Ugh, another cash-in on the a franchise that was great back in the days of 1998 and a few years onward. Yet, I opted to sit down and watch the 2019 "Sadako" movie from writer Noriaki Sugihara and director Hideo Nakata on the odd chance that this might actually be a worthwhile addition to "The Ring" legacy and franchise.
But no. Well, while "Sadako" was a watchable movie, it was by no means an outstanding horror movie. Nor was it a particularly scary one, not even by accounts of Japanese horror standards. "Sadako" felt like a watered down rendering of the origin story of Sadako, the girl that terrorized people in "The Ring".
The storyline told in this 2019 movie was a bit too boring and bland. There was nothing scary to be had here throughout the course of the entire movie. Well, unless you are Asian I suppose. But for a seasoned horror veteran such as myself, then "Sadako" was not a scary movie and offered only slight entertainment. It felt like writer Noriaki Sugihara wasn't really sure in which direction to take the story, so it felt like it was a bit all over the place and sort of lacking a red coherent thread.
I managed to sit through the entire movie, but this was not a movie that tickled me in all the right places. Sure, it was watchable for the less than mediocre thing it turned out to be. But this is hardly a Japanese horror movie that managed to make itself stand out in the genre. And it is not a movie that warrants more than a single viewing.
The acting in the movie was adequate, despite the fact that the actors and actresses were hard pressed with having not much of a solid and complete script and storyline to work with.
I am rating the 2019 "Sadako" movie a less than mediocre four out of ten stars. Sometimes it is better to let sleeping corpses lie...
