Nakata to Enter the Chatroom

By Johnny Butane
November 5th, 2008

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Or at least have lost their footing quite a bit and look on the verge of hitting the ground face-first. Variety reports this morning that Hideo Nakata, the director of the original Ring, is getting ready to step behind the camera for a psychological thriller called ... it pains me to type this ... Chatroom.

Along with the announcement, the trade also has a small bit on the plot: Chatroom will be about teenagers who encourage one another’s destructive tendencies. So he’s making a serious Jackass film, then? This will be Nakata’s first original (read: not a sequel or remake) film to be shot in English.

Which does not, keep in mind, mean it’s going to be any good. What might be a good sign is that it was written by Enda Walsh as an adaptation of his own stage play, so there's some hope that it won’t be 90 minutes of kids in front of a computer screen. Still, though, Nakata’s steadily disappointed me since Ring 2 (the original one, not the U.S. sequel to the remake...) so I’m keeping my hopes nice and low for Chatroom.

- Johnny Butane