# The Ring (franchise)
**The Ring** is a horror franchise based on *Ring* (リング), a 1991 novel by the Japanese author [Koji Suzuki](https://www.edgepedia.org/koji-suzuki), which centers on a cursed videotape that kills anyone who watches it within seven days unless the curse is passed on to another viewer.
|---|---|
| Central premise | Watching an unmarked cursed videotape dooms the viewer to die in seven days, unless they copy the tape and show it to someone else[1](https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-ring-ringu-1997-online) |
| Breakthrough film | *Ringu* (1998), directed by Hideo Nakata, the highest-grossing horror film in Japan at the time[2](https://25yearslatersite.com/tv/features/tracing-a-dark-circle-revisiting-ringu-the-ring/) |
| American hit | *The Ring* (2002), directed by Gore Verbinski, grossed $249 million worldwide and $129 million in North America[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-rings-odd-history-20170131-story.html) |
| Antagonist | Sadako Yamamura in Japan; Samara in the American films; Park Eun-suh in the Korean version[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-rings-odd-history-20170131-story.html) |
## The novels
Suzuki's *[Ring](https://www.edgepedia.org/ring-suzuki-novel)* follows a male investigative pair, the journalist Asakawa and his friend Ryuji, as they trace a videotape whose viewers die one week after watching it, investigating whether the curse behind it is biological or supernatural.[4](https://philarchive.org/archive/JONVNT) The novel was the first of a trilogy completed by *Spiral* (1995) and *Loop* (1998), and the series later grew by three further volumes, including *S* (2012) and *Tide*.[5](https://revistas.fcsh.unl.pt/rcl/article/download/1408/1281/4152) • [6](https://refractory-journal.com/ring-jb) Suzuki, whose bestseller earned him the nickname "the Stephen King of Japan," died at 68 in a Tokyo hospital.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-rings-odd-history-20170131-story.html) • [7](https://as.com/meristation/cine/muere-koji-suzuki-creador-de-una-de-las-sagas-mas-influyentes-del-cine-de-terror-f202605-n/)
## The Japanese films
The first screen adaptation was a 1995 television film for Fuji Television Network, more faithful to the novel than the later features.[8](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/pdf/2021-10-29-ring.pdf) Hideo Nakata's theatrical *[Ring](https://www.edgepedia.org/ring-film)*, released in Japan on 31 January 1998, relocated the vengeful spirit (onryō) of classical Japanese ghost stories into contemporary, media-saturated urban Japan, and became the highest-grossing horror film in Japanese history.[9](https://sightlines.media/film/2671/ring-1998) • [8](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/pdf/2021-10-29-ring.pdf) Its plot follows the journalist Reiko (Nanako Matsushima), aunt of one of several teenagers found dead a week after visiting a cabin, as she watches the unmarked tape herself and races to uncover its origins.[1](https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-ring-ringu-1997-online)
**A branching sequel structure.** Japanese distributor Toho released a sequel, *Rasen* (based on Suzuki's *Spiral*), simultaneously with *Ring* in 1998; when *Rasen* bombed, the studio effectively disowned it, and Nakata returned to direct *Ringu 2* (1999), which became the franchise's first official sequel.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-rings-odd-history-20170131-story.html) A prequel, *Ring 0: Birthday* (2000), drew on Suzuki's short-story anthology about Sadako's origins and also underperformed with Japanese audiences.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-rings-odd-history-20170131-story.html) A 1999 television series, *Ring: The Final Chapter*, also formed part of the early Japanese output.[6](https://refractory-journal.com/ring-jb)
The franchise revived in 2012 with *Sadako 3D*, based on the novel *S* and continuing from *Rasen*'s storyline; it made $16 million in Japan and spawned *Sadako 3D 2*.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-rings-odd-history-20170131-story.html) A 2016 crossover, *Sadako vs. Kayako*, directed by Kōji Shiraishi, pitted Sadako against the ghost of the *Ju-On: The Grudge* series.[5](https://revistas.fcsh.unl.pt/rcl/article/download/1408/1281/4152) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-rings-odd-history-20170131-story.html)
## The American remakes
DreamWorks bought the remake rights to *Ringu* together with its U.S. theatrical and video distribution rights, and [Gore Verbinski](https://www.edgepedia.org/gore-verbinski)'s *The Ring* opened in October 2002 to positive reviews, grossing $249 million worldwide and making [Naomi Watts](https://www.edgepedia.org/naomi-watts) a bankable star.[5](https://revistas.fcsh.unl.pt/rcl/article/download/1408/1281/4152) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-rings-odd-history-20170131-story.html) The American ghost is named Samara, played by [Daveigh Chase](https://www.edgepedia.org/daveigh-chase), and the film follows Watts's Rachel as she tries to solve the tape's riddle before it claims her son.[10](https://time.com/3549015/serial-killers-the-10-scariest-horror-movie-franchises/) The two Hollywood *Ring* films have been described as the most successful J-horror translations in Hollywood history.[10](https://time.com/3549015/serial-killers-the-10-scariest-horror-movie-franchises/)
*The Ring Two* (2005) was directed by Nakata himself, but critics panned it and it earned $76 million domestically against the first film's $129-million North American take.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-rings-odd-history-20170131-story.html) After an English-language hiatus since *The Ring Two* (2005), during which Japanese franchise films appeared in 2012, 2013, and 2016, Paramount revived the English-language series with *Rings* (2017), directed by F. Javier Gutiérrez; [Johnny Galecki](https://www.edgepedia.org/johnny-galecki) plays a college professor experimenting on the video, the curse spreads through digital files, and the film is rated PG-13 with a 102-minute running time.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-rings-odd-history-20170131-story.html) • [11](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/rings) • [18](https://globalcinema.kadokawa.co.jp/library/entry-3563.html)
A Korean adaptation, *The Ring Virus* (1999), positions itself as a readaptation of Suzuki's novel while sharing some shots with Nakata's film, including moments that do not appear in the novel.[12](https://www.ghoulsmagazine.com/articles/ring-1998-vs-the-ring-2002-j-horror-movies)
## Influence on J-horror remakes
The success of *Ringu* and *The Ring* kick-started the J-horror craze of the late 1990s and early 2000s and triggered a wave of Western remakes of Asian horror films: *Dark Water* (from Nakata's own hit), *One Missed Call*, *Pulse* (from *Kairo*), and *The Grudge* (from *Ju-On*), followed by remakes of South Korean and Hong Kong productions such as *[Mirrors](https://www.edgepedia.org/mirrors-2008-film)*, *The Uninvited*, and *The Eye*.[13](https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3077259/shock-vs-dread-how-j-horror-classic-ring-1998-compares-its?module=inline&pgtype=article) • [5](https://revistas.fcsh.unl.pt/rcl/article/download/1408/1281/4152) The remake wave collapsed in the mid-2000s as *Dark Water*, the widely panned *Pulse* (2006), and *One Missed Call* (2008), the worst-reviewed film of its year, returned diminishing results.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-rings-odd-history-20170131-story.html)
## The cursed tape as technology
The franchise's central hook is a piece of media technology: an unmarked videotape whose viewing kills within seven days, with a phone call announcing the sentence.[1](https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-ring-ringu-1997-online) • [14](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/03/rings-the-ring-horror-films-technology) The curse propagates through copying and viewing, a contagion model that maps onto anxieties about reproducible media and networked culture.[15](https://sightlines.media/film/565/the-ring-2002) Commentators have connected the tape's menace to its physical, analog properties: unlike DVD or streaming, the bulky VHS cassette with its coiled, fragile tape is a tangible object, which makes the fear that its contents could slip into the material world, as Sadako does when she crawls out of the television, feel more potent.[16](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/ringu-hideo-nakata-videotapes-lynch-haneke) When the climactic television scene was restaged with CGI in the 2002 remake, some critics found the addition detracted from the scariness while vindicating the story's technophobic subtext.[17](https://www.theringer.com/2017/02/03/movies/rings-horror-movies-diminishing-returns-ad0306c6543) In *Rings*, the curse updates to digital files, thumb drives, and hacked in-flight broadcasts, a shift that reviewers argued could not approximate the tactile dread of the videotape.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-rings-odd-history-20170131-story.html) • [14](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/03/rings-the-ring-horror-films-technology)
The franchise's canon varies across countries and media, with concurrent and non-canonical chronologies, prequels, sequels, and crossovers, but the constant elements are the cursed tape, the seven-day phone call, and the long-haired ghost woman with techno-spooking powers.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-rings-odd-history-20170131-story.html)
## References
1. [Watch Ring [Ringu] online, BFI Player](https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-ring-ringu-1997-online)
2. [Tracing a Dark Circle: Revisiting Ringu & The Ring, 25 Years Later](https://25yearslatersite.com/tv/features/tracing-a-dark-circle-revisiting-ringu-the-ring/)
3. [The strange history of the 'Rings' franchise, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-rings-odd-history-20170131-story.html)
4. [Vampires and the uncanny: the novel Ring, PhilArchive](https://philarchive.org/archive/JONVNT)
5. [Ring: reception and adaptation essay, Revista de Comunicação e Linguagens (PDF)](https://revistas.fcsh.unl.pt/rcl/article/download/1408/1281/4152)
6. [Everything in this World is Artificial: Media Contagion, Theme Parks and the Ring Franchise, Refractory](https://refractory-journal.com/ring-jb)
7. [Muere Koji Suzuki, AS MeriStation](https://as.com/meristation/cine/muere-koji-suzuki-creador-de-una-de-las-sagas-mas-influyentes-del-cine-de-terror-f202605-n/)
8. [Ring (Ringu) review and context, BFI (PDF)](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/pdf/2021-10-29-ring.pdf)
9. [Ring (1998), dir. Hideo Nakata, Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/2671/ring-1998)
10. [Serial Killers: The 10 Scariest Horror-Movie Franchises, Time](https://time.com/3549015/serial-killers-the-10-scariest-horror-movie-franchises/)
11. [Rings, Paramount Pictures](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/rings)
12. [J-Horror: Ring (1998) versus The Ring (2002), Ghouls Magazine](https://www.ghoulsmagazine.com/articles/ring-1998-vs-the-ring-2002-j-horror-movies)
13. [Shock vs dread: how J-horror classic Ring (1998) compares to its 2002 Hollywood remake, South China Morning Post](https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3077259/shock-vs-dread-how-j-horror-classic-ring-1998-compares-its?module=inline&pgtype=article)
14. [Ghost in the system: has technology ruined horror films?, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/03/rings-the-ring-horror-films-technology)
15. [The Ring (2002), dir. Gore Verbinski, Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/565/the-ring-2002)
16. [When videotapes were sinister – 20 years of J-horror classic Ring, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/ringu-hideo-nakata-videotapes-lynch-haneke)
17. [May the Circle Be Broken, The Ringer](https://www.theringer.com/2017/02/03/movies/rings-horror-movies-diminishing-returns-ad0306c6543)
18. [SADAKO vs. KAYAKO/SADAKO vs. KAYAKO, Sadako Series, Library, KADOKAWA Global Cinema](https://globalcinema.kadokawa.co.jp/library/entry-3563.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Film characters and fictional worlds › Horror film characters*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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