Rina Sawayama reveals her favourite horror movie
After establishing herself as one of the most relevant popular musicians, Rina Sawayama turned her talents to acting and recently gave a tremendous performance in the newest John Wick movie, Chapter 4, alongside the likes of Keanu Reeves and Hiroyuki Sanada.
While it’s her music that Sawayama remains most celebrated for, receiving widespread acclaim for her debut album Sawayama and its follow-up Hold the Girl, Sawayama will be looking to follow up on the success of her debut film appearance in John Wick and deliver more excellent acting performances.
Known for her creative approach to her work, in both her music and acting efforts, Sawayama draws inspiration from several different mediums, including horror movies, and the artist once named her favourite film in the genre – an absolute classic of Japanese cinema.
Discussing the film, Sawayama told Crack, “Ring was the first horror movie I watched. I was, like, seven, and I related to Sadako; she’s sad and never washes her hair.” As a Japanese native, it’s unsurprising to learn of Sawayama’s kinship with Sadako, who’d go on to influence some of the musician’s music videos.
Ring arrived in 1998, a psychological supernatural horror flick directed by Hideo Nakata, adapted from a 1991 novel of the same name by Koji Suzuki. It tells of a journalist who looks into a strange videotape that curses anyone who watches it so that they die seven days later.
The film was partially responsible for spawning a wave of American remakes of Japanese horror. A Gore Verbinski version starring Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson and Brian Cox arrived in 2002, and while it was a box-office hit and received initially positive reviews, it’s since been reappraised as a poor remake.
Sawayama noted: “I think it taught me never to trust Hollywood remakes of Asian classics. On a creative note, I really want to recreate the TV scene in a music video – I tried to in a previous video but didn’t have the budget to make it look good.” It’s true that Hollywood remakes are rarely any good, and The Ring arguably fits into that category.
Thankfully, it’s the original Ring that Sawayama holds a deep love for, though, and we can see some of its influence in the music video for ‘STFU!’. Perhaps we will continue to see Ring’s influence as Sawayama continues her career as a musician and actor, but for now, enjoy the film’s trailer below.
