Ring Page #5

Just then, she spies a LEDGER on the coffee table. These things are

sometimes left in hotels in Japan, so that guests can write a few

comments about their stay for others to read. Asakawa picks the

ledger up, begins thumbing through it. She stops at a strange PICTURE

obviously drawn by a child, that shows three rotund, almost entirely

round personages. She reads the handwritten MESSAGE.

ASAKAWA:

"My dad is fat. My mom is fat.

That�s why I�m fat, too."

She smiles in spite of herself.

Asakawa flips through the rest of the ledger, but there�s nothing else

of any import.

She tosses it back onto the coffee table and, sighing again, leans into

the sofa and closes her eyes.

EXT. OUTDOOR CAF� - DUSK

Asakawa eats silently, alone.

INT. PACIFIC LAND - FRONT RECEPTION - NIGHT

Asakawa has returned to the bed and breakfast. As she walks in the

door, the COUNTER CLERK rises out of his chair to greet her.

CLERK:

Room for one?

ASAKAWA:

Um, actually I�m here on business.

She passes the clerk a picture of Tomoko and her three other friends.

He stares at it for a moment.

ASAKAWA:

They would have stayed here on

August 29th, all four of them.

If there�s any information you

might have...

CLERK:

Uh, hang on just a minute.

The clerk turns his back to her, begins leafing through a guest log.

CLERK:

(to himself)

August 29th...

While she waits, Asakawa�s eyes start to wander around the room.

Behind the desk is a sign reading �Rental Video,� and a large wooden

BOOKSHELF filled with VIDEOTAPES. They are all in their original boxes,

and she lets her eyes glance over the titles. Raiders of the Lost Ark,

48 Hours--

--and then, suddenly, she spies a VIDEOTAPE in a plain, unmarked

sleeve, tucked away in the back of the very bottom shelf. She feels

the hairs on the back of her neck rise.

ASAKAWA:

That...

The clerk looks up.

CLERK:

Hmm?

Asakawa stabs a finger excitedly towards the shelf.

ASAKAWA:

That! What tape is that?

The clerk reaches out for it, grabs it.

CLERK:

This? Hmm...

The clerk pulls the tape out of its SLEEVE and checks for a label.

It�s unmarked.

CLERK:

Maybe one of the guests left it behind�

INT. PACIFIC LAND � COTTAGE B4 - NIGHT

Asakawa flips on the TV. It�s on channel 2, and there is nothing but

static. She kneels down to slide the tape into the deck and pauses a

moment, framed in the vaguely spectral LIGHT from the television

screen. Steeling her nerves, she puts the tape into the machine, picks

up the remote, and presses play.

NOTE:
This next scene is entirely visual. If you are reading this

translation before watching the movie, do yourself a favor; STOP

reading this now and watch the scene for itself. Afterwards, you can

come back here to check the meaning of the Japanese characters

displayed.

THE VIDEOTAPE:

At first it looks like nothing has happened-- then Asakawa realizes that

she is now viewing recorded static instead of broadcast static. She

watches, waiting, but the static continues unbroken. Asakawa looks

down at the remote, is about to press fast forward, when suddenly the

picture on the screen clears and for a moment she thinks she�s looking

at the moon.

It�s not the moon at all, she realizes. The shape is round like a full

moon, but it seems to be made up of thin RIBBONS of cloud streaking

against a night sky. And there�s a FACE, she sees, a face hidden in

shadows, looking down from above.

What is this?

The scene changes now, and Asakawa notes that the tape has that kind of

grainy quality one sees in 3rd or 4th generation copies. The scene is of

a WOMAN brushing her long hair before an oval-shaped MIRROR. The nerve-

wracking grating as if of some giant metallic insect sounds in the

background, but the lady doesn�t seem to notice. The mirror the lady is

using to brush her hair suddenly changes position from the left part of

the wall before which she stands, to the right. Almost instantly the

mirror returns to its original position, but in that one moment in its

changed location we see a small FIGURE in a white GOWN. The woman turns

towards where that figure stood, and smiles.

The screen next becomes a twitching, undulating impenetrable sea of the

kanji characters used in the Japanese language. Asakawa can pick out

only two things recognizable:

local volcanic eruption

Now the screen is awash in PEOPLE-- crawling, scrabbling, shambling

masses, some of them moving in reverse. A sound like moaning accompanies

them.

-

A FIGURE stands upon a shore, its face shrouded. It points accusingly,

not towards the screen, but at something unseen off to one side. The

insect-like screeching sounds louder.

--

Close up on inhuman, alien-looking EYE. Inside that eye a single

character is reflected in reverse: SADA, meaning "chastity."

The eye blinks once, twice. The symbol remains.

---

A long shot of an outdoor, uncovered WELL.

----

Sudden loud, blinding STATIC as the tape ends.

Asakawa turns the TV off, looking physically drained. She sighs shakily

and slumps forward, resting on her knees. Just then, she glances at the

television screen. She sees, reflected, a small FIGURE in a white gown

standing at the rear of the room. Shocked, Asakawa draws in breath,

spins around.

The room is empty. Asakawa runs to the sofa to collect her jacket--

--and the RINGING of the telephone stops her dead in her tracks. Zombie-

like, she walks towards the telephone, picks it up wordlessly.

From the other end comes the same metallic, insectoid SQUEAKING heard on

the video. Asakawa slams the phone down and glances up at the CLOCK.

It�s about seven minutes after 7 P.M.

ASAKAWA:

(to herself)

One week�

Asakawa grabs her coat, pops the tape out of the deck, and runs out the

door.

EXT. STREET � DAY

It is dark and raining heavily. Yoichi, Asakawa�s son, is walking to

school, UMBRELLA firmly in hand. The sidewalk is quite narrow, and Yoichi

comes to a halt when a second PERSON comes from the opposite direction,

blocking his way. Yoichi slowly raises his umbrella, peers up to look at

this other pedestrian. It is a MAN, a BAG slung over one shoulder. He

has a beard; unusual for Japan where clean-shaven is the norm.

The two continue looking directly at each other, neither moving nor

speaking. Yoichi then walks around the person�s left and continues on his

way. The man resumes walking as well.

Caption-- �September 14th. Tuesday.�

EXT. OUTSIDE AN APARTMENT DOOR - DAY

The bearded man, whose name is RYUJI, reaches out to press the DOORBELL,

but the door has already opened from within. Asakawa leans out, holding

the door open for him. Neither of them speaks. Wordlessly, Ryuji enters

the apartment.

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