BBC Online chats with Hideo Nakata, director of Ringu and Ringu 2 -- both "adapted" by Hollywood. And while he didn't want to do it, Nakata wound up directing the U.S. version of the Ring sequel.

An excerpt:

Nakata is one of the directors who have helped establish a new wave of Japanese psychological horror that relies more on the viewer's mind to create terror than graphic or gory visuals.

That style has not been lost in his first Hollywood movie, he says.

"I would call it 'quiet horror'. It's quiet in terms of soundtrack, and subtle in terms of images."

In such subtle films, ghosts would appear and do little but stare "with sad, vengeful eyes", he says. "That's scary enough."

"That's the way we would think the ghost in the movies would look - more natural, more believable, more than a ghost or evil existence attacking the character.

Now a Western audience is more patient, more tolerant of quiet expressions in horror movies Hideo Nakata

"It used to be a little bit boring for a Western audience, but now a Western audience is more patient, more tolerant of quiet expressions in horror movies."