Ringu (lost "Brussels cut" of Japanese horror film; existence unconfirmed; 1998)

The open mouth effect as it appears in the definitive (arguably lone) cut of Ringu.

Status: Existence Unconfirmed

According to a number of unproven eyewitness accounts, there is an alleged alternate version of Hideo Nakata's 1998 cult horror classic Ringu, dubbed "the Brussels Cut". It was said to have been significantly more graphic than the definitive cut seen today. It was supposedly shown at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film in 1999 (for its European premiere).

Differences

The Brussels cut is said to contain a much more disturbing open mouth effect, wherein the victims' mouths were noticeably vertically deformed (as they were, incidentally, in the film's 2002 remake, The Ring). This change was said to have given the film a much creepier effect, with testimonies praising the Brussels screening overall.

Response

Director Hideo Nakata, when asked (twice in separate interviews) about the possibility of an alternate cut of Ringu, denied having any knowledge of such a cut, though this has not hindered supposed witnesses from testifying to its legitimacy.

Existence

While most people have passed off the "Brussels cut" as nothing more than an urban legend, the surprising number of people who have come forward claiming to have seen it is too significant for others to deny, preferring to believe that either Hideo Nakata was, for some reason, attempting to hide its existence, or that someone other than him had tampered with the cut before it was screened.

Notably, since word on the "Brussels cut" broke online, several people have made claims that the alternate cut aired on both Spanish and British TV, though these claims have been heavily disputed. Whether or not the "Brussels cut" truly exists or not may never be known.