In Jôji Iida's "Rasen", Sadako explained that the reason behind her curse towards unfortunates was for others to experience pure fear, the same kind of fear she went through all alone at the bottom of a darkened well. <br /><br />In Norio Tsuruta's "Bâsudei", the "Sadako" series continues, except this time we follow a young woman, named Sadako(Yukie Nakama), haunted by a ghoulish alter ego with considerable power. Sadako is an apprentice for a theatrical troupe preparing in rehearsals for a play, alienated by the actors and crew who feel intimidated and uneasy around her. A sound effects engineer, Hiroshi Tôyama(Seiichi Tanabe), seems to be the only one who accepts her without contention, actually encouraging once she receives the leading role after the actress dies under suspicious, and very unusual, circumstances. The troupe and crew soon come to the understanding, thanks to a news reporter who instigates a lynch mob after the director(..who initiates a traumatic situation, accusing Sadako, an actress he put in position to become a star, of killing the lead actress)is found murdered, his body discovered by a stage hand, that they are accursed(..her photographer's snapshots reveal their distorted faces and other disturbing images). It seems that the entire troupe is cursed by the malevolent doppelganger of Sadako, and they will take matters into their own hands in order to protect themselves from the same fate as the director and lead actress, securing the wrath of an evil they'll wish they never offended. <br /><br />A different approach to the "Ringu" series this time making Sadako a sympathetic figure, a young woman tormented by others when, in fact, she is as much a victim as those whose lives are harmed by the vengeful ghoul. The ghoul is, in a sense, Sadako's "protector", a kind of spectre that haunts the theater, and we see how the troupe and crew always respond to our heroine with disdain and disregard. Sadako, right from the start, is treated as a derelict, placed on an island because she sends off "spook signals" to everyone. Tôyama becomes her sole friend and confident and their blossoming romance is the heart and soul of "Ringu 0-Birthday", as he attempts to rescue her from all those that find Sadako a threat..to no avail. We see how the reporter finds Sadako, understanding her past(..including Sadako's relationship to a psychiatrist named Ikuma, portrayed by Daisuke Ban, who had disappeared after being excommunicated by his colleagues and peers), with designs on destroying her life. "Bâsudei" actually has two major climaxes, the theatrical production which spirals out of control when it should've been Sadako's finest hour on stage, and the discovery of where Ikuma had been hiding the alter ego, the lynch mob, behind an attack on our heroine, coming in contact, face-to-face with a fate worse than death. Potent finale, reiterating what I mentioned in the opening sentence of my user comment, as we witness Ikuma's decision to "end all of it" in regards to Sadako. The well, as always, returns, an ominous presence acknowledging an act of betrayal, a symbol of fear, which has fueled countless miseries, lives lost thanks in part to how it was used to get rid of a "bad seed."