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Plot

A disturbing videotape appears to hold the power of life and death over those who view it in this offbeat thriller. A strange videotape begins making the rounds in a town in the Pacific Northwest; it is full of bizarre and haunting images, and after watching it, many viewers receive a telephone call in which they are warned they will die in seven days. A handful of teenagers who watched the tape while spending a weekend at a cabin in the mountains scoff at the threat, but as predicted, they all die suddenly on the same night. Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts), the aunt of one of the ill-fated teens, is a journalist who has decided to investigate the matter and travels West with her young son, Aidan (David Dorfman), a troubled child who has been drawing pictures of strange and ominous visions. Rachel managed to find the cabin in the woods and watches the video herself; afterward, she receives the same phone call, and realizes she must solve the puzzle of the video and the person or persons behind it within a week. Rachel turns to her ex, Noah (Martin Henderson), an expert in video technology, who at first is convinced the story is a hoax until he digs deeper into the mystery. The Ring was adapted from a 1996 Japanese film by Hideo Nakata, which became a massive box-office success in Asia and spawned two sequels.
MPAA Rating:
PG-13 for thematic elements, disturbing images, language and some drug references.
Genre(s):
Horror,Thriller
Run Time:
109min.
Theatrical Release Date:
10/18/2002
DVD Release Date:
03/04/2003
Distributor(s):
Dream Works
Director(s):
Gore Verbinski
Starring:
Naomi Watts , Martin Henderson , David Dorfman , Brian Cox , Jane Alexander
Themes:
Haunted By the Past,Race Against Time,Psychic Abilities,Mothers and Sons
Tone:
Creepy,Deliberate,Eerie,Gloomy,Hallucinatory,Haunting,Tense
Keywords:
cabin,death,folk-tales,ghost,horse-breeder,investigation,legend [fable],mental-institution,mother,psychic-phenomena,reporter,son,telephone,television,video-tape
Country of Origin:
USA (10-18-2002)
Language:
English