Spoilers are forward for the ending of The Ring (2002).

The Ring‘s ending gives some of the memorable scares in horror film historical past, however that usually distracts from the bleakness of the story’s conclusion. Based on Koji Suzuki’s novel and Hideo Nakata’s Japanese adaptation of the identical title, Gore Verbinski’s The Ring was a massively influential horror movie of the early twenty first century that impressed a flood of Hollywood initiatives that took affect from the booming Japanese horror film trade. Apart from that legacy, The Ring is ready to stand by itself as a terrific entry within the style with an unforgettable ending.

The film follows Rachel (Naomi Watts), a journalist wanting into the legend of a videotape that is stated to trigger the demise of anybody who watches it inside seven days. Rachel explores the historical past surrounding the tape and, finally, watches it herself. Unfortunately, simply because it turns into clear that the legend is not any mere ghost story, Rachel’s son, Aidan (David Dorfman), additionally watches the tape. Eventually, Rachel discovers that the origins of the curse are associated to the demise of a younger woman — The Ring‘s Samara (Daveigh Chase) — and believes serving to her spirit discover peace will finish the curse.

Rachel & Aidan Pass Samara’s Curse On

Making A Copy Of The Tape Is The Only Way To Save Aidan

After retrieving Samara’s corpse from the effectively and arranging a correct burial, Rachel tells Aidan that the curse has been lifted as a result of she has saved Samara and laid her to relaxation. However, a distressed Aidan tells Rachel that “Samara never sleeps,” that means that she will likely be persevering with her homicide spree to quench her thirst for vengeance. In a very chilling sequence, Rachel’s ex, Noah (Martin Henderson), is murdered by Samara in among the best remaining horror film scenes ever. Rachel realizes that she wasn’t spared as a result of she helped Samara, however as a result of she made a duplicate of the tape.

Earlier in The Ring, Aidan watched that duplicate of the tape, thus saving his mother from Samara. In order to avoid wasting Aidan, Rachel applies the identical logic and instructs Aidan to make his personal copy of The Ring‘s cursed tape to present to an unsuspecting stranger. In a really haunting second, Aidan asks his mother what’s going to occur to the subsequent viewer — however Rachel does not reply him. After every thing, she focuses on defending her personal baby, even when another person will undergo. Noah’s demise stays a stunning subversion of the obvious “happy ending,” and units a a lot darker conclusion into movement.

Related

Red Rose’s The Ring Parallels Bring Back One Iconic J-Horror Trope

Netflix’s Red Rose follows a novel storyline however shares one fascinating narrative parallel with The Ring, which revives an iconic J-horror trope.

Samara Possessed Abilities That Tormented Her Parents

The Morgans Aren’t Samara’s Biological Parents

With the help of her ex-husband Noah, Rachel identifies the grownup girl within the cursed tape as Anna Morgan (Shannon Cochran), a late horse breeder who died by suicide after her horses drowned themselves. While Noah goes to analyze Anna’s psychiatric information, Rachel heads to Moesko Island to talk with Anna’s widower, Richard Morgan (Brian Cox). Eventually, the duo piece collectively that the Morgans adopted a toddler, Samara, who had a wierd supernatural capability: Samara might etch pictures into different’s minds. Using this capability, she tormented her mother and father and drove Anna’s horses to leap off the island’s cliffs.

At the Morgans’ homestead, Rachel items collectively just a few of The Ring‘s hidden particulars and finds a videotape taken throughout one in all Samara’s so-called remedy classes. During the interview, Samara explains her supernatural powers. Rachel’s investigation is interrupted when Richard, insisting that Samara is evil, decides to electrocute himself within the bathtub. Although Rachel tries to cease him, Richard is simply too haunted to hear. In the household’s barn, there’s an deserted loft the place the Morgans used to sequester Samara; Rachel acknowledges a tree, etched into the wall, as one from the Shelter Mountain Inn.

Related

The Ring’s Moesko Island Is A Real Place — & The Lighthouse Has Its Own Ghost Stories

Moesko Island is without doubt one of the central places of 2002’s The Ring, and the true lighthouse the place it was filmed harbors some horrors of its personal.

The Ring Reveals That Samara’s Mother Killed Her

Samara Lived For One Week In A Well

Once the duo arrive on the Shelter Mountain Inn, they uncover a effectively hidden there — the identical effectively from Samara’s tape. When Rachel falls into the effectively, she is overcome with visions of what actually occurred to the 8-year-old Samara. Evidently, Anna was additionally so overwhelmed and stricken by her adopted daughter’s skills that she plotted to kill Samara. In the imaginative and prescient, Rachel watches Anna dump Samara’s physique into the effectively. As The Ring motion pictures reiterate, the younger woman survived for seven days within the effectively. Samara’s physique then surfaces, prompting Rachel to bury her correctly.

Related

The Ring: 10 Scariest Scenes In The Series, Ranked

The three movies in The Ring horror franchise don’t have any scarcity of chilling moments that followers nonetheless take into consideration right now.

Samara Wins At The End Of The Ring

The Cycle That Spreads Samara’s Evil Is Unending

The act of passing on the curse to avoid wasting oneself is strictly what Samara wished. The resentment and rage she felt for seven days earlier than her demise remodeled her right into a Yūrei, a spirit who might by no means expertise a peaceable afterlife. That stated, the continued chain of homicide satisfies and emboldens her spirit, magnifying Samara’s capability to imprint her rage onto the bodily world. The ending of The Ring, the very best Japanese horror remake, presents a really compelling dilemma: Is it higher to simply accept one’s destiny or let another person take one’s place? Either means, Samara wins.

Although Rachel is ready to save Aidan’s life by having him make yet one more copy, a complete stranger will likely be doomed in his place. This creates a chilling cycle, with Samara’s targets both selecting demise or to sentence another person. Of course, those that select life are cursed in one other means, as they need to dwell with the information that they perpetuated Samara’s vengeful spirit by replicating The Ring‘s tape. Similar to the Entity in It Follows, the curse spreads like a virus, suggesting that Samara’s ache and trauma is not contained to her personal experience — it is handed on infinitely.

As of July 2024, The Ring (2002) is streaming on Paramount+.

The Ring

An American remake of the unique Japanese supernatural horror movie, Ring, The Ring follows a journalist who discovers she has seven days to dwell after watching a cursed videotape. Attending the funeral of a lady who dies below mysterious circumstances, the sufferer’s mom asks Seattle journalist Rachel to analyze the demise. After studying in regards to the city legend behind the video tape the woman watched, Rachel views the tape within the hopes of discovering a lead – solely to search out herself succumbing to the identical curse. 

Director

Gore Verbinski

Release Date

October 18, 2002

Studio(s)

DreamWorks Distribution

Cast

Martin Henderson , Naomi Watts , Amber Tamblyn , David Dorfman , Brian Cox

Runtime

115 minutes