SADAKO VS. KAYAKO

Anyone thinking about getting a VHS-recorder (!) should be careful: When girl students Yuri and Natsumi find one at a flea market, they discover the cassette that in 1998 put the fear of God into the protagonists of “Ringu” – and with them the rest of the world – inside it. With the help of a university professor for urban legends, who incidentally appears to be a passionate Sadako fan, the young women try to survive. But finally it is the exorcist Keizo has “the” idea: Only if one supernatural entity competes with another, is there a chance, that they eliminate each other and ward off the curse (or the curses) forever. What many people thought to be an April fool’s hoax has now become the wet dream of every J-horror fan. Director Koji Shiraishi, who is also responsible for the splendid found footage shocker “Noroi”, turned “Sadako vs. Kayako” into less of a funfair attraction, but more of an ode to all the cliches of the legendary movie series “Ring” and “Ju-on”. Enriched with dry humor and a dozen references to the originals, this battle of the beasts is more than a mere fun movie.