Ring

This adaptation of Koji Suzuki's bestseller has rightly gained an international cult following. Structured like a diary, the plot resembles an old-fashioned detective story, propelled by chance clues and gradual realisations. Yet its emphasis on the paranormal recalls both David Cronenberg's brand of body horror and The X Files. Artfully mixing footage formats to achieve a visual texture commensurate with both the tone of the story and Kinji Kawai's eerie score, director Hideo Nakata inexorably builds the suspense right up to the moment when he springs the cursed video cassette's hideous secret.