These numbers, however, should be taken with a grain of salt: it is widely acknowledged that box office tallies for Ring were combined with those for Rasen, the sequel with which Ring was co-released.
For the record, poster art for the film and two printings of the paperback editions of the novels use the English rendering of "the Ring." Please note the lower-case "t," as the convention is used on this site when referring to the original Japanese versions.
For starters, the protagonist of the novel is a man, Asakawa Kazuyuki. It was director Nakata Hideo's idea to change this character to a woman for his theatrical version: all other Japanese adaptations of Ring feature a male lead. The biggest changes of all, however, regard the character of Sadako and the "cursed" videotape. In the original novel, we learn that Sadako wasn't actually a girl -- genetically speaking, she was a man.
The famous premise of the movie, that Sadako lurches out of television screens to claim her victims, was the brainchild of screenwriter Takahashi Hiroshi and director Nakata (in the novel, victims experience anxiety, tightening of the chest, and a hallucination of themselves horribly aged -- no Sadako).
Even by mid-novel, protagonist Kazuyuki had uncovered that those who watch the video die seven days later not of supernatural causes but of a kind of virus. Like any virus, this one too must multiply to survive; hence the imperative to copy the videotape and show it to someone else, that the virus may spread from victim to victim. Kazuyuki believed this to be merely a convenient instrument of Sadako's revenge. In fact it was much more. In the book, Sadako wasn't thrown into the well by Ikuma Heihachiro at all, but by a young doctor named Nagao Jotaro. Nagao was also the last-known patient in Japan to be treated for smallpox.
Out alone with Sadako one day, Nagao suddenly finds himself in a lustful rage (which he was to later blame on a smallpox-induced fever) and sexually assaults her. It isn't until afterwards that a shocked Nagao learns Sadako's secret. It seems that she had been born with a condition known as
Testicular Feminization Syndrome,
meaning that while she outwardly appeared female, Sadako's chromosomal makeup was actually that of a man. She was also born without a uterus, and possessed (as Nagao saw) a pair of testes.
All of this explains the how behind the "cursed videotape," but it still doesn't address the why. Was Sadako's aim in creating the tape merely to exact revenge for her death? No.
Sadako possessed absolute telekinetic power on a cellular level. She was able to use the medium of the smallpox virus, transmitted to her by her violation at the hands of Nagao, to create something altogether different. Ando Mitsuo, the protagonist of Rasen, discovered the virus to in fact be seven parts smallpox, three parts human genetic code. Via her paranormal abilities, Sadako was able to combine her own genetic material with that of the smallpox virus, creating an invasive mechanism capable of transmitting her DNA to the host/victim. This DNA would then replicate within the host, leading to (if the necessary conditions were met) the birth of a duplicate Sadako -- or, more strictly speaking, Sadako version 2.0. In Rasen, we see that the reborn Sadako has both a womb and testes, which causes her to refer to herself as "perfectly dual-gendered."
(1) The host contributes to the spread of the virus (e.g., by copying the videotape and passing it along to someone else). RESULT: The host lives.
(2) The host fails to proliferate the virus. A smallpox-based tumor forms in the victim's coronary artery, becoming lethal within seven days. RESULT: The host dies.
(3) Sadako's genetic material successfully impregnates the host, resulting in the birth of a duplicate Sadako. RESULT: The host dies.
As we can see, there is a two in three chance that the host will die. In Rasen we find that Sadako had thought of a way to improve the rate of contagion, but this is not addressed in the manga translation which appears on this site. Instead, the particulars can be found either in the translated novel or in the last few paragraphs of 6155, my piece of original fanfiction.
While on the subject, it should be noted that the character of Takano Mai actually died in Rasen. Having viewed the video and becoming successfully impregnated with the virus, she gave birth to a Yamamura Sadako that not only tossed aside Mai's body like a used chrysalis, but gestated to adulthood within (you guessed it) seven days.
But why would Sadako let herself be killed? Even while Nagao had his hands around her neck he could feel Sadako in his mind, mentally screaming I'LL KILL YOU! So why did the attack suddenly stop? My guess is that she had another revelation and saw one of two options: kill Nagao and her vengeance stops there, or allow herself to be killed and years later return to wreak vengeance against all humanity via the video curse. And she chose the latter.
Incidentally, this theory is seconded in a Q and A session that appears in the deluxe movie guide The Sadako.
notes
-In the book, the video began and ended with a written message.
INTRO: "Watch this tape until the very end. If you do not, you will be consumed by the dead."
FINAL: "You who have watched this tape: in exactly one week you will die. There is only one way to survive. You must--" At this point the "cursed footage" ends, leaving Asakawa to ponder his fate.
(The Vertical edition opts for "the lost" rather than "the dead" for mouja, which in its broadest sense means "the dead" but also refers to spirits that continue to wander the Earth).
-While the movie showed Shizuko demonstrating her precognition by accurately reproducing written characters, the book's version had her predicting the outcome of a roll of the dice.
-Ring author Suzuki Koji has personally stated that the baby boy is Sadako's brother, who died just four months after being born.
-The novel had a scene (which was preserved in the Korean remake The Ring Virus) where a member of the Hisho Acting Troupe observed Sadako practicing her nensha on an old television set that was later discovered to have been unplugged.
Q:
What did Ryuji mean by, "She told somebody they were going to give birth to a daughter"?
A:
The quote, which appears on p. 154 of the hardcover Vertical edition, is referencing the phrase spoken by the old woman on the videotape. The translation of the entire phrase appears on p. 129 -- and yet, there is no reference to a daughter. So where did this come from?
The line as it appears on p. 129 is, "You listen to granny now, because you're just a girl." This rendering, while accurate, is a correction of how it originally appeared in the Galley (pre-release) copy of the book. In that version, the line read, "You listen to granny now, because your child will be a daughter." While the former mistake was corrected for print, the latter one slipped through the cracks, an oversight that was corrected in subsequent printings.
For no other reason than I thought it might be interesting, here is a side-by-side comparison of two versions of the entire phrase, one from the Vertical edition and the other my own:
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Vertical
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the ringworld
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How has your health been since then? If you spend all your time playing in the water, monsters are bound to get you. Understand? Be careful of strangers.
Next year you're going to give birth to a child. You listen to granny now, because you're just a girl. There's no need to worry about local people.
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And how've you been feeling since then? If you just keep playing in the water, the monster will come for you. Listen now, you take care of strangers. You're going to have a child next year. You're just a girl, so listen to your grandma. There's nothing wrong with the folks from around here.
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Q:
What was the old woman on the videotape talking about?
A:
Operating on the assumption that this Yamamura was also psychic, Asakawa and Ryuji came up with two different interpretations of her statement:
(1) The old woman was addressing Shizuko, Sadako's mother. Thus, it is an abstract "memory" of an event occurring before Sadako's birth (Asakawa's theory).
In this case, the latter part of the phrase would be an admonition for Shizuko to settle down with a gentleman from her own hometown, and to be wary of those not from the island. Against this advice, however, the next year found Shizuko leaving Oshima Island bound for Tokyo, where a sudden hospitalization resulted in her encountering Ikuma Heihachiro -- the future father of Sadako. The former part of the warning, about not playing in the water, could be a reference to the initial manifestation of Shizuko's psychic powers. In 1946, when Shizuko was 21, she brought up a stone statue of En no Ozunu from the ocean floor. Ozunu was a religious ascetic who, as a result of his training, was said to have developed black arts such as the summoning and controlling of evil spirits. Shizuko's powers developed immediately upon her finding the statue, and were accompanied by migraines of the sort that resulted in her hospitalization.
(2) The old woman was addressing Sadako herself (Ryuji's theory).
Like her mother, Sadako also traveled to Tokyo, where she joined the acting troupe and became romantically involved with Toyama, the soundman. As Sadako was physically incapable of having children, however, the only other explanation is that she gave birth metaphorically via her creation of the Ring Virus. The book never definitively states which of the theories is correct, but leans strongly toward the second one (an idea followed up on in successive novels, where we learn that the virus in fact leads to Sadako's own rebirth).
Q:
Which is correct: "Hisho Acting Troupe" or "Theater Group Soaring"?
A:
Gekidan Hisho, the name of the theater to which Sadako belonged, does indeed literally mean "Theater Group Soaring," by which it is referred to in the Vertical edition. As it is customary in English to list the name of one's theater group first, however, I flipped this order for my own translation and was left with "Soaring Theater Group," which sounded a little strange. As "Hisho" is being used here as a name, I decided to leave it untranslated, opting for "Acting Troupe" over "Theater Group" on nothing more than personal preference.
Ring - the movie
Q:
Why is the video different from how everyone describes it?
A:
I believe we're seeing two things at work here. First, director Nakata Hideo is showing how urban legends evolve. Note how the tape that Masami describes is slightly different from how it is described by the junior high schoolers that Asakawa interviews.
Second, this is probably a nod to the tape as it appears in the original novel. That version does feature an old woman, but instead of "You will die in seven days," what she utters is the phrase commonly (though inaccurately) rendered as Frolic in brine, goblins be thine.
Q:
Who is that person that runs barefoot up the stairs?
A:
That would be Tomoko, the young girl who died at the beginning of the movie. If you pause this scene, you can see that she's still wearing the same skirt.
Q:
How were Tomoko's friends killed when they were nowhere near a TV?
A:
A few theories spring to mind. As mentioned above, in the novelized Ring, victims of the video curse are described as looking into reflective surfaces before they die and being terrified by what they see -- not Sadako, but a vision of themselves horribly aged. In trying to merge the events of the films with the backstory of the novels, one could theorize that the Sadako of the films doesn't literally emerge from television sets: rather, what victims see is a byproduct of the curse, a psychic projection so strong that even group projection is possible (as in Ring 2, with Masami's flashback and the scene at the mental ward). Furthermore, in this psychic vision Sadako can emerge not only from television sets but from any reflective surface, such as a car windshield in the case of Yoko and Takehiko, or the faceplate of a motorcycle helmet in that of Iwata (in the novel, he was described as clawing madly at the helmet, trying to remove it).
Again, please note that the above is merely a theory. Contrary to Internet rumor, Sadako does not emerge from reflective surfaces in the novel.
Another intriguing theory is that the Sadako of the films does physically emerge, her preferred medium being the television set. But when no television is available she can to make do with another form of transmitter -- the electrical output of the human brain. If this were the case, though, it does raise the question of why she'd bother using a TV at all.
Q:
Where did the images on the videotape come from, and what do they mean?
A:
The where and why behind the images is never addressed (director Nakata admits to preferring open-ended mysteries for his audience to ponder), but the book is more straightforward about their origins -- they are thoughts from Sadako's mind, burned directly onto videotape via her psychic abilities. In the novel, Ryuji divided these images into the categories of (1) concrete, and (2) abstract. The images from the movie are almost entirely of this latter category.
Q:
Who are those freaky people walking backwards and crawling on the ground?
A:
To reference the novel, these would be the "countless faces" mentioned in the chart above. The scene begins with approximately a hundred snarling, angry faces, all shouting "Liar!" and "Faker!" Their number swells until it is in the countless thousands, cursing and yelling. Sound familiar? It's a representation of the original hundred journalists that witnessed Shizuko's psychic demonstration, and whose vilification of the experiment caused her to be branded a fraud. Thus, these "shamblers" may conceptualize the hatred and ridicule that Sadako felt destroyed her mother and hounded Sadako her entire life.
On the other hand, an interesting theory sent in by fan Kelly Wilner was that they could be victims from the eruption of Mt. Mihara. A little research on my part revealed that a total of 55 "injuries and / or fatalities" were reported as a result of the eruption, which makes this another possibility to consider.
The screenplay itself is maddeningly vague. It merely states, "The setting is a place of fierce wind, where men and women fight against it or crawl on all fours. A sound echoes, something between a scream and the whispers of the dead." In retrospect, it sounds like this may be screenwriter Takahashi Hiroshi's vision of hell (if you've read the lost scenes, you'll know that originally Ryuji was momentarily possessed to write Hell is real over his notes.)
Which now gives us three possible explanations for the shamblers. You be the judge.
Q:
Why does the mirror change positions when Shizuko is brushing her hair?
A:
In Ring 2, we see that this was a memory of an actual event: Shizuko was slowly becoming insane, and had taken to standing before the mirror and brushing her hair for hours on end. One day Sadako came up behind her and, as a childish prank, switched the mirror's position.
Q:
What's that character reflected inside the blinking eye?
A:
That would be sada, the first part of Sadako's name (its on-yomi is TEI, for any students of Japanese out there). As mentioned above, sada means "chaste."
Q:
Who is that guy with the cloth over his head, and what's he after?
A:
The original screenplay for the Ring indicates that this person is none other than Takayama Ryuji (or at least, by film's end it is Takayama Ryuji -- see the lost scenes for more). Screenwriter Takahashi Hiroshi reiterated this in an interview he did for the deluxe movie guide Ring 2: Kyoufu Zoufuku. But if Ryuji is the "towel man," what does this mean?
It's already been established that the images on the video originated as thoughts from Sadako's own mind, just as we know that she had the power of precognition (e.g., her prediction that Mt. Mihara would erupt, which was accurate to the date and time). Thus, Sadako could conceivably have foreseen her eventual encounter with Ryuji (at the train station and then later in his apartment), and burned an image of his likeness onto the videotape. As for the towel itself, this could represent Sadako being unable to clearly see the face of this future "acquaintance," given that their meeting would not occur for another few decades (though a scene in the prequel Ring Ø adds a new wrinkle to this theory -- see below for more). Yet another theory is that the towel signifies transformation, a crossing over to the spirit world from the realm of the living: in Japan, the color white (as in the white cloth covering this individual's face) has a traditional association with death.
But what is the towel man after? In the film, he appears just three times: (1) On the videotape, with his hidden message in the dialect of Oshima, (2) At the house of Asakawa's father, warning of danger to Yoichi, and (3) At Asakawa's apartment, gesturing toward the videotape. In each instance he appears as a kind of psychic messenger pointing out clues -- but to what end? To analyze the chain of events surrounding his appearances:
Based on towel man's clue, Asakawa and Ryuji head to Oshima. Asakawa takes Yoichi to his grandfather's house for safekeeping during the trip. Towel man appears at the house, alerting Asakawa just in time for her to see Yoichi watching the video. Filled with new resolve, Asakawa determines to do whatever it takes to save the lives of herself and her son. And when towel man appears in Asakawa's apartment, pointing to the videotape, Asakawa realizes that she must spread the video curse in order to save her son.
From this, one conclusion that can be drawn is that towel man has been consistently nudging Asakawa toward a single end goal -- to copy the videotape, thus spreading Sadako's curse. The second conclusion hinges upon two important points, the first of which is that towel man's clothes actually change as the film progresses.
While the towel man on the videotape is dressed in a bluish shirt and dark pants, when he appears at the house of Asakawa's father, his wardrobe has changed to a uniformly dark one. The significance of this is telling -- this latter wardrobe is clearly that worn by Ryuji at the time of his death, while the former (as we see in Ring Ø) is that worn by Toyama Hiroshi, Sadako's love interest from her days with the Hisho Acting Troupe. This raises the question: is there more than one towel man, or was Toyama "traded out" for Ryuji?
The second point to bear in mind is that (to again reference Ring Ø) towel man makes an appearance prior to the creation of the videotape. We see this in the scene where Sadako is in Toyama's apartment, in what appears to be a half-dream state. "Mother," she asks herself, "whose child am I?" Her voice overlaps with the background noises of waves crashing and children crying, while towel man -- in the clothing Toyama would later wear at the time of his death -- slowly points off to the distance. (Thanks chaosvirus.)
If we factor in this information from Ring Ø when considering the Ring, the second conclusion that could be drawn about towel man is that, whatever "Toyama" towel man's objective was, "Ryuji" towel man appeared only to warn Asakawa of danger to his son, and to literally point her in the direction of how to save him, consequences (the spread of the video curse) be damned.
Incidentally, the towel man -- or THM (Towel-Headed Man), if you prefer -- has taken on something of a life of his own, even garnering his own Wikipedia entry.
Q:
What happens to people killed by Sadako? Do they become ghosts?
A:
It would appear so. For an example of this, one need look no further than Tomoko. Having been killed by Sadako, she nonetheless appears in spirit form on at least two occasions: her own wake and the fateful night at the house of Asakawa's father. Given post-death Tomoko's rather strange behavior (the least of which is telling her own cousin to watch a potentially lethal videotape) coupled with Ryuji's statement on the ferry to Oshima ("That's not Tomoko. Not anymore."), an oft-cited theory is that those killed by Sadako not only become ghosts, they become ghosts in her employ (another example of which is seen in the post-mortem transformation of Sawaguchi Kanae in Ring 2).
Q:
What is "Frolic in brine, goblins be thine" supposed to mean?
A:
This overly colorful rendering is presumably an attempt on the translator's part to capture the nuance of the provincial Japanese it was spoken in. This phrase is more literally translated as "If you keep playing in the water, the monster will come for you."
While the film makes the phrase appear as a sort of grim "nursery rhyme" familiar throughout Oshima Island, this cryptic message is in fact significant only to the members of the Yamamura family (see here for more).
The aim in using words such as goblin and brine was probably to capture the flavor of the dialect, which can vary wildly from region to region. In the dialect of Sashikiji, Oshima, the bakemono ("monster") of standard Japanese becomes boukon, as mizu-asobi ("playing in the water") becomes shoumon. Thus, boukon -> goblin and shoumon -> brine.
As for why the translators chose to render the phrase in rhyme, you'd have to ask them.
Q:
Why did they not notice the well when the rental cabins were built?
A:
It is mentioned in Ring 2 (and shown in Ring Ø) that the well lies on the property of Ikuma Heihachiro, Sadako's murderer. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to theorize that following the incident (and his sealing of the well) he sold his property and was sure that construction would take place over the well, perhaps in the hope that it would bury Sadako's evil.
Q:
Why does Asakawa let Ryuji watch this potentially lethal videotape?
A:
A scene from the book which would have taken place before Ryuji came to Asakawa's apartment to watch the video might help put this into perspective.
After watching the tape, Asakawa got in touch with Ryuji as a sounding board for ideas on what to do next. Against Asakawa's protestations, however, Ryuji is intrigued by the idea of a killer videotape and demands to watch it for himself. In fact, Ryuji's first line in the book is, "So anyway, show me this videotape."
While this scene didn't make it into the movie, something like it had obviously occurred (remember that when Ryuji sits in Asakawa's apartment, he asks "Anyway. You said that the phone rang?") Note also that at the beginning of the scene the videotape is on the table between them -- Asakawa wants Ryuji's help, but at the same time is (rightfully) afraid of taking the final, decisive step of putting the video into his hands. And as we saw, it was Ryuji who finally picked it up and watched it for himself.
Q:
When viewing the video, why does only Yoichi see the hand emerge from the well?
A:
Keen-eyed viewers will note that this is not the first time the well scene had changed. When Asakawa initially watched the video at the rental cabins, the scene cut to the well and then ended in static -- but the second time (at the news station) we see Sadako's hand emerge from the well just for a split-second. By the third time, when Yoichi watches the tape, we definitely see a hand come over the side of the well.
Two theories come to mind regarding this phenomenon: (1) The closer one gets to reaching the seven-day deadline, the closer Sadako comes to emerging from the well, and (2) The more times the video is watched, the closer Sadako comes to emerging. The former seems by far the more likely; otherwise, repeated viewings of the tape would result in Sadako emerging from the well much sooner than the seven days are up.
Q:
How much of the video do you have to watch before you're infected?
A:
Given the way that the Ring story changes so dramatically depending on the version there's no definitive answer to this question. In the Rasen novel we see that protagonist Ando Mitsuo sees just a snippet of the cursed video, but this is not enough to infect him. The Ring novel also included a warning to watch the video to the end, so perhaps in the novels it was necessary to watch the whole thing. As for the movies, this is anyone's guess.
Q:
After people watch the tape, why do their faces look blurred in photos?
A:
Some have conjectured that the faces appear distorted as if Sadako were viewing them through the water of the well, but as we see in Ring Ø, the well was already long out of use, its water murky and impenetrable. Others posit that the distorted faces are the result of electromagnetic interference caused by watching the videotape. Putting aside the logistics of how the faces become blurred, director Nakata Hideo has confirmed that with this effect, he was showing how those who watch the tape become "marked" for death. See this interview for more.
Q:
Who is the woman that approaches Ryuji while he's seated on the bench?
A:
I would say this person is none other than Sadako. Though the cut of the skirt is quite different, the outfit is typical Sadako, complete with white dress and matching white shoes (as she was wearing at the time of her death. Note also that both shoes and skirt are soiled with grime -- as in the grime of the well.
The next clue requires a bit more thought. Remember that Ryuji's powers allow him to not only feel the presence of spirits (as mentioned on the ferry to Oshima) but also to "see" things that happened in the past. Things like Shizuko's psychic demonstration.
Recall what Shizuko said after a young Sadako appeared, having apparently killed one of the reporters: "Sadako?! Was it you?" From context, this can also be translated as, "Sadako?! Did you do it?" This sounds very similar to Ryuji's thought "So, it was you. You did it." It's entirely possible that at that moment on the bench, Ryuji is receiving an impression of Shizuko's public demonstration, and thus his comment echoes Shizuko's own words.
Also, the vision of the girl is accompanied by a rumble like that of angry voices ("The voices of the dead," the screenplay calls it). This sound is the same as that accompanying the shamblers from the cursed video...which, as we know, was created by Sadako.
The Japanese website LoopKai Project also theorizes that this figure is Sadako, and that she may have appeared in order to catch a glimpse of Ryuji in person (remember that in the novelized Rasen, Sadako and Ryuji would later become partners).
Q:
What does Komiya the cameraman mean by "the woman with the torn lips"?
A:
Referred to in the Tartan (UK) subtitles as "the woman whose lips went up to her ears," this individual is Kuchi-sake Onna, a popular (and ghastly) spectre from Japanese urban mythology. This being, whose name literally means "ripped-mouth lady," wears a veil to hide her mouth, which has been cut open from ear to ear. She wanders the countryside asking "Do you think I'm beautiful?" then lowering her veil to reveal her true features.
The legend is a fairly recent one. It appears to have sprung up in Gifu Prefecture around the summer of 1979, and by the early 80s had already spread across Japan. See
here for another tale of Kuchi-sake Onna (includes a neat little Flash video).
Q:
What's that written on Ryuji's blackboard?
A:
It's part of his mathematics thesis, which he was working on up until the time of his death. What's interesting about his notes is that there are three words in English that appear amidst the sea of mathematical equations: "since," "injection" and "homomorphism."
Visitor Justin Mercier writes, "Homomorphism is a term used in mathematics and biology that deals with either a) identical forms from different origins or b) the complete transformation of one set to another while preserving each set's characteristics. It also refers to possession of one kind of larvae or young, as in most insects. These definitions apply to what Sadako does to propagate herself within her victims."
Q:
Does the English on the blackboard point to foreknowledge of Sadako's rebirth?
A:
It's difficult to say. Director Nakata has stated that he read the original novel prior to making the film, but hasn't gone on record (that I'm aware of) as saying that he'd also read Rasen, which of course is where these concepts first appeared (in the Ring novel, Asakawa believed that the virus merely killed -- it was Miyashita and Ando in Rasen who learned what the Ring Virus really was). The film version of Rasen was shot concurrently with Ring (with a different director, film crew and screenwriter), which makes it difficult to know if a Rasen-savvy staff member popped those into the equation as a kind of in-joke, or if it's merely a coincidence. In the novel, the paper Ryuji was working on was a straightforward mathematics thesis.
Q:
Who is Sadako's father?
A:
While the father of the novel's Sadako was professor Ikuma Heihachiro, the Sadako of the films has rather more otherwordly origins. In this translated interview, producer Ogawa Shinji claims, "Her father was the sea." This comment is expounded upon by Nakata in his interview with this site, in which he states that Sadako's father was "not human" and a "mysterious, evil...monster from the sea."
Given that (1) Ring 2 showed Sadako's birthplace as being a cave near the ocean, (2) in the novel, the statuette of En no Ozunu was originally stored in a cave before being tossed into the ocean by Occupation forces, and (3) En no Ozunu was reputed to have supernatural powers of an evil origin, some have speculate that Sadako's real father was actually the spirit of En no Ozunu.
A visitor to the site named chaosvirus goes one step further with this theory. Considering that Shizuko's powers didn't manifest until she brought up En no Ozunu's statuette, and that those same powers were later inherited by Sadako, perhaps the chain of events that led to the creation of the Ring Virus was not set in motion by Sadako at all: perhaps it was an elaborate scheme by En no Ozunu himself to gain revenge for the way he had been persecuted for the supernatural abilities he is said to have possessed.
For more on Sadako's supernatural origins, please see this question regarding Ring Ø.
Q:
Why do many Japanese movies have Sadako-like characters with long hair?
A:
While the success of the Ring undoubtedly had an influence on successive films, the seeds for this sort of character have long been present in Japan's own mythology.
In an interview at
offscreen.com, director Nakata mentioned his work as being evocative of such classic stories as Yotsuya Kaidan, referencing in particular the story of Oiwa-san, a woman who becomes disfigured and finally dies from being poisoned by her upper-class husband. The way in which Sadako met her demise is also evocative of Okiku, a young girl who reputedly died at the bottom of a well.
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By 1996, Nakata had turned these influences into a kind of proto-Sadako used in his film Joyuu-rei ("Ghost Actress," aka "Don't Look Up") and again in 1997 for TV's Gakkou no Kaidan G.
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Incidentally, this same sort of ghost crops up in Korea as well, where they are known as Ki-Shin. See here for more (Thanks Robert).
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Rasen
Q:
Is Rasen ("Spiral") any relation to Uzumaki, also called "Spiral"?
A:
No. Uzumaki is from horror comic writer / illustrator Ito Junji, and has nothing to do with the works of Suzuki Koji. Incidentally, uzumaki means "whirlpool" or "vortex" rather than spiral.
Q:
Why is Sadako's virus called the Ring Virus?
A:
This is the name it was given by Miyashita, the partner of Rasen protagonist Ando Mitsuo. It stems from the unique horseshoe-like shape of the virus.
It should be noted, however, that the virus only appears as a "ring" in victims that it has failed to impregnate. In the case of impregnation, the ring is "broken" and the resulting strands resemble spermatozoa.
Q:
Did "Masako" have the same genetic makeup as Sadako?
A:
Yes and no. As mentioned above, we see in Rasen that the reborn Sadako -- who adopts the name of Masako and claims to be Mai's older sister -- has both a womb and testes. What's more, her male anatomy would appear to be nowhere near as prominent as in her previous life: while Sadako would push Toyama's hand away when he tried to touch her intimately, Masako did not do the same for Ando. In fact, once Ando learns who "Masako" is, he thinks to himself that (as she stands before him dressed only in her undergarments) he can't detect anything out of the ordinary. It's worth noting, however, that before the two were intimate, Sadako was sure to make the room completely dark.
Q:
In the novel, what film did "Masako" and Ando watch together?
A:
It would appear to be La Femme Nikita.
Ring 2
Q:
How could Sadako have been alive in the well for almost 30 years?
A:
Following a lengthy debate on the Ring forum, the consensus seems to be that her will / hate kept her in a state of "virtual death" (conscious on some level, dead but not rotting) until that same will / hate could finally be released via her burning the curse onto videotape, at which point the life left her body completely. Hence the coroner's findings that based on decay, she had apparently died only a few years previous.
Q:
What happened when Okazaki tried to erase the interview with that high school girl?
A:
Site visitor pLopLo had the idea that just as the videotape is Sadako's instrument of revenge, perhaps this scene shows Kanae taking her own revenge on Okazaki for failing to watch the video as promised. The actual how behind this scene, however, is a little convoluted.
From the standpoint of the novels, watching the videotape results in a "download" of Sadako's genetic information. The movies go a step further by implying that exposure to the video curse causes this information to be lodged in the victim's subconscious, and that the information can be accessed. We see this at work when Masami recalls her fleeting glimpse of Yamamura Sadako, causing images to form both on the television in the mental ward and on the monitor during Dr. Kawajiri's experiment.
The scene with Kanae (the high school girl mentioned above) could be considered an extension of this idea...except for the fact that, by her own admission, she did not watch the video until later that evening, after her interview with Okazaki. Thus, it is not entirely certain by what means Kanae was able to manifest herself through this snippet of recorded video.
Q:
What were Yoichi and Sadako doing at the train station together?
A:
They were not at the station together: this is a bad, bad translation that misses the mark entirely. Mai's line, which was erroneously rendered as "Was someone there with you?" in fact translates to "Has someone been following you?" By nodding his head yes, Yoichi is saying that recently he's felt himself being followed and his life in danger -- thus, he has been seeking the security of the well-populated train stations.
Q:
What did Asakawa's father mean when he said her son "isn't Yoichi anymore"?
A:
The words the father uses echo very strongly Ryuji's words spoken on the ferry to Oshima in the Ring: "That's not Tomoko. Not anymore." What does that tell us?
The first thing that comes to mind is that, to recall the first film, Tomoko had been killed and her spirit now corrupted / controlled by Sadako (she talks Yoichi into watching the tape, not exactly something a friend would do). But it's not just that: Tomoko's friend Masami had never even watched the tape, and even she was starting to lose it as a result of catching just a glimpse of Sadako, as if some of Sadako's presence had broken off and lodged itself in her brain. And this was no mere dementia: recall Masami's ability to transmit her glimpse of Sadako to Mai, and to project images from the cursed video onto the monitor during Dr. Kawajiri's experiment, though she'd never actually seen the video.
All this is a long way of saying that any form of exposure to Sadako is enough to affect you in some way. And once you've been affected you've been changed. In effect, you're no longer the person you once were. This would explain the significance of the scene in the well, where Ryuji takes hold of Yoichi and asks him to give him his "fear." What is the root of this fear? The tinge of Sadako's influence, the thing that has entered Yoichi and slowly been eating away at him (and perhaps what caused him to lash out and use his powers destructively).
In other words, it's the thing that, in the scene where Asakawa dies, caused her father to say "That child you hold so dear isn't Yoichi. Not anymore."
Q:
How did Mai and Yoichi end up in the well? And why was Takayama Ryuji there?
A:
This scene does not literally take place inside the well -- the experiment with Yoichi results in a burst of energy, a psychic projection where the fear and hate of Sadako's subconscious manifests itself in the form of the well. As for why Ryuji is there, he was (as mentioned above) inside Sadako in a very real sense after his death.
Q:
What does Sadako mean when she asks, "Why are you the only ones saved?"
A:
Mai and Yoichi muster the strength to break free of the psychic projection and thus escape the well, something which Sadako has tried unsuccessfully to do for decades.
Ring Ø
Q:
I don't get the title of this movie. What is "Birthday" supposed to mean?
A:
As in English, the Japanese word tanjoubi is made up of the words "birth" (tanjou) and "day" (hi / bi). By itself, though, tanjou can mean not just birth but also "creation" or "origin." From the standpoint of the movies, this could refer to the creation of the Sadako entity toward the end of the movie via the rejoining of her separate halves. In terms of the novels, though, this most probably references Sadako's creation of the Ring Virus.
It should be noted that the concept of birth is in fact encountered each time Sadako's tape is inserted into a VCR and someone presses Play: translated literally, the Japanese characters for "play" mean "rebirth."
Q:
Whose eye is it that appears in the opening credits?
A:
That would be Nakama Yukie, the actress who plays Sadako. There is a picture in the deluxe movie guide The Sadako that shows the filming of this shot.
Q:
Can you please explain the whole "second Sadako" storyline?
A:
As mentioned above, Sadako's true father was some form of malevolent spirit with ties to the ocean. As Sadako grew older, the evil part of her grew in strength even as the human side of her fought against it. This struggle, coupled with the shock of seeing her mother beginning to lose her mind, caused Sadako to actually divide, separating into "good" (human) and "evil" (inhuman) halves of the same whole (Note: This scene appears in the mini-comic The Curse of Yamamura Sadako, which can be downloaded here).
Professor Ikuma was careful to keep the two halves apart, physically restraining the evil Sadako in her room while keeping her on a steady stream of injections to stunt her growth. Ikuma knew that should the evil Sadako mature, her power would become that much stronger -- just as he knew that should the two Sadakos ever come in close contact they would rejoin, forming an entity of terrible power. This would explain his outburst when the theater group showed up on his front doorstep: "My God! You didn't bring Sadako here?!"
Toward the end of the film, the good Sadako is assaulted by the other members of her acting troupe and is for all intents and purposes dead...but revives once in proximity of her other half. This other half, meanwhile, also continued to gain strength, finally willing herself from her room and to her "sister's" side. The two finally rejoined at the scene on the cliff, forming a Sadako that would thereafter devote itself to exacting revenge.
Q:
If there were two Sadakos, which one killed the reporter in the first Ring?
A:
According to screenwriter Takahashi Hiroshi, this incident was before the split.
Q:
If "evil Sadako" was locked in her room, how could she have been killing people?
A:
As we see both earlier in the film and at the scene on the cliff, "evil Sadako" had the ability to project herself from the confines of her room. She was able to physically do so when the two Sadakos came into close proximity, but up until that point (i.e., the time of the murders in the theater troupe) she had been doing so astrally. If this were not case, the two Sadakos would have rejoined long ago, and there would have been no point in Ikuma sending "good Sadako" to live in Tokyo (which is exactly what he did, in an attempt to keep the two halves apart).
Q:
Who cares if the two Sadakos rejoin? Evil Sadako could kill all by herself.
A:
Yes, but evil Sadako could still be controlled to some extent by being sedated and physically restrained. The rejoined Sadako, however, was so powerful that she could even kill from beyond the grave.
Q:
How could Sadako make her curse if videotape hadn't been invented when she died?
A:
In the short story "Lemonheart," there is a scene were Sadako ponders the technology behind audio tape, theorizing that one day it will come to hold video information as well. Either this was a logical deduction or she was somehow aware of it through her powers of foresight.
Q:
Why is Miyaji, the female reporter, so hell-bent on pursuing Sadako? And why does she want to kill her?
A:
Revenge. The reporter killed by Sadako at the psychic demonstration in the first film was Miyaji's fiancé (Source: Ring Ø screenplay).
Q:
What is the play that Sadako's troupe performs in the film?
A:
"Mask," the play that appears in Ring Ø, is an adaptation of the 1959 film Les Yeux Sans Visage ("Eyes Without a Face") directed by Georges Franju. In that film, a girl named Christiane hides her face behind a mask after she is horribly mutilated in a car accident. Her father, renowned surgeon Prof. Genessie, launches a diabolical scheme (aided by his assistant, Louise) to kidnap girls similar in build to his daughter, and use their skin to reconstruct her damaged face.
While the names were changed in the finished film, the screenplay for Ring Ø shows that, as in Les Yeux Sans Visage, Anna (the daughter) was indeed named Christiane and her boyfriend Andrei was Jacques. The names of her father and his assistant were also the same. The telephone scene that appears in Ring Ø shows a key moment in Les Yeux Sans Visage, as Christiane -- whom her father had claimed died in the automobile accident -- calls her boyfriend Jacques.
It is worth noting that in the screenplay for Ring Ø, "Mask" was originally titled "Skin."
Q:
What do Toyama and Sadako mouth to one another through the glass?
A:
"I love you."
Q:
What does Shizuko mouth when she appears onstage?
A:
Sorry, I can't make this out. The screenplay is no help, either: in the original draft, Shizuko merely shakes her head No and wordlessly fades from the stage.
Q:
How come people dream of the well in Ring Ø but not in Ring?
A:
This is actually a holdover from Rasen, where protagonists Ando and Miyashita find themselves plagued by such dreams. Why does this not happenin Ring? The dreams would seem to indicate a building of momentum, as Sadako's power grows and she prepares to reenter our world. As for why people had these dreams while she was still alive (Ring Ø), we could argue that this period also represents a forward momentum, as the time approaches when Sadako's two halves will be rejoined and her full power unleashed.
Thus, the outbreak of dreams in both cases seems to occur at the nexus of a pivotal Sadako "event."
Q:
What happened to Toyama after witnessing Sadako's "rejoining" on the cliff?
A:
In yet another departure from the novels, the Ring Ø screenplay indicates that Toyama died: one line states that those hearing his scream wonder what manner of grisly end he met.
Q:
What happened between Shigemori and Sadako that night at her apartment?
A:
Some have speculated that Shigemori coerced Sadako into having sex with him that night, but this doesn't quite ring true. Shigemori isn't looking too well the next day -- hardly the reaction of someone who'd just acquired the object of his desire (given that the Sadako of the films was all woman, and never portrayed as having Testicular Feminization Syndrome). Not only this, but Sadako claims to have no memory of what occurred, a statement of great importance when viewed in context.
"I'm sorry," Sadako says speaking with Toyama. "Sometimes I can't remember the things I've done. Last night Mr. Shigemori came to my apartment...but I can't remember." This tells us that last night was not the first time that Sadako had blacked out, which raises the question, Just what triggers these blackouts? And what happens when they occur?
Remember that Sadako's other half is hardly confined under lock and key, though she can astrally project herself from her room and bringing her terrible power to bear. Sometimes she kills (Aiko) and sometimes she merely terrifies (Etsuko).
What if, when evil Sadako projects herself from the confines of the room, she also becomes the dominant persona, leaving good Sadako with no memory of what occurs? If this were the case, and good Sadako fell into a slumber while her dwarfish twin made an unwelcome appearance, it would certainly explain Shigemori's mental state, to say nothing of the fact that he died soon thereafter.
Incidentally, the manga adaptation of Birthday includes a scene that answers this question in a very different way. That evening, Shigemori had been out drinking with some associates and obsessing over Sadako. Finally he lurches over to her room, banging on the door and howling her name. Sadako opens the door wearing only a robe...and the robe is untied, exposing her nakedness. "Help yourself if you like what you see," she says, and Shigemori's jaw drops in horror. The reason, of course, was that he'd just found out that Sadako was not entirely female.
Q:
What causes "evil Sadako" to appear?
A:
This (so far as I'm aware) has never been officially explained. Some theories are that evil Sadako would manifest when: her good twin unwittingly summoned her; her good twin's defenses were down; she had gathered enough strength; the injections she was being given by Prof. Ikuma wore off; she felt like it.
Q:
Did Sadako and Toyama ever "do it"?
A:
This is not at all addressed in the film, but it would appear that the answer is "no," as they simply didn't have much time for their relationship to develop. But "Lemonheart," the basis for Ring Ø, tells a different version of events.
It's stated in the timeline that "a spiteful member of the acting troupe discovers...an audio recording of Sadako and Toyama being intimate," but doesn't mention exactly what sort of intimacy is going on. First off, it was not lovemaking: Sadako was fearful of losing Toyama should he find out about her genetic anomaly. For this reason, she drew the line at "heavy petting," with her the only one doing the petting. Putting it as delicately as I can, the sounds on the tape were of Sadako manually bringing Toyama to orgasm, which she would do when he became sexually frustrated.
Ring (TV movie)
Q:
What is the the TV-movie version of the cursed video like?
It uses quite a bit of imagery from the novel, but plays around with them in some rather odd ways. See the table below (note: 1 = Concrete image, 2 = Abstract).
| Floating red dot that expands to fill screen |
2 |
| Mt. Mihara erupting |
1 |
| Countless faces |
2 |
| Dice (lots of them) |
2 |
| The character for "mountain" |
2 |
| Sadako's grandmother (says her line twice for some reason) |
2 |
| Demonic face that shoots forward |
2 |
| Countless people (that then emerge from the TV - Sadako's grandmother follows suit) |
2 |
| Baby boy |
1 |
| An old television with the character sada on it |
1 |
| Concrete memory of Sadako's grandmother (who says her line again) |
1 |
| Concrete memory of angry reporters from Shizuko's demonstration |
1 |
| Hisho Acting Troupe director Shigemori (unconvincingly) keeling over dead |
1 |
| Nagao Jotaro, who leans forward and then howls as his shoulder is bitten |
1 |
| Droplets of blood falling toward screen (i.e. into Sadako's eyes) |
1 |
| Forest during the day turns to half-moon at night |
1 |
| Final scene (The "You who have watched this tape" message) |
2 |
notes
The problem with this version of the tape is that it goes way over the top. When Asakawa pops the tape in, all the lights flicker, the curtains are kicked around as gusts of wind blow through, his body is wracked with spasms and (as mentioned earlier) both the shamblers and Sadako's grandmother leave the videotape (!) and appear inside the cabin. Furthermore, in the scene where the baby appears onscreen, Asakawa actually sees the baby in his hands.
It's not hard to figure out what the inspiration behind some of this was. The book mentions that watching the video is like experiencing it to some degree -- Asakawa could feel the baby in his hands, feel Sadako's hatred toward Nagao. So drastically changing the effects of the videotape upon the viewer (and his environs), however, makes it extremely implausible that the four teenagers would blow the whole experience off -- even leaving the videotape behind, writing a sing-songingly taunting warning not to watch it -- rather than be shocked by the experience and believe that their lives could be in danger.
Loop
Q:
What can you tell me about Loop, the third book in the Ring series?
A:
In a nutshell, humankind has fallen prey to the deadly Metastatic Human Cancer Virus. When Futami Kaoru, a medical student, has first his father and then his girlfriend Reiko fall victim to the virus, he travels to America in search of a cure. In the deserts of New Mexico he uncovers the top-secret Project: Loop, a discovery with vast consequences.
Major spoiler!
In New Mexico, Kaoru discovers the truth behind Project: Loop, ostensibly a study into the lengthening of the human lifespan. The project is in fact an entire artificial reality, existing solely within a massive computer system. The simulation is precise to the smallest detail, right down to the genetic makeup of each of its inhabitants. We then learn that the contents of the Ring and Rasen novels in fact occurred within this artificial reality, and not in the real world. Kaoru also discovers that he is actually a clone, the DNA provided courtesy of the Takayama Ryuji character of the Loop world.
For an in-depth synopsis, see Clyde Mandelin's excellent (and spoiler-ridden) treatment.
Q:
Isn't Loop just a rip-off of The Matrix?
A:
No. While the two have their share of similarities, they developed independently of one another. Incidentally, Loop was released a year and three months before The Matrix.
Q:
What's up with all these different scripts of the Ring?
A:
The subtitles for Ring's initial release on Malaysian VCD is a poor translation that contains several inaccuracies, not the least of which is rendering character names according to their Chinese readings (Sadako was called "Chezhi" or something to that effect). The Tartan (UK) and DreamWorks DVDs feature separate subtitle scripts that were professionally done. The have their share of similarities, but differ in enough points that one may perhaps be a copyedit of the other. As is often the case, the subtitles for both discs frequently abridge characters' lines, or otherwise ignore certain nuances in dialogue.
The screenplay offered on this site was done by myself, and is the most complete and accurate version available. It was rendered by watching the film and including information from the published screenplay. This translation was used as the basis for the subtitles on the German DVD release of the Ring.
Many of these topics are discussed in further detail in
the Ring forum. Be sure to drop by!
