are really behind the helmet, so that's nice.  This just seems to go back to the old school of thought with 3-D: throwing shit at the audience.  There are a bunch of 'glass breaks everywhere' scenes and Sadako coming at the camera.  We really haven't evolved that much in the 61 years since House of Wax had a guy swinging a Yo-Yo at the Camera, have we?  All kidding aside, this will satisfy fans of the previous Films, but won't change people's minds about stuff like this.  One more crazy Japanese promotional material for you...

Next up, a recent Wes Craven Film that has been pretty much forgotten about in 4 years.  Will his return to Writing and Directing be a joy or frightful?  Stay tuned...