In the 2002 film The Ring, Gore Verbinski directed the American adaptation of the Japanese horror story. The film stars Naomi Watts as journalist Rachel Keller, who investigates a videotape supposedly linked to a series of deaths.
The Ring is a remake of Hideo Nakata’s 1998 Japanese film Ring, which was itself adapted from Koji Suzuki’s novel. Verbinski’s version retains the central idea of a cursed videotape but relocates the story and reshapes its characters for an English-language audience.
The film’s visual style relies on cold colours, rain-soaked locations and unsettling images from the videotape. Its supernatural figure is Samara Morgan, whose story is uncovered as Rachel follows clues about the tape’s origin. Viewers sometimes confuse Samara with Sadako, the corresponding ghost in the Japanese films.
Released in October 2002, The Ring became a major commercial success and helped increase international attention on Japanese horror remakes. Verbinski later directed Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.