Okay, people keep missing the disclaimer before the storyline segment: THE RACE IS STILL GOING TO HAPPEN. But I have delayed this Halloween storyline TWICE now and the race is going to involve a MASSIVE amount of visual effects. The Game Show Reviewer would basically have been put into crunch beyond crunch to make it happen before October, so I decided it was best to just do it out of order, finally do Round 4 like I've been wanting to do for YEARS, and we'll present the race later. The storyline playlist and the eventual compilation will have the events happen in their proper order.

" to much water play...and the monster will come" OH MY GOD! SADAKO WAS REALLY GODZILLA!!!

Me, noticing a short cut to black between live segments and comic panels: Huh, that's weird Linkara: In another version of the story, there were cuts to black in the tape, representing the ghost blinking! Me: Ha ha, I'm in danger

"'The Line' doesn't have the same Ring to it." That, sir, is how you get a like.

"Seven days..." "Until what?" "Until...Until you die. Because you watched my tape. Don't you remember?" "Listen, this video is already several days overdue and isn't going up until four in the morning. I can't keep track of WHEN I watched your B-roll for my review show. Anyways, I have to fight a content ID claim right now so unless you're scarier than KZfaq censorship, I'm gonna hang up now."

17:40 See, it says you'll die at this time of day, but then no one shows up. So you call customer service again, and they tell you, "the murderer came, but you weren't home, so you'll need to reschedule," even though you took off work just so you could be home all day too be sure not to miss them.

If I had to hazard a guess about the "Sada" in the eye thing, I'd say it might be more about the lack of the "ko". "Ko" is often used as the last syllable for women's name and generally uses the kanji for "child", so it might be a symbolic reference to her being intersex and unable to have children in the original novel and the curse being a substitute way to "reproduce".

Wasn't expecting Clive, Linkara and Moarte to all interact, but that was decidedly a treat.

Batman: "This would never have happened with a Beta tape. Just Sayin'"

"People only die when your vacation sucks!" Me: [Looks at collection of Jurassic Park Films] Me: Yeah, that checks out.

Honestly the weirdest thing about The Ring might be that the actress who played the monster in the American remake was the voice of Lilo in Lilo and Stitch. And I can easily see Lilo doing something like that as a Halloween joke.

That explanation of the virus from the novel was very, “Of course! Don’t you know anything about science?” Also, I love that face Clive makes when Moarte says he isn’t wearing makeup.

I can't believe Pilo lost! We were ROBBED!

"Too much water play and the monster will come." Coming this summer: The Ring vs. Jaws!

The Church of the Algorithm gives this video its blessing, and must it stay clear of the blasphemers from The First Algorithmic Temple (and the many people impersonating their members).

Not sure but part of the reason the text doesn’t translate out of standard Japanese perfectly could be chalked up to the fact Izu Island really does have its own distinct dialect with unique vocabulary. It’s not just standard Japanese. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachijō_language

We got Rick Rolled By Linkara... We are truly blessed.

As someone who read the novels - it get's even more crazy than "modified smallpox virus that kills people". It's almost like each sequel finds a whole new shark to jump.

About Sadako lashing out seemingly at random, that's actually how most Japanese ghost stories work, particularly involving yurei or onryo like in Ringu or Ju-On. Sometimes the ghost's vengeance is targeted to the people responsible, but sometimes it just hurts anyone in contact with it. It probably has to do with Buddhist and Shinto ideas regarding death and regret, and how feelings like vengeance can transform (literally in some legends) people into monsters. Kuroneko is a good example, as the "ghosts" in that story just kill any random samurai hanging around the Rashamon gate, rather than the ones actually responsible for their death. As for why a video? I'm guessing it's just an attempt to bridge traditional Japanese ghost stories with modern Japanese urban legends and the writers never thought too much about the hows or whys.

We had my dad's funeral today. This was a genuinely nice little gift. Thanks, Linkara.

"To much water play...and the monster will come." So Yugi has to duel Mako again?

I have to say, this thumbnail is Viga’s best so far! Love the way emptiness draws the eye to the well and how the background trees actually spell out the title.

it's fun to see Linkara interact with Moarte and Clive

42:57 Oh so that's why this series is called The Grudge! Wait...

Props to Viga for the font on the title card really great use of the trees

Okay so it's interesting to learn about the actual Ring films because I'm a fan of the Webcomic Erma; essentially the premise is 'What if Sadako was a mom to a kid that can do all the things she can' and it's really funny, stuff like her giving her kid a forgotten lunch by crawling out a screen in the middle of class; lots of playing on iconic elements like that (also a ton of references to other horror stuff, like Erma playing with a lament configuration like it's a rubix cube) stuff like that. To Clarify; it's not actually about Sadako; her mom is just a demon who looks and acts a bit like her; but it's a really funny series... has completely ruined my ability to take the actual Ring story seriously though.

The real at4w storyline is Clive's slow realisation of the fact he's roommates with a ghoul and a guy that fights eldritch abominations from another dimension

"The thing to understand about Japan is that it is LOUSY with ghost stories." Suddenly I find myself hoping that way more viewers than just me know that "lousy" can also mean "full of" or "teeming with".

Love the new theme song for Halloween. Edit: By the way, I looked up the word Sada meanings. In Japanese it's a name that means, "pure one". So ironically, Sadako's name I'm pretty sure would mean "pure child", though I'm not really a hundred percent sure on that. On the other hand, in Sanskrit, an Indian language, Sada has a few different meanings. Namely, “ever,” “eternally,” “always” or “continually”, in a way going back to what Linkara said about the "ring" in the story. It can also mean “exhaustion,” “loss,” “weakness” or “decay", a reference to Sadako's life in a way.

the video was explained somewhat in the novels. It's the idea that "when you die you see your life pass by" so the images are mostly what impacted sadako the most in her life. And why a VHS? well, it was established that Sadako and her mother could imprint images in fotograph film, though not the same medium, I guess the author though where similar enough for it to be an extension of the same ability. So yeah, Sadako's memories and psychic powers were dormant in the well until someone tried to record something and those memories where imprinted in the VHS. I don't remember the warning in the end, unless someone added it after... And, I don't recall the idea of the video being a measel's mutation, and while it was described as a virus, I remembered it being described as Sadako's child, since she was intersex, she couldn't had childern, so she used the VHS as surrogate. What's worse, it was implied that Sadako psichicly (?) pushed the guy to rape her before killing her...

I could see the videotape being a method of her wanting the story behind not just her tragedy but also the events of her mother’s life being more well-known. The curse could be a byproduct of her also seeking vengeance so it’s an “either spread the truth or die” ultimatum. Hence why it’s kind of clever that the main character is a journalist who would be able to cover such a story. It doesn’t seem like it takes advantage of her being a journalist or actually dealing with spreading the knowledge of Sadako but whatever.

To be fair, when I saw Two Girls, One Cup the first time I felt like I'd been cursed.

I think the "Why?" question is pretty simple to answer: The thing that "motivates" (for lack of a better term) a Spirit is their last connection to earth mainly through their Emotions at the time since Emotions are (at least in THEORY) the Strongest connection you can have to your life. And thus I assume that the emotion tied to Sadako's last moments were Anger, thus why the spirit bonded with the tape is Lashing out in anger as anyone who is (willingly or unwillingly) "Opening Themselves" to her Influence (via the tape). As for the "how to avoid Dying" thing for the end of the tape, I suppose you could argue that it's a slight moment of (for lack of a better term) Regret over subjecting innocents to her Grudge And thus (like in other cases) you can't Forcefully reject your emotions, only redirect them. Or in other words: give the Anger a new Target. That's at least how I understand this curse to work. (although due to massive ignorance of this franchise I'm probably wrong.)

Huh, maybe the phone in other adaptations is another reference for "ring". As in the ringing of the phone.

I loved the amount of background info you gave this time around. Both for the societal context of the story regarding things like the fledgling broadcast industry, and for all the differences between adaptations. I learned a lot and it definitely made the video even better!

This was a really cool review Lewis. Lots of research, great gags and critique that was well presented. One of your best reviews yet, coming from a non-horror fan at that. Thanks for all the hard work!

It's nice to see that after so many years of him getting increasingly more paranoid about Halloween, that Linkara isn't being blindsided about whats to come for once.

Pilo, the only Pillar Man to learn true enlightenment can only be achieved as a pile of rocks. It’s unknown if Santana has learned this yet.

Oh my gosh… I just figured out what “too much water play and the monster will come” means! As everyone knows, when a woman goes into labor, her water break… and it’s pretty clear that Sadako is very much a monstrous entity thanks to the curse. The whole thing was a prophecy for Sadako’s mom, a warning that if she wasn’t careful and kept on with the affair she was having… she’d wind up giving birth to a monster

If the final round comes down to Linkara and Bandit Chief, I've got something special for that... music-wise, anyway.

I like Dr. Crafty's title cards, but the way Viga does them is also very impressive. This one for The Ring Vol. 1 feels very much like a movie poster, it's so cool.

I never realized just how big The Ring franchise is.

Moarte would like a word with you trying to steal his laugh 😉

Honestly I think the majority of the questions with Sadako's curse goes back to her being a variant or narrative twist playing on the concept of an onryo (in the movie this is more blatant, int he books they're clearly playing on this idea); one of the things about onryo is that even if *the spirit* is appeased, *their grudge* is not. The grudge effectively becomes a separate entity, a curse that has a mind of its own and creates apparitions and spreads even long after the spirit has been put to rest properly and appeased. The curse was willed into existence by their emotions at the time of death (or in some cases, after death; some of the more famous stories are of women whose husbands remarried after their deaths, causing the spirit to grow so jealous that her strong love mutates into a grudge that kills them both and lingers in the area for decades after doing so), but the grudge is not under their control. This is usually because these stories are about people who were wronged very heavily in life and died horrible deaths as a result (social outcasts, abused or abandoned wives and children, members of poor families who were killed by wealthy lords, former military or political figures who died in exile, etc), stewing in their own anger at a world that could allow this injustice to occur. They die mad at the world for treating them so poorly and as a result, their fury takes on a life of its own, propelling the spirit through acts of vengeance with newly-achieved or greatly-strengthened spiritual powers... which is a frequent theme in japanese ghost stories; gaining great power after death is nearly as common as the concept of animals such as tanuki or foxes having immense magical powers just by virtue of existing. This is the *real* staple of the onryo: the uncontrollable grudge created and fueled by their strong burst of negative emotion and hatred toward the world at large. (Quick sidenote regarding the last point... this is also why I have to object to Linkara (and wikipedia, seriously) saying the kuchisake-onna (slit-mouthed woman) is an onryo. While her story is very similar to that of an onryo, and she is a vengeful spirit... she's more of a generalized vengeful spirit than a true onryo, and as a result is classified as an entirely separate yokai. Some variations of her story turn her *into* an onryo, or assert that her random appearances on the street are a manifestation of the grudge... but the original urban legends that inspired the movies do not paint her as an onryo and the lack of nuance and resulting inaccuracy on wikipedia of all places agitates me specifically, but that's mainly bc I'm so interested in the topic, lol.) "Why the clues to her mother's identity", "why these specific images", "why choose the video tape format", etc.... bc she didn't. The grudge attached itself to something else as a means of spreading and continuing her vengeance, and with it carried a part of Sadako's identity (which is so closely tired to her mother's), but Sadako cant control it. As for the "why include instructions on how to trhow off the curse? I'm just gonna say bad storytelling bc there really is none, lol. Others have posited that "maybe she felt some regret", but again... she does not control it. This was jsut bad storytelling choices in action.

Just found this chanel and I can't stop watching it. ...awesome work dude also the man has the best sense of humour

If I had to make a guess, the use of the word "superhuman" probably comes from how the manga likely used the word "chojin", or "superman", in the original Japanese, so DMP just went with a straightforward translation of that word. As for the "water play" line, I imagine that DMP just went too literal of a translation for a prediction that was likely meant to be vague, as you sometimes get with predictions in stories like these. Essentially, the seer was likely predicting that Sadako would die via drowning (i.e. "too much water play"), and in doing so will unleashe a "monster" (i.e. her ghost) that can never be stopped (i.e. the video tape).

First off, let me just say that I REALLY appreciate you looking over the Ring franchise, because I'm a huge fan of the franchise and I just don't see people talking about it a lot lately. So please don't see this comment as me being ungrateful. I truly am happy to see this franchise covered, especially since I have the Manga Volumes myself. (Cw for Sexual Assault) But about the "Sada" character on Sadako's eye, the reason the character was given for her name in the first place is that "Sada" stands for "Chaste", which ties into the fact that she is intersex. She basically is incapable of having a child. This then ironically ties in with the smallpox virus in the novel, because she ended up "giving birth" to the Ring Virus by mutating the smallpox virus that entered her body through Nagao. Basically the smallpox virus replaces the "sperm" in this equation. The reason Sadako visualized the character "Sada" on her eye in the tape is because her being unable to have children is in fact one of the things she constantly thinks about *because* she is intersex and can't have children. Yeah I'll admit that the 1998 film really made the backstory a lot more neat, but I figure I might as well explain what the book meant with all of this, since you asked the question in the first place. I also have more stuff to add that you may have misunderstood about the novel's side of the story, but I'll just keep it at this specific point because that's what you asked about in the video itself. Also a very minor point by comparison, I'm glad you pronounce Sadako correctly (Sada-Ko), but you kinda put the emphasis on Shizuko's name wrong. You say Shi-Zuko rather than the correct Shizu-Ko. REALLY hate to have to be "that guy", but I figure that Shizuko is going to appear again in the story of the Ring mangas and you may be mispronouncing her name through the entire run if I don't point it out ^^; Again, though, really appreciate you covering this franchise. Keep up the good work.

I feel that the whole "Superpowered human" thing in this was a translation foible when the original intent was meant to be Sadako and her mom being either an esper or a psychic. Especially considering the whole "Psychically-enhanced Small Pox" thing. Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong or making assumptions.

I saw a lot of memes back in the early 10's about how to prevent Sadako (and/or Samara) to attack you. Place the TV screen facing the window on the upper floor of a building, put a washing machine in front of it, just stay away from TV sets, etc. Aside for the obvious fact that a ghost haunting you probably will find you no matter what, those people missed the point of what made the scene creepy. We are surrounded by screens, running away from a TV screen (or a monitor) is basically trying to run from the modern world itself. That's the subtext that made the scene iconic, technology is everywhere and if it ever becomes our enemy there will be nowhere to run or hide from it.

Having never watched this franchise, the twist ending is surprisingly good. Like the only way to escape the curse is by comitting a truly wicked act and cursing someone else.

FINALLY we have the amazing crossover of the horror roommates. 10/10 could watch for hours

"Strange makeup-ed person." "It's not makeup" and a slow turn to the side. Well that answers a few things.

For the aliens comics i remember Aliens: Labyrinth being downright disturbing with its interpretation of a Queenless Hive. Also I really love the 1st 4 stories, especially how they add an almost eldritch horror about how the Xenomorphs can basically brainwash you with spores. Really wish we got their adaptations instead of the Prometheus/Covenant disaster. Edit: Three was also a pretty neat low horror story called "Aliens: Music of the Spears" wich has a man becoming obsessed with including Xenomorph sounds in his music, sound wierd I know but it's Honestly surprisingly good, one of my favs.

Just remembered Jaeris mentioning that he got fourth place in his contest, which implies that they have a fight for third. So I guess Billy Tor will face the Blue Knight concurrently with the finals. On an unrelated note, is Lewis' dad playing Billy?

[SPOILERS for story segment stuff] GOD FRIGGIN' DANG IT! I had *five thousand credits* riding on Pilo! Ugh! Teach me to not bet on the favorite... At least the review was good. Like, really good, very funny and insightful! Only seen the first Japanese film, and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to more Ring content!

I kinda like the idea that the characters have about Sadako creating the tape/ curse as a way to get her story and identity out so that she can be given a proper burial and be put to rest. An angry spirit that ultimately just wants to rest. In many cultures, the lack of a proper burial is what leads to angry spirits.

That squish sound effect from Terror's Realm gets me every time.

Sadako: "Ugh, yes, the idea is that they make a copy and show that, but it turns out that can be loopholed."

Looking like Bandit Chief is going to end up as the final boss of this storyline. Considering the focus he's gotten in the past, not too surprising.

Even today, a cursed VHS tape are still creepy today.

You keep making Transformers references and now I have this image of Megatron watching the cursed tape and getting the phone-call, except it's from Starscream going, "Seven days... until I am the new leader of the Decepticons!"

Never thought I'd get Rick Roll'd by a Linkara video. New experiences every day. XD

As a kinkster, "Too much water play and the monster will come." is just . . . a whole sentence . . .

Now I want to see a big free for all with The Ring Girl vs. every major horror franchise ever created. I wonder which horror franchises would ally with each other?

FINALLY; I've been Eagerly awaiting an episode of ASHOCK THE FOURTH WALL!!

I really hope that Dominic Noble makes a Lost in Adaptation about The Ring in the near future

They look like they’re from the Boondocks. Wait how was she able to find a written record of a kid accidentally forgetting what he thought was a blank VHS tape in the cabin? I guess the owner of the camping site might have written down receiving the tape but there’s no way they’d know the exact circumstances of how it was recorded. That sounds like something completely unremarkable that everyone involved would forget. Did the owner call the family that left it to see how it got there after the rumor started? If so why was it left to be rented with all the other tapes? Is there a family out there who knows their son accidentally made a killer tape who are like “oh well, accidents happen”.

I just realized... the "Circulate the Links" comment at the end of the credits kinda takes on an unintentional double meaning in this context, since the whole point of avoiding The Ring curse is to circulate the tape to more people to keep the curse going...

Nightmare on Elm Street also did some examination on society and culture during the 1980s. And on the note of novels, the author was actually inspired by Poltergeist!!

This is less horror and more an isolated case about normal people making contact with superpowered people during the early days before caped heroes becoming the norm.

These horror manga characters are some of the cutest drawn that I've seen.

Holy cow, I'm so early that it's 360 quality right now. Looking forward to this episode, I LOVED watching the Ring in my Japanese class.

Reason for Sadako being so eager to kill: An onryo is basically the Japanese equivalent to a poltergeist; a spirit so enraged that they can affect the physical world, in the cases of onryo being the result of extremely violent or horrific deaths. It's all about blind anger directed at everyone from beyond the grave. Wait... Dr. "Akuma"? Aside from the Americanized Street Fighter reference; who willingly names themselves the Devil?

Between Pilo from here and Geode from Star Wars: The High Republic, the 2020s are shaping up to be the decade of the ambiguously sentient rocks.

The fact that this was released yesterday, and that I was already planning on cosplaying Sadako the next weekend at a convention is amazing. Especially when you throw in Nostalgia Critic's recent review of The Ring.

Never thought AT4W would have a jump scare, let alone with a Monty Python clip!

Did we get Rickrolled by Linkara? Wow. Never would have expected that. lol

As someone who is only passingly familiar with The Ring franchise in all its forms, the manga certainly did its job in keeping me invested and worried about what would happen to Reiko. And cripes, Sadako's skeleton. . .that is some top-tier horror artwork. And you explaining all the weirdness and whatnot and getting pedantic over the details is always good. And the Clive/Moarte/Linkara stuff was great. XD

If there's one thing that I've learned from watching this show, it's that nothing is ever as it seems in October.

sometimes I wonder if Sadako would be stopped by some methods that stop supernatural entities, you show an exorcism failing but I'm wondering if other stuff like destroying the mortal remains, purified salt, iron, and other stuff that can trap or dispell ghosts would work on her. Maybe I've watched too much Supernatural but I was wondering what would happen if Sadako got tricked into stepping in a ring (lol) of salt.

Hopefully through linkara's coverage of this series we will finally learn the truth behind Dalad Jelly.

7:30 linkara you made me spit my drink from laughter good on ya

I was recently binge watching Dena's Hellraiser compilation and I love her running gag with "7 days" in those videos and I'm kinda hoping she does a small cameo this year

While I have never seen any of the Ring movies or their Japanese counterparts I do find the creepy little girl concept fascinating. Largely due to the sheer amount that I have played F.E.A.R. The game did an equally amazing job with the concept and just how terrifying it can be. As a result I think that I'm going to finally check out the American version of the Ring. Thanks for getting me further interested Linkara.

I'm glad that you got the episode up eventually. I was almost afraid it would be pushed into next week. I just hope this doesn't interfere too much with Secret Origins Month, since that's my favorite time of year on this channel, even above Event Comics/Retrospective Month. I was kinda disappointed that you only managed to do three Origins last year (Which is understandable; last year was a dumpster fire, to say the least). I hope for the best and eagerly await your next review.

20:27 So it happened in September... "Bit of a missed opportunity if I'm being honest, I mean the scary month's just one over." (flips calendar page to October and smacks it lightly)

I do like the idea of “what if someone takes this cursed tape and shares it on the internet causing a massive chain reaction dooming billions of people.” That’s seems interesting. Too bad they fucked it up. XD

Excellent video! I am looking forward to the next installment. To share a bit of trivia, Ryuji's area of study can be determined by the chalkboards in the background. Specifically, the calculations on the board arise from "ring theory", a subdiscipline of abstract algebra. I'm sure the filmmakers were amusing themselves with that pun. Does the novel or any other adaptations mention this? 🤔

"Too much water play and the monster will come." They went into the well to spend hours bringing up her bones and released Sadako in the process. That's literally the storyline, in a nut shell. It's weirdly written, so it wasn't that obvious. But Sadako's appearance at the end was literally her fulfilling the prophecy. 🤷

"oh my god what are those two girls doing with that cup?" *Slaps Linkara* We NEVER talk about that... It's a moment in time that never happened... Things have to be forgotten sometimes....

Re: the instructions at the end of the video: Sadako *wants* people to survive the video by exposing it to new people. She wants everyone in the world to see it and be infected by it, for reasons that are explained in the novels.

This. Was. Awesome! Pardon my enthusiasm but RINGU is one of my favorite movies. Definitely a favorite to watch around Halloween. I could geek out about it for hours. Can't say the same for the rest of the franchise, however. Haven't seen any of the sequels for their reputation for just getting weirder & weirder, & I have mixed feelings on the American remake. Namely that I think it added things that just raised further questions, but I am glad it exists cuz then I wouldn't have known about the Japanese film.

To add on to the Godzilla reference and the psychic powers theme: psychics are a recurring (if somewhat background) subplot within the Heisei Series Godzilla movies, mostly centered around the character of Miki Sageusa

Did you just Rick Roll us Linkara?

NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO, NOT PILO!!! I WAS ROOTING FOR HIM ALL THE WAY (as well as Linkara)!!!! CURSE YOU BILLY F****ING TORE!!!!!!

19:55 "WELL..... I be DAMN about that detail" thank you for this review, now I must never watch a VHS tape ever again in case I die in 7 days

I'm only a few minutes in, but the idea of a cursed KZfaq video might lend for a good parody. Imagine watching the Ring video only to have it interrupted halfway by a mid-roll ad.

Idk if I’m happy or disappointed that there wasn’t a dirty “water play” joke.

The best explanation I can think of for the imagery, is this. A lot of people say that when you're about to die, your life flashes before your eyes. Most of these images are snapshots from Sadako's life; others may be fragments of premonitions she's having of what will happen after she dies. As for why she has written steps for how to get out of dying? For this, we might be able to look at Chinese philosophy/ancient Chinese religion. One of the ideas in Chinese folk religion(s) is the idea of duality of the soul. Essentially, every person has two parts of their soul: the *hun*, which is infused with "Yang" (as in yin and yang, and I'll get to that shortly), and the *Po* , which is infused with *Yin* . The idea is that at the moment of death, the *hun* ascends to Heaven, while the *po* remains within the corpse. Depending on the source/interpretation, there's an idea that the *Hun* is basically the higher, nobler aspects of one's soul, and the *Po* the lower, more bestial or wicked aspects. If we apply this idea to the concept of an Onryo, then the angry ghost is the *Po* , and not the entire soul. It is the malice, the hunger for vengeance, perhaps even the need to destroy. And I believe that they were going for that in particular with Ringu. Why? Yin and Yang are defined by their contrast to one another, but both are needed for the universe to exist. Creative energy divides into yin and yang, and when the forces fuse in physical matter, the phenomenal world is brought into being. "Yang" which suffuses the *hun* is defined on Wikipedia as such: In Chinese philosophy, the masculine or positive principle (characterized by light, warmth, dryness, activity, etc.) "Yin,:" which suffuses the *Po* , is defined on Wikipedia as such: In Chinese philosophy, the feminine or negative principle (characterized by dark, wetness, cold, passivity, disintegration, etc.). Sadako, the Onryo, is the ghost/ *po* of a *girl* who died alone in the *cold* and *dark* at the bottom of a well, surrounded by *water* . Further, she *passively waits* for a week before finally deciding to come kill you (this last bit is a little tongue in cheek). (If you go with the *novel* specifically, then the Onryo is the *po* of an intersex person. I don't know if Chinese folk religion(s) does/do/did this, but some mythologies consider an intersex individual to have both male and female "energy." It...feels like that makes it a bit more likely that the author based this in at least some small part off of these ideas, but I'm having a hard time expressing *why* in words...) Now, you might ask "But what about the *Hun* ? Well, if the yin-infused Po is the *Onryo* known as Sadako, the manifestation of her rage and hatred, then one can presume it is what is in charge of the curse. But if the videotape is indeed basically a "dying dream" (for want of a better term) that Sadako was having, then perhaps her *Hun* was what left the idea for how to avoid the curse. Sadako was precognitive after all; she may have known what her *Po* would do after her death, and tried as best she could to act against it in her last moments. The anger was nearly overwhelming, but her *hun* was still able to give them at least a fleeting chance. EDIT: I said I'd explain the tape and only did like half the work. My bad, I'm tired. So, the idea is that Sadako *initially* just wanted someone to come help her. These images were what filled her mind as she was dying, and she was trying to reach out telepathically and get people to rescue her. Now, if you want to know why these only finally showed up on a recording rather than in someone's head? Maybe you have to actually *be* a psychic to receive that information directly, and if you're not, it can only be picked up on certain frequencies? I'll admit I'm kind of grasping at straws in this part.

I can imagine someone who keeps turning the tv off when Sadako is doing her thing and she gets more and more enraged at them before she brings out a bat.