The Ring, romanized in Japanese as Ringu, evolved into a multi-million dollar cinematic franchise from a novel series of the same name by Koji Suzuki. Although the entire franchise consists of eight Japanese films, those various remakes, spin-offs, and sequels are hard to find outside of Japan, so the United States are more familiar with its 2002 remake and subsequent sequels.
Suzuki’s novel debuted in 1991 and spawned five more installments in Spiral (1995), Loop (1998), Birthday (1999), S (2012), and Tide (2013). Further print publications include seven comic books that released alongside the novels. Along with the Japanese film collection and printed works, Suzuki’s supernatural horror franchise comprises two television series, three English-language film remakes, a Korean film remake, and two video games: The Ring: Terror’s Realm, and Ring: Infinity.
Directed by Gore Verbinski, the US version of The Ring follows journalist Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts), who investigates a videotape that allegedly killed four teenagers (including her niece). There is an urban legend surrounding the tape that prophesies the viewer will die seven days after watching it. Unbeknownst the Rachel until later on in the film, the curse originates from Sadako Yamamura (renamed Samara Morgan in the American remakes), a vengeful ghost capable of nensha (thoughtography), which she uses as a means to kill whomever views the videotape.
For convenience to binge-watchers and horror junkies everywhere, here are all the American Ring movies in order.
The Ring (2002)
The Ring (2002) kick-started the American film franchise with Naomi Watt’s Rachel, a Seattle investigative journalist who experiences the effects of the cursed videotape first-hand when her niece, Katie (Amber Tamblyn), dies a week after watching it with her friends. When asked to uncover the exact cause of Katie’s death, Rachel visits the Shelter Mountain Inn, the location in which Katie and her friends viewed the tape. After watching it, Rachel faces impending death and begins to see images from the tape superimposed in the environment. She learns about Samara Morgan, the adopted daughter of Anna Morgan, a horse breeder, who can psychically etch images onto objects and into people’s minds.
Theatrically released on October 18, 2002, The Ring received positive reviews with particular praise for its atmosphere and visuals as well as Watt’s performance. It went on to become one of the highest-grossing horror remakes ever made. The Ring turned out to be so influential that it inspired American remakes of other Asian horror films, such as The Grudge, Dark Water, Shutter, and The Eye.
Rings (2005)
While it isn’t entirely necessary to watch Rings (2005) chronologically with the other three films, the events in the American-made short film flesh out some further details about the overarching concept that lead nicely into The Ring Two. Interestingly, Rings is included as a bonus feature on The Ring Two‘s DVD, so it’s safe to assume that the short film correlates with canon and continuity.
Sometimes after The Ring, Samara Morgan’s cursed videotape has gone viral; each time someone watches it, they make a copy and share it around, then the cycle continues. From the soaring popularity of the videotape, a subculture has formed wherein people test the seven-day deadline and see how close they can get before chickening out and passing the tape along. Online groups dedicated to the phenomenon are called “rings,” one of which recruits Jake Pierce (Ryan Merriman) to document his experiences after agreeing to take the challenge.
The Ring Two (2005)
The Ring Two is a direct sequel to The Ring (2002). Hideo Nakata, the director of the original Japanese Ring (1988), helmed the project in place of Gore Verbinski. Set six months after the events of The Ring and immediately after Rings, the cursed videotape has circulated as far as Astoria, Oregon. Jake Pierce (Ryan Merriman) is on his seventh day, so he asks his friend, Emily (Emily VanCamp) to watch the tape. Shortly thereafter, Rachel (Watts) obtains the tape and destroys it, but Samara Morgan – the ghost who cursed the footage — pursues Rachel and her son, Aidan, whom she tries to possess.
Unlike its predecessor, The Ring Two was received negatively by critics despite grossing US$35 million during its opening weekend, which more than doubles the opening weekend of The Ring. Although its domestic gross total was significantly less than the original, it earned a total gross of $163 million internationally.
Rings (2017)
Not to be confused with the 2005 short film of the same name, Rings rounds out the trilogy with F. Javier Gutiérrez serving as director. It was based on the Spiral novel by Kōji Suzuki. Originally, Paramount Pictures had planned a third film to be titled The Ring 3D in early 2014, but once Gutiérrez came onboard, plans changed. Written by David Loucka, Jacob Aaron Estes and Akiva Goldsman, Rings stars Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Aimee Teegarden, Bonnie Morgan, and Vincent D’Onofrio.
Lutz portrays Julia, a young woman who becomes worried about her boyfriend Holt (Roe) when he explores the “rings” subculture that challenges members to watch Samara Morgan’s cursed videotape. Julia sacrifices herself to save Holt, but in doing so, she makes a horrifying discovery. Released in February 2017, Rings opened #2 in the box office and grossed $83 million worldwide, despite being critically panned.
Future
Courtesy of Bloody Disgusting, The Grudge director Nicolas Pesce expressed interest in a crossover film between The Grudge and the English-language The Ring film series in September 2019. Although three years have passed since then, the window of opportunity remains open for a crossover between two very similar yet distinctive horror icons.