Ringu/The Ring

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possibly the scariest movie of all time, Ringu has had many sequels and remakes...

[kg redhead]

Ringu is a 1998 Japanese horror mystery film from director Hideo Nakata, adapted from a novel by Koji Suzuki of the same name. The film was later remade in Korea as The Ring Virus (1999), and in the United States as The Ring (2002).

All three films retain the basic premise of a cursed videotape that kills the viewer seven days after being watched. There are several differences between the book and film(s), however, including the main character being changed from male to female (Kazuyuki Asakawa becomes Reiko Asakawa), an omission of the more unsavory personality traits of Ryuji Takayama (Asakawa's companion), and a glossing over of the scientific explanation behind the cursed videotape in favor of a decidedly supernatural one.

There were two sequels shot in Japan: Rasen (also from 1998, aka Spiral) and Ring 2 (from 1999, and which was not based on Suzuki's works), as well as a prequel, Ring 0: Birthday (2000). Rasen made up for its predecessor in scientific detail, which was one of the reasons for its unpopularity. There was also a Korean remake (called Ring in Korea and The Ring Virus abroad) that was the first-ever joint filmmaking venture between Korea and Japan. A video game, known as The Ring: Terror's Realm in the U.S., was also released in 2000 for the Dreamcast.

The Ring and Rasen (released in English as Ring and Spiral respectively) were best-selling novels by Koji Suzuki. Loop (which has yet to be adapted to the screen) comprises the third book in the series. It was later followed by a collection of short stories called Birthday, from which the story "Lemonheart" provided the basis for the aforementioned theatrical prequel.

The international success of the Japanese films launched a revival of horror filmmaking in Japan that resulted in such pictures as Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Pulse (from 2001, also called Kairo or Circuit), Takashi Shimizu's Ju-on (2000), Hideo Nakata's Dark Water (from 2002, aka Honogurai mizu no soko kara, also based on a short story by Suzuki), and Higuchinsky's Uzumaki (2000, aka Vortex, based on the Junji Ito horror manga of the same name).

Most of the Ring stories also appeared as manga novels.

Fans of the series are known as Ringworms.

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Rasen (Spiral) was adapted into the 1998 Japanese horror film by Jōji Iida, the first sequel to the popular film Ring. Both stories have to do with a bizarre videotape which kills its viewer within a week of watching it.

In an unusual cinematic move, Ring and its sequel Rasen were released in Japan at the same time. The studio hoped this would increase revenues, because the Ring story was already a successful novel and television series. The two films shared few cast members and had different production teams; Rasen was written and directed by Jōji Iida whereas Ring was written by Hiroshi Takahashi and directed by Hideo Nakata. After their release, Ring became an enormous success while Rasen floundered, quickly becoming the "forgotten sequel."

Takahashi and Nakata were later recruited to produce another sequel, Ring 2, which replaced Rasen as the sequel to Ring, having taken a different and original storyline from Suzuki's book.

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Ringu 2 (1999), directed by Hideo Nakata, is the sequel to the Japanese horror film, Ring.

Ring was originally a novel written by Koji Suzuki; its sequel, Rasen (aka Spiral), was also adapted into a movie as the Ringu movie's sequel. However, due to the poor response to Rasen, Ring 2 was made as a new sequel to Ring, not based on any works by Suzuki, and thus ultimately ignores the story of Rasen.

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Ringu 0: Bāsudei) is a prequel to the movie Ring, the Japanese inspiration for the 2002 hit remake, The Ring. The movie is based on a short story by Koji Suzuki named Lemon Heart from the collection called Birthday.

The movie follows the life of Sadako Yamamura (the antagonist in the previous movie), played by Yukie Nakama, prior to her death in a more protagonistic light.

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The Ring is a 2002 American film, a remake of the Japanese horror mystery Ring (1998). It is directed by Gore Verbinski, written by Ehren Kruger, and stars Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson.

The story begins with two teenage girls discussing the events of the previous weekend, during which one of them, Katie (played by Amber Tamblyn), went to a cabin in the mountains to party with some friends. While gossiping, the subject of a supposedly cursed videotape comes up. The other girl, Becca, states that anyone who watches this video receives a phone call that says they have "seven days" and then dies seven days later. Katie reveals in horror that she had watched that video at the cabin last weekend, seven days earlier. After a series of creepy occurrences involving TVs in the house turning themselves on and unexplained water, Katie dies and Becca goes insane.

The film then introduces Katie's aunt, Rachel (played by Naomi Watts). She is a journalist living in Seattle. Her son, Aidan (played by David Dorfman), was not only Katie's cousin but also a good friend, and seems to be sensitive to psychic occurrences. At Katie's funeral, Rachel begins investigating Katie's death and learns of the videotape. Her investigation leads her to the same cabin in the mountains where the teenagers had watched the tape. There, she finds the tape and eventually watches it, as does Aidan a few days later.

Rachel's investigation then turns to the tape itself, which contains a seemingly random series of disturbing grainy black & white images. Investigating those images leads Rachel to learn of a girl, Samara (played by Daveigh Chase & Kelly Stables), who had been adopted and then murdered by her parents, apparently after causing her mother to go insane and after causing the deaths of several horses. Rachel is eventually led to the girl's grave at the bottom of a well. Rachel notifies the authorities, and Samara is given a proper burial, presumably putting her spirit to rest.

However, just as it seems that everything is nicely tied up, it is revealed that Samara is not so much interested in having her story told, but in hurting others. Samara commits another atrocity and Rachel discovers the ethically questionable method to protect herself and her son.

Produced by DreamWorks Pictures, the film was a popular success, earning a total of US$129,094,024 in domestic box office receipts.

The success of The Ring opened the way for American remakes of several other Japanese horror films (see: The Grudge).

A sequel, The Ring Two, was released in North American theaters on March 18, 2005. It was directed by Hideo Nakata, the director of the original Japanese film Ringu.

Just before the release of the sequel, The Ring was re-released with an extra disc that had a fifteen minute short film, Rings, which tied the knot between The Ring and The Ring Two.

In the 2003 film Scary Movie 3, The Ring is parodied in several ways.

Differences between The Ring and Ringu

* The name of the character Reiko Asakawa was changed to Rachel Keller.
* The name of the son is changed from Yoichi to Aidan.
* Ryǘji Takahama is now Noah Clay.
* The freaky images on the tape.

(See: the Cursed Videotape)

* Name of girl in Japanese tape: Sadako; name of girl in American tape: Samara.
* In RINGU, the ghost girl's victims just have their mouths open with fear. In this one, the ghost girl's victims look like they've been underwater for some time.
* The term "ring" refers to the ring of light that Samara saw, not copying/passing the tape.
* The mother, called Anna, jumps off a cliff, while in Ringu, the mother jumped into a volcano.

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The Ring Two is a 2005 American horror film, a sequel to The Ring (2002), which was a remake of the Japanese film Ringu (1998). The original director of Ringu, Hideo Nakata, directs The Ring Two.

This sequel is not based on any of the previous Japanese sequels to Ringu, and is an original storyline, continuing from The Ring.

The movie was filmed in Astoria, Oregon and Los Angeles, California. It was released on March 18, 2005, and earned over US$35 million in its opening weekend, more than doubling the opening weekend of The Ring.

Just before the release of this sequel, The Ring was re-released with an extra disc that had a fifteen minute short film, Rings, which tied the knot between The Ring and The Ring Two.

In the sequel, which takes place approximately six months after the events of the first movie, Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) and her son Aidan (David Dorfman), hoping to put the distressing events they have endured behind them, have moved from Seattle to the quiet coastal community of Astoria, Oregon, looking for a fresh start. Rachel begins a new job at the Astoria Gazette, a local newspaper, working for Max Rourke (Simon Baker). Before long, there is news of a teenage homicide in town. The details surrounding it sound too familiar to Rachel, who decides to investigate. Sure enough, the homicide is the work of Samara Morgan and the cursed videotape. Rachel finds and destroys the tape in question, but it's too late. Samara has found her, and has no intention of leaving. Apparently Samara wants Rachel to be her mother, and she will go to any length to achieve that desire, which she does by possessing Aidan, who becomes disoriented and hypothermic, and is covered with bruises. He is subsequently hospitalized, and the staff, particularly psychiatrist Dr. Emma Temple (Elizabeth Perkins), suspect foul play on Rachel's part, and won't allow her to be near him.

Unable to be around her son, and desperate to find answers, Rachel travels to Seattle to dig deeper into Samara's past and origins. While there, she discovers that Samara was not Richard and Anna Morgan's biological child, as was strongly suspected in the first movie. She tracks down Samara's birth mother, Evelyn (Sissy Spacek), who tried to drown Samara as an infant, and has been living in a mental institution ever since. Evelyn insists that Samara had no father, other than an entity from the sea (a likely nod to the original Japanese Ringu, on which The Ring is based) and advises Rachel to "be a good mother" and "listen to her baby" when she seeks advice on how to deal with Samara. When Aidan tells her (in a dream, as it is stated that Samara cannot hear them when they're sleeping) what she needs to do, Rachel is left with the most difficult decision she has ever faced.