Ring | |
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Japanese theatrical release poster
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リング | |
Directed by | Hideo Nakata |
Produced by |
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Screenplay by | Hiroshi Takahashi |
Based on |
Ring by Kôji Suzuki |
Starring | |
Music by | Kenji Kawai |
Cinematography | Jun'ichirō Hayashi |
Edited by | Nobuyuki Takahashi |
Production
company |
Ringu/Rasen Production Committee
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Distributed by | Toho |
Release date
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Running time
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95 minutes |
Country | Japan |
Language | Japanese |
Box office | ¥1 billion |
Ring (リング Ringu?) is a 1998 Japanese psychological horror film directed by Hideo Nakata, adapted from the novel Ring by Kôji Suzuki, which in turn draws on the Japanese folk tale Banchō Sarayashiki. The film stars Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rikiya Ōtaka. The film is centered around a reporter who is on the run to investigate the mystery behind a cursed videotape that kills the viewer 7 days after watching it.
Production took approximately 9 months.Ring and its sequel Rasen were released in Japan at the same time. After its release, Ring inspired numerous follow-ups within the Ring franchise and triggered a trend of Western remakes, starting with the 2002 American film The Ring.
Two teenagers, Masami (Hitomi Satō) and Tomoko (Yūko Takeuchi), talk about a videotape recorded by a boy in Izu which is fabled to bear a curse that kills the viewer seven days after watching. Tomoko reveals that a week ago, she and three of her friends watched a weird tape and received a call after watching. Tomoko goes downstairs and witnesses her TV turn on by itself. She later hears startling noises and turns around, only to be killed by an unseen force.
Days later, Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), a reporter investigating the popularity of the video curse, discovers that her niece Tomoko, and her three other friends, mysteriously died at the same time, on the same night, with their faces twisted in fear. She also discovers that Masami became insane from witnessing Tomoko's death and is institutionalised in a mental hospital. After stumbling upon Tomoko's photos from the past week, Reiko finds that the four teenagers stayed in a rental cabin in Izu.