ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the commonalities and dissonances of sources of authority between Ringu and Hart's highly influential positivist account of law. It outlines the centrality of rules in law and horror, highlighting that both Hart and horror are more concerned with formal validity than the substantive effects of rules. Monsters in horror perform Hart's depiction of the legal system – they are situated in an established system of rules which are assumed to be valid, regardless of their substance. The chapter analyses the quest for origins by Hart and the protagonists of Ringu. It examines the idea that identifying the origin will provide resolution – whether of the monster, or of the legitimacy and authority of the law. The chapter highlights that in horror the origins of the monster are imbricated with trauma. Moreover, Ringu reveals the violence that animates this logic. Ringu performs the precarity of Hart's obsession with origins and illuminates the imbrication of law and trauma.
