Arrow Video Releasing The Original ‘The Ring’ And ‘The Ring Collection’

I remember sitting in the theater and watching The Ring remake. It was then that I was reminded that a horror film could still make my skin crawl to the point that I thought about it for days after. It also set me on a course to discover some brilliant Asian horror. After watching and loving the original Japanese film, I realized that no one can do supernatural terror quite that effectively. The movie about a little girl lost who may have not been that much of a victim after all has become legendary, and at this point, is the touchstone that everyone associates with the proliferation of the J horror craze. So, I was excited when I heard that Arrow Video not only restored Hideo Nakata’s original The Ring, but they were also releasing DVD and Blu-rays of the film, along with a Steelbook Blu-ray and franchise Blu-ray collection.

From the press release:

Arrow Video is proud to present the genre-defining trilogy – The Ring, the film that started it all, plus Hideo Nakata’s chilling sequel, Ring 2, and the haunting origin story, Ring 0 – as well as the ‘lost’ original sequel, George Iida’s Spiral, gathered together in glorious high definition and supplemented by a wealth of archival and newly created bonus materials.

To commemorate last year’s 20th anniversary of the original film, Arrow Video is releasing a beautiful Blu-ray edition of Hideo Nakata’s masterwork. It will consist of a stand alone release as well as the complete set of films.

Bonus materials for 1998’s The Ring include:

• Brand new restoration from a 4K scan of the original camera negative, approved by director of photography Junichiro Hayashi
• High definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Lossless Japanese DTS-HD master audio 5.1 and PCM 2.0 soundtracks
• Optional English subtitles
• New audio commentary by film historian David Kalat
• The Ring Legacy, a series of new interviews from critics and filmmakers on their memories of the Ring series and its enduring legacy
• A Vicious Circle, a new video interview with author and critic Kat Ellinger on the career of Hideo Nakata
• Circumnavigating Ring, a new video essay by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on the evolution of the Ring series
• Sadako’s Video
• Theatrical trailers
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork

Bonus materials for The Ring Collection include:

• Brand new restoration from a 4K scan of the original camera negative of Ring, approved by director of photography Junichiro Hayashi
• High definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations
• Lossless Japanese DTS-HD master audio 5.1 and PCM 2.0 soundtracks
• Optional English subtitles
• Bonus feature: Spiral, George Iida’s 1998 sequel to Ring
• New audio commentary on Ring by film historian David Kalat
• New audio commentary on Ring 0 by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
• The Ring Legacy, a series of new interviews from critics and filmmakers on their memories of the Ring series and its enduring legacy
• A Vicious Circle, a new video interview with author and critic Kat Ellinger on the career of Hideo Nakata
• Circumnavigating Ring, a new video essay by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on the evolution of the Ring series
• Spooks, Sighs and Videotape, a new video essay by critic Jasper Sharp on the J-horror phenomenon
• The Psychology of Fear, a newly edited archival interview with author Koji Suzuki
• Archival behind-the-scenes featurette on Ring 0
• Ring 0 deleted scenes
•  Sadako’s Video
• Multiple theatrical trailers for the Ring series
• Limited edition 60-page booklet containing new writing by Violet Lucca, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Jasper Sharp, Kieran Fisher and Kat Ellinger
• Limited edition packaging featuring original and newly commissioned artwork

The DVD, Steelbook Blu-ray and Blu-ray collections will all be available on March 18th. All of these are UK exclusives.