Ring cover art

Ring Details

1996 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 18,644 members

Exactly one week after staying at a remote cabin, a group of Japanese teenagers all meet sudden inexplicable deaths. A cousin of one of the victims, reporter Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), begins an investigation that leads to the discovery of a videotape containing hauntingly bizarre footage. Upon viewing the tape, Reiko .. Read more

Starring Nanako Matsushima, Sato Hitomi, Miki Nakatani, Hiroyuki Sanada
Director Hideo Nakata
Genres Horror, World Cinema

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Ring cover art

Ring

Exactly one week after staying at a remote cabin, a group of Japanese teenagers all meet sudden inexplicable deaths. A cousin of one of the victims, reporter Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), begins an investigation that leads to the discovery of a videotape containing hauntingly bizarre footage. Upon viewing the tape, Reiko receives a phone call stating that she, too, will die in one week. As the clock ticks away, Reiko enlists the help of her estranged husband, Ryuji (Hiroyuki Sanada), who possesses limited psychic abilities. Together they attempt to discover the meaning behind the cryptic film and break the supernatural curse.
Hideo Nakata's RING, based on a novel by Koji Suzuki, was such a hit in Japan that it spawned both a sequel and prequel, along with a huge cult following. Like a horrific version of an X-FILES episode, the dark, moody film makes the most out of the mysterious and the unknown. As any viewer will admit, the surreal, death-inducing video presented within the movie is extremely effective. And as RING's tension builds, so does its sense of mounting doom. One of the creepiest motion pictures ever made, RING culminates in an unbelievably chilling finale. Do not watch this film alone...and make sure the phone ringer is off.

Starring Nanako Matsushima, Sato Hitomi, Miki Nakatani, Hiroyuki Sanada
Director Hideo Nakata
Studio PALISADES TARTAN
Run time DVD: 1 hr 31 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Collections 100 Horror Films
Genres Horror, World Cinema
Language DVD: Japanese
Subtitles DVD: English
Released DVD: 19 Mar 2001
Production year: 1996
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews of Ring

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  • 4 stars out of 5

    This adaptation of Koji Suzuki's bestseller has rightly gained an international cult following. Structured like a diary, the plot resembles an old-fashioned detective story, propelled by chance clues and gradual realisations. Yet its emphasis on the paranormal recalls both David Cronenberg's brand of body horror and The X Files. Artfully mixing footage formats to achieve a visual texture commensurate with both the tone of the story and Kinji Kawai's eerie score, director Hideo Nakata inexorably builds the suspense right up to the moment when he springs the cursed video cassette's hideous secret.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • Most helpful member's review of Ring

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  • 48 out of 49 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Just can't watch it again

    I did buy this DVD after watching it the first time, but in a year have only just got past taking off the cellophane. I still see the final scene every time I close my eyes.

    I don't know what some people define as horror, but it's certainly not butchery - that's just news.

    This film is horrific because not a drop of blood is spilt, no one jumps out at anyone and no one runs away from anything. There's no other way to describe it than a creeping terror.

    If you didn't think it was frightening, watch it sober, without a break, alone, in the dark, in the countryside, without a sound - other than the wind moaning softly down the chimney, the doors shifting in their frames, the branch of a tree gently tap, tap, tapping on the window...

      • PeaceNick from Hampshire
      • Posted 17 Mar 2004 18:14

  • Most recent members' review of Ring

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    Watch this one first

    If i hadn't seen the Hollywood version first I would have thought this was a brilliant film but seeing as I had this felt like deja -vu.

    Definately worth the viewing though - shame about the subtitles. White text on a white car and a white lamp - impossible to read! The horror wasn't as graphic as Hollywoods but I think that only helped to heighten the suspense. The plot felt tighter somehow.

    I would definately recommend you give this one the once over.

      • A customer from Fleetwood, Lancashire
      • Posted 07 Feb 2005 22:25

  • News and features

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    Film of the year so far! Imagine, say, My Life as a Dog, Ratcatcher, or even 400 Blows, one of those bittersweet portraits of lonely children bumping up against the hard knocks of parental neglect, abuse and poverty. Cross that kind of acute honesty and naturalism with an edgy near-the-knuckle horror movie – Near Dark, for instance, or Ringu. Now set this intriguing mutation in the suburbs of Stockholm during the depths of a Swedish winter. Let the Right One In is that movie, and it’ Read more

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Rating breakdown

18,644 Member ratings
  • 100
2,182
  • 90
1,939
  • 80
3,522
  • 70
3,189
  • 60
2,986
  • 50
1,759
  • 40
1,168
  • 30
804
  • 20
730
  • 10
365

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      • Exactly one week after staying at a remote cabin, a group of Japanese teenagers all meet sudden inexplicable deaths. A cousin of one of the victims, reporter Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), begins ...