Summary
- The Ring is based on the novel by Koji Suzuki and the old Japanese ghost story 'Banchō Sarayashiki,' both of which involve cursed videotapes and vengeful spirits.
- The film modernized the traditional ghost story by incorporating technology and creating one of the most iconic horror scenes with the ghost crawling out of the television.
- The Ring started a trend of Western remakes of Japanese horror films and influenced other horror movies like The Grudge and One Missed Call, which also feature vengeful spirits and eerie supernatural elements.
Many on-screen horror stories are inspired by real-life events or legends, such as The Town That Dreaded Sundown and The Watcher. But what is arguably one of the most influential origin stories is the one behind The Ring, which has seen multiple books and films surrounding the creepy VHS tape of a young girl with long, black hair. While the ghost story that inspired this classic horror film and its subsequent sequels is not about a cursed videotape, it does mirror the young girl, Sadako/Samara's (Daveigh Chase), tragic backstory.
The Ring
- Release Date
- October 18, 2002
- Runtime
- 115 minutes
- Director
- Gore Verbinski
Cast
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David Dorfman
WHERE TO WATCH
A journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape that seems to cause the death of anyone one week to the day after they view it.
'The Ring' Is Based on a Novel and an Old Ghost Story
The first version of The Ring was in novel form. Japanese author Koji Suzuki, whose writing was also the source material for the horror film Dark Water and its American remake, published the first book of a series in 1991. The series and subsequent films and remakes follow a videotape cursed by the ghost of a girl who was murdered before being thrown into a well. Anyone who watches the videotape will die exactly one week later, and the only way to escape this grim fate is to show the tape to someone else, condemning them to death. The 1998 film was such a success that it started the trend of Western remakes of Japanese horror films. But before Hideo Nakata's Ringu or any of The Ring films, and even before the book series, a ghost story that would have occurred at Himeji Castle in Japan hundreds of years ago would inspire a slew of terrifying, impactful media.
The Japanese ghost story is known as "Banchō Sarayashiki," or "The Dish Mansion at Banchō." While there are a few variations, the story goes that a girl named Okiku, who worked in Himeji, was being pursued romantically by a samurai at the castle. To manipulate her into being with him, he hid one of the 10 dishes of the royal family that she was responsible for protecting. After Okiku panicked about the missing plate, as her punishment would be death, the samurai presented them as finally being together as a solution to the problem, but she once again refused him. In retaliation, the samurai suspended her over the top of a well. He asked her one last time to be with him, but she said no. He hit her with his sword, sending her body falling down the well. Due to the nature of Okiku's death, she returned to haunt the samurai as a vengeful spirit. It is said that he could hear her counting the plates, never able to reach the number 10.
Other versions state that Okiku's spirit would crawl out of the well late at night to torment him, and another says that Okiku was put to death by being thrown down the well for losing the dish. Japan has a well that is still there in the present day, and a cover lies on top to, allegedly, keep Okiku's spirit from crawling out. Today, the well is even called Okiku's Well. The story's influences have extensive reach outside of film, with larvae infesting old wells being called "Okiku insects" in Japan.
How 'The Ring' Modernized a Traditional Ghost Story
Ringu is far from the only film to explore ghost stories and spirits that haunt the living. Classics like Ugetsu and Kwaidan are traditional ghost stories (the latter includes a story called "The Black Hair") that are rooted in Japanese folklore and history. Ugetsu especially delves into legends by humanizing a spirit that was deemed dangerous and demonic without considering the painful backstory. Often the encounters with spirits teach the living hard lessons. Ringu deviates by turning the former point on its head, in an attempt to help Sadako/Samara rest in death, leading to freeing her angry spirit. The original ghost story about Okiku ends with her spirit relentlessly tormenting the samurai but never killing him, yet before meeting Sadako/Samara in the film, her spirit and curse had a body count because of the videotape. The integral use of technology in the film marks a new era in ghost stories portrayed on film, and the way this aspect of Ringu is executed is still widely discussed over 20 years later.
While the story underwent many changes as the years have gone by, its portrayal in The Ring films has had a significant impact on modern viewers. The story takes the archetype of bitter, violent yūrei, or ghost, and incorporates technology of the time. It takes an old, hundreds-of-years-old legend and places it on the modern-day screen. Also, it accurately mirrors how legends are spread. Not to mention, it gave audiences one of the most iconic horror scenes in a film, with the long-haired ghost menacingly crawling out of the television. It is ironic that the original ghost story that started it all became forgotten as the years went by, as a casual horror fan may not be aware of Okiku. Not many horror films have taken an old ghost story and modernized it so accurately in the way Ringu and The Ring did. The twist of contemporary troubles on traditional urban legends to the screen for present-day audiences. Similar to Ring and other films like it, ghost stories that originated hundreds of years ago take on different forms over time. Ring films inspired by the original story directly led to other horror films like The Grudge and One Missed Call, overtly so with long-haired ghosts and haunting via flip phones, spreading stories of vengeful spirits nonetheless.
The Ring is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.
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