The wildly popular Japanese film, an adaptation of Koji Suzuki’s; novel, wasn’t the first time Ring was filmed. It was preceded by a television movie in 1995, however it was this 1998 cinema version which took the tale of a cursed video tape to the world, and influenced horror film trends since.
After several college students die at exactly the same moment, in different parts of the city, their autopsies uncover no apparent causes of death. Journalist Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima) investigates, and uncovers a rumour that the students had watched a mysterious video tape together a week earlier. When her niece seems to die in the same way, Asakawa enlists the help of her ex-husband, occult professor Ryuji Takayama (Hiroyuki Sanada.) Together, the pair work to trace the origin of the tape, and learn about the ghostly Sadako (Rie Ino.)
Released in the midst of a wave of slashers and jump-scare cinema, Ring‘s more mysterious, creepy pacing ushered a change of style in the genre. The film itself was followed by a string of sequels and spin-offs, and spawned remakes extending to their own franchises in the USA and South Korea. Hideo Nakata’s Ring is available to stream free and legally without ads in Australia.
Ring (1998)
Stream free at:
Kanopy (Ad-free)
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