The Ring
Movie, 2002, America, Set in Seattle
The Ring is #3 of 5 in release order and #3 of 5 in chronological order in the The Ring.
The story
Journalist Rachel Keller investigates a strange videotape that may be behind the untimely deaths of four teenagers. There is an urban legend about this tape: the viewer will die seven days after watching it. Rachel tracks down the video... and watches it. Now she has just seven days to unravel the mystery of the Ring in order to save herself and her son.
The Ring recap
The Ring (2002) follows Rachel Keller, a Seattle journalist who watches a cursed videotape while looking into her niece's death. Gore Verbinski directs this American remake of Ring, written by Ehren Kruger. Rachel (Naomi Watts) learns that her niece Katie (Amber Tamblyn) died the same night as three friends after a stay at a mountain cabin. She finds the tape there, watches its stream of strange images, and gets a call whispering "seven days." Noah Clay (Martin Henderson), a video expert and the father of her son, studies a copy, and their eight-year-old Aidan (David Dorfman) watches it too. A woman in the footage leads Rachel to Moesko Island and the horse breeder Anna Morgan, who drowned herself after her horses went mad, and to Anna's husband Richard (Brian Cox). Their adopted daughter Samara (Daveigh Chase) could burn images into minds, and they hid her in the barn. It begins the American series.
The Ring ending explained
The Ring ends with Rachel helping Aidan copy the tape. Richard electrocutes himself, and under the cabin Rachel falls into a well and sees that Anna drowned Samara there, where the girl lived for seven days. They bring her body up for burial, and Rachel thinks the curse is lifted. Aidan tells her she should not have helped Samara. That night, Samara crawls out of Noah's television and kills him. Rachel realizes she survived because she copied the tape for Noah, and she sits Aidan down to make a copy of his own, ignoring his question about who will watch it.
Post-credits scenes
No. The Ring has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch The Ring
The Ring is streaming on Netflix, fuboTV, Paramount+, Peacock, and Kanopy in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 7.1/10, Rotten Tomatoes 72%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Ring 2, before The Ring Two.
- Chronological order: after Ring 2, before The Ring Two.
What to watch before The Ring
Nothing. The Ring (2002) doesn't continue an earlier version, so it stands on its own.
Cast
- Naomi Watts as Rachel Keller
- Martin Henderson as Noah Clay
- David Dorfman as Aidan Keller
- Brian Cox as Richard Morgan
- Jane Alexander as Dr. Grasnik
- Lindsay Frost as Ruth Embry
- Amber Tamblyn as Katie Embry
- Rachael Bella as Rebecca Kotler
- Daveigh Chase as Samara Morgan
- Shannon Cochran as Anna Morgan
- Sandra Thigpen as Teacher
- Richard Lineback as Innkeeper
Directed by Gore Verbinski.