Synopsis

Reporter Reiko learns of her niece Tomoko’s sudden death while investigating a strange rumor circulating in high schools—a videotape that curses anyone who watches it to die exactly seven days later. After discovering that Tomoko and three of her friends, all of whom died on the same day, had watched the tape together, Reiko tracks it down to a cabin the group had visited and decides to watch it herself. Immediately after the video ends, the phone rings, and her photo develops a ghostly, distorted face—signs that her own death is near. Desperate, she turns to her ex-husband Ryuji, who also watches the tape and becomes fascinated by the mystery. Together, they uncover the story of Sadako, a girl who died 40 years earlier after being thrown into a well, and set out to recover her remains in hopes of lifting the deadly curse. Ring, based on the bestselling novel by Koji Suzuki, became an international phenomenon and helped usher in a new wave of Japanese horror cinema. Kenji Kawai’s minimal yet chilling score enhances the atmosphere of dread throughout the film. The film won the Grand Prize at the 1999 Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.

Director

Hideo Nakata

Born in 1961, Hideo Nakata graduated from the University of Tokyo and began his career as an apprentice under director Masahiro Shinoda. He joined Nikkatsu Studio in 1985 and worked as an assistant director for seven years. In 1992, he began directing in the horror genre with episodes of the TV series Strange Tales (Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro). He achieved major success with Ring (1998), which drew 1.5 million viewers in Japan, and followed it up with Ring 2 (1999), which attracted 3.5 million viewers, establishing a new chapter in Japanese horror filmmaking.