1 Gender of the protagonist: male → female
(Weak protagonists can increase fear.
If you use a child as the protagonist of a horror movie: what scares a child doesn't have to be scary. What the second child sees may just be their imagination. )
2 The first deceased: relatives of the male protagonist's wife → relatives of the female protagonist
(The relationship between the deceased and the protagonist is closer - enhances the sense of fear. But if it is too close (ex heroine's parents), it becomes a major event and is not suitable for the beginning of a horror story. Horror is best from a disturbing Small things start, slow brewing.)
3 Emphasizes the aural horror symbol of the telephone ringing
Added deformed photo to this visual horror symbol
4 Made a lot of changes to the content of the Sadako videotape:
The videotape described in the novel reveals too much information and is too specific → The videotape content in the film is very abstract and messy, it is difficult to guess the backstory, but it is full of eerie and ominous imagery
The video of the novel clearly gave two key messages at the end, "you will die after watching the video for a week" and "there is a way to get rid of it". Especially if it is clear that there is a way to cancel it will damage the atmosphere of terror from the very beginning. The movie allows the heroine to gradually deduce this information in the process of continuous investigation, which greatly improves the sense of horror and suspense.
5 Make the story closer to the daily life of ordinary people (this is the essence of Japanese horror, extending the horror after watching the movie)
The protagonists are all ordinary people: a journalist who is obsessed with unusual things + a classmate with a world-weary personality → a single mother who is only out of concern and curiosity + a kind ex-husband
The male protagonist's unusually virtuous and beautiful girlfriend→ Ordinary female student
Sadako is a big androgynous beauty → Canceled (23333)
6 Incorporate emotional factors
Asked for help: (not close) high school classmate → ex-husband
People to help: (somewhat boring and not very caring) wife and child (baby) → son (an innocent and lovable child)
The male protagonist decided to show the video to his father-in-law and mother-in-law → The female protagonist decided to show the video to his father (greatly increased the depth of emotion and the weight of this action)
Another: a necessary simplification as a movie
Classmates and journalists were removed, and the main story was focused on the family
Remove Sadako's younger brother and make Sadako a unique existence
Removed the doctor who raped and killed Sadako and replaced the murderer with her father (adds the emotional factor while making the tone of the story more in line with a regular horror story)
Summary: The screenwriter adopted the basic setting and story structure of the novel, and reconstructed a typical Japanese horror story: supernatural, resentment, and cause and effect.
Almost all classic horror scenes are film re-creations: the constant emphasis on the terrifying ringing of the phone
Video clip of woman combing hair in mirror
The well in the video (and Sadako crawling out of the well)
A woman groping for Sadako's skull at the bottom of a dark well
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