Ring

"One curse, one cure, one week to find it."

1998 1h 36m JA

👍

7.1

SOLID

★7.1TMDB · 1,754

HorrorThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A mysterious video has been linked to a number of deaths, and when an inquisitive journalist finds the tape and views it herself, she sets in motion a chain of events that puts her own life in danger.

“One curse, one cure, one week to find it.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Nanako Matsushima
Reiko Asakawa
Hiroyuki Sanada
Ryuji Takayama
Rikiya Ôtaka
Yoichi Asakawa
Miki Nakatani
Mai Takano
Yuko Takeuchi
Tomoko Oishi
Hitomi Sato
Masami Kurahashi
Yutaka Matsushige
Yoshino
Yōichi Numata
Takashi Yamamura

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Hideo Nakata
Writers: Hiroshi Takahashi
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $19M — a 16.2× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

28 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Ring Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Hideo Nakata, shot by Junichiro Hayashi. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Kenji Kawai. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Nobuyuki Takahashi shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Nanako Matsushima and Hiroyuki Sanada and Rikiya Ôtaka carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Hideo Nakata directs. Junichiro Hayashi behind the camera. Kenji Kawai scores. Nobuyuki Takahashi cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $1.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $19M — a 16.2× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
328 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "Ring Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Hideo Nakata, shot by Junichiro Hayashi. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Kenji Kawai. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Nobuyuki Takahashi shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Nanako Matsushima and Hiroyuki Sanada and Rikiya Ôtaka carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "One curse, one cure, one week to find it.".
10IMDB entry: tt0178868 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 14 themes, including "journalist", "island", "based on novel or book", "supernatural".
12Released under 16 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Junichiro Hayashi
Original score: Kenji Kawai
Editing: Nobuyuki Takahashi
Production design: Iwao Saitô
Runtime: 96 min · 1h 36m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $1,200,000
Box office: $19,400,000
Return: 1617% of budget
Original language: JA
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Ring (1998)

Awards

Sitges Film Festival Best Feature-Length Film award

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Ring Collection

A series of supernatural horror films, based on the series of novels of the same name by Koji Suzuki, about a cursed videotape that kills anyone who watches it seven days later.

Also by

Hideo Nakata

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

artmeja2012-10-29
This film is very Japanese.If the objective of any horror movie is to scare, then Ringu succeeds with flying colours. Everything about this movie is genuinely disturbing and unsettling. From the mythology of the tale to the ghastly contorted faces of the corpses that Sada, the demon of the story leaves in her wake.

Production companies