The Ring

"Before you die, you see."

2002 1h 55m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

🍅

72%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

7.1

IMDB

★6.7TMDB · 6,912🍅72%Rotten Tomatoes●57Metacritic★7.1IMDB · 400,067

HorrorMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Journalist Rachel Keller investigates a strange videotape that may be behind the untimely deaths of four teenagers. There is an urban legend about this tape: the viewer will die seven days after watching it. Rachel tracks down the video... and watches it. Now she has just seven days to unravel the mystery of the Ring in order to save herself and her son.

“Before you die, you see.”

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Cast

Naomi Watts
Rachel Keller
Martin Henderson
Noah Clay
David Dorfman
Aidan Keller
Brian Cox
Richard Morgan
Jane Alexander
Dr. Grasnik
Lindsay Frost
Ruth Embry
Amber Tamblyn
Katie Embry
Rachael Bella
Rebecca Kotler

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Gore Verbinski
Writers: Ehren Kruger, Hiroshi Takahashi, Richard K. Buoen
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

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

Made its money back 5.2× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 24 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

204+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Gore Verbinski, shot by Bojan Bazelli. 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 Hans Zimmer. 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 Craig Wood 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

Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson and David Dorfman carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Gore Verbinski directs. Bojan Bazelli behind the camera. Hans Zimmer scores. Craig Wood cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 5.2× over at the box office.
2Released 24 years ago.
3Part of the "The Ring Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4204+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Gore Verbinski, shot by Bojan Bazelli. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Hans Zimmer. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Craig Wood shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson and David Dorfman carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Before you die, you see.".
10IMDB entry: tt0298130 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 20 themes, including "journalist", "island", "drowning", "investigation".
12Released under 21 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Bojan Bazelli
Original score: Hans Zimmer
Editing: Craig Wood
Production design: Tom Duffield
Costume design: Julie Weiss
Makeup / hair: Medusah
VFX supervisor: Craig Barron
Sound: Peter Miller
Stunt coordinator: Keith Campbell
Runtime: 115 min · 1h 55m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $48,000,000
Box office: $249,348,933
Return: 519% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: The Ring (2002)
Rotten Tomatoes: 72% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 57/100
IMDB rating: 7.1/10 · 400,067 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

14 wins & 12 nominations total

MTV Movie Award for Best Villain

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

Part of

The Ring Collection

An American psychological horror film series based on the 1998 Japanese horror film Ringu.

Also by

Gore Verbinski

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2018-10-29
★ 8/10
Is she still in the dark place? After the mysterious death of her niece Katie, journalist Rachel Keller starts to investigate an urban legend about a videotape which kills you seven days after watching it. With dire consequences coming her way if she can not solve the mystery.... The sentence, English language remake of successful foreign horror film has been known to instill fear of the wrong kind in many a genre fan. So when it was announced that Gore Verbinski was to remake Hideo Nakata's terrifying nerve shredder, Ringu, the reaction in horror circles was akin to someone urinating on your chips. Refreshing to report then that The Ring is a candidate for best American remake and proof positive that remakes sometimes can be a good thing. Starring Naomi Watts (who is terrific) as Rachel, Verbinski and writer Ehren Kruger (adapting from Kôji Suzuki's novel) successfully transfer the atmospherics of Nakata's piece to a dank and eerie Seattle. It's with atmosphere that The Ring starts to play on your nerves, because after viewing the creepy and unsettling tape itself, we ourselves have been set up for the race against the clock theme that is driving Rachel on. So as the mystery starts to unravel, and sadness threatens to take a hold, the story quickly shifts direction to give horror one of its most baddest and cruelest characters. It's the kind of impact that crawls under your skin and refuses to move when you are trying to sleep at night. Though the story has been streamlined from its source, The Ring still has a bit too much filler in its meaty structure. Feeling a need to give Watts a quest among quests, Verbinski almost over cooks the mystery essence of the plot. However, with much relief he reins it in to stop any sort of scooby doo like nonsense detracting from the creepy sense of dread that has been built up previously. The ending here works a treat, but it is a tone down from the source and with that it's not even close to Nakata's version, and just maybe it has something to do with Dream Works wanting to secure a PG-13 rating? What is left though is a truly suspenseful and unsettling thriller - come horror film. One that even on revisits manages to bother and keep one on the edge of the seat. It made an $80 million profit in America alone, ensuring that a sequel was sure to follow. Now was that one a bad idea! 8/10
daniel_carr2026-02-13
★ 5/10
Was interesting and special effects were good but all comes down to story and they lost the plot at the end, sorry. Didn't make sense they seemed like they had a good idea and wanted to make a horror out of it when the obvious ending would have worked out better. Nice try!
Getoff132026-06-03
Now this is a good movie.Acting and story is very good.You kind of know what will happen but it makes you watch it till the end in one shot without problem.Like a Grudge.Similar for me.Very good. /.7/10