Hideo Nakata Archives

Ring (1998)

Rating: ★★★

Aug 31, 1999Cursed Video Broadcast/Japanese Ghost Story

Kaidan eiga (Japanese ghost story) that was a huge hit, spawning several sequels and an English-language remake, plus a horde of imitators. For all its reputation, the film is often crude, nevertheless does evince an eerie atmosphere

Director: Hideo Nakata

Actors: Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rihikya Otaka

Category: Horror

31 August 199926 February 2026 by Roog

Ring 2 (1999)

Rating: ★★★½

Oct 1, 1999Cursed Videotape/Haunting/Japanese Ghost Story

The second of the Japanese Ring/Ringu films where director Hideo Nakata improves over the original with a series of eerie scares if a frequently incomprehensible mishmash of story ideas

Director: Hideo Nakata

Actors: Miki Nakatani, Rihikya Otaka, Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada

Category: Horror

1 October 199921 March 2022 by Roog

Dark Water (2002)

Rating: ★★★½

May 2, 2005Japanese Ghost Story/Haunted Apartment

Hideo Nakata made the highly influential Ringu but his other films have been uneven. This ghost story is one of his few follow-ups that comes near recapturing the same uncanny mood

Director: Hideo Nakata

Actors: Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno

Category: Horror

2 May 200529 January 2025 by Roog

The Ring Two (2005)

Rating: ★

Mar 18, 2005Haunting/Possession

Sequel to The Ring, the English-language remake of Ringu. The filmmakers have returned to the source and brought in original director Hideo Nakata only to produce one of the most disappointing of all the Ringu/Ring films

Director: Hideo Nakata

Actors: Naomi Watts, Simon Baker, David Dorfman, Elizabeth Perkins, …

Category: Horror

18 March 20053 September 2025 by Roog

L: Change the World (2008)

Rating: ★★

Jan 19, 2009Death Note Spinoff

Spinoff from the Japanese Death Note films from Ring director Hideo Nakata featuring the weird detective L. L was a scene-stealer but this fails to come up with an interesting enough plot for him

Director: Hideo Nakata

Actors: Kenichi Matsuyama, Youki Kudoh, Mayuko Fukuda, Masanobu Takashima, …

Category: Horror

19 January 200919 June 2026 by Roog

Incite Mill (2010)

Rating: ★★½

Jan 2, 2015Reality TV Elimination Game

Hideo Nakata, director of Ring, offers his take on reality tv shows – where contestants are locked up Big Brother-style and encouraged to kill one another. The film comes with much homage to classic murder mysteries

Director: Hideo Nakata

Actors: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Haruka Awase, Satomi Ishihara, Tsuyoshi Abe

Category: Horror

2 January 201517 April 2026 by Roog

Chatroom (2010)

Rating: ★★★

Jan 9, 2011Psychological Games on the Internet

English-language film from Ring director Hideo Nakata that finds a vibrant means to depict internet communication in a thriller about people meeting on a chatroom being wound into a series of psychological games

Director: Hideo Nakata

Actors: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Imogen Poots, Matthew Beard, Daniel Kaluuya, …

Category: Horror

9 January 201120 November 2023 by Roog

The Complex (2013)

Rating: ★★

Feb 7, 2017Japanese Ghost Story/Haunted Apartment

Hideo Nakata will always be known as the director of the original Ring. Here he revisits the kaidan eiga in the story of a haunted apartment but the show falls apart after a confusing Sixth Sense-type twist mid-film

Director: Hideo Nakata

Actors: Atsuko Maeda, Hiroki Narimiya, Masanobu Katsumura, Naomi Nishida, …

Category: Horror

7 February 201714 January 2026 by Roog

Sadako (2019)

Rating: ★★

Mar 21, 2022Ring Sequel

The thirteenth film in the Ring/Ringu franchise. The question is whether the return of original director Hideo Nakata to the franchise can revitalise the series

Director: Hideo Nakata

Actors: Elaiza Ikeda, Takashi Tsukamoto, Hiroya Shimizu, Himeka Himejima, …

Category: Horror

21 March 202225 May 2026 by Roog