Amber Tamblyn, Brian Cox, Chris Cooper

It sounded like just another urban legend--videotape filled with nightmarish images, leading to a phone call foretelling the viewer's death in exactly seven days. As a newspaper reporter, Rachel Kelle...( read more  read more... )r was naturally skeptical of the story, until four teenagers all met with mysterious deaths exactly one week after watching just such a tape. Allowing her investigative curiosity to get the better of her, Rachel tracks down the video... and watches it. Now she has just seven days to unravel the mystery of the "Ring."

Flixster Users

50% liked it

30,975,340 ratings

Critics

71% liked it

169 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 55 min.

Directed by: Gore Verbinski

Release Date: October 18, 2002

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DVD Release Date: March 4, 2003

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Stats: 1,219,165 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,219,165)


  • October 31, 2007
    Creepy & atmospheric than its Japanese source material.
  • September 26, 2009
    Meh. Not scary. 'Nuff said.
  • April 25, 2009
    "Before you die, you see the ring"

    A young journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone in a week of viewing it.

    REVIEW

    There's nothing scary about vamp...( read more)ires. Or werewolves. (I've never seen one, so why be scared?) There's nothing scary about blood and gore. (I've seen plenty, so why be scared?) What's scary is the situation--when your TV turns itself on and you see something that makes you wet your pants. That's scary.

    And that's "The Ring". You could call "The Ring" a ghost story, and that would be fair, but instead of starting out showing us the ghost, the movie builds up suspense by first showing us what the ghost is capable of, then why the ghost is so angry. After we understand this, then and only then do we see the ghost. This creates an understanding in our mind of what this thing is going to do. So when we see it, we scare ourselves.

    You see, the scariest stories involve the mundane (like televisions and video tapes). They take the things we see everyday and ask, "What if..." This bypasses our rationality because we accept the plausibility of the scenario. And when a person can't think rationally, it doesn't take much to terrify them.

    Psychology 101. It'd be nice if more filmmakers would take a refresher course.
  • December 29, 2008
    Not bad. Not great, but not bad either.
  • October 7, 2008
    Creepy, scary and unnerving. After seeing it, I made others see it too... just in case.

    It is PG rated so no gore or sex or any kind of graphic violence is shown. It is all in your imagination... which may be worse (or better, depending on your tastes).
  • November 22, 2009
    not a scary movie at all
  • November 22, 2009
    its really scary movie
  • November 22, 2009
    this movie was disgusting
  • November 22, 2009
    the first time i saw it i was like wow
  • November 22, 2009
    good if you like suspense

Critic Reviews


October 24, 2002
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Creeps you out in high style, even if Nakata did it better. full review

October 18, 2002
Claudia Puig, USA Today

At times, the suspense is palpable, but by the end there's a sense that the crux of the mystery hinges on a technicality that strains credulity and leaves the viewer haunted by the waste of potential. full review

October 18, 2002
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Rarely has a more serious effort produced a less serious result. full review

October 18, 2002
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

At best, it's a workmanlike, passably engrossing horror flick that copies well from the Japanese original. full review

View more The Ring reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • umhaes
    December 3, 2008
    its really a superb scary movie.... i didnt sleep 4 1 week peacely after watch dis movie....
  • stratusfaction247
    August 4, 2008
    LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie....its great!!!thinks its better than the japanese version...far scarier
  • matina85
    July 26, 2008
    apistevti tainia idika i kineziki ekdosi opou einai poli pio avtentiki......
  • itbegins2005
    April 19, 2008
    Why is it that Gore Verbinski can take ideas that sound stale or like crap on paper (let's remake a Japanese horror film! Let's make a movie based on a theme park ride!) and crank out instant classics with them? What does that guy ingest that gives him that kind of talent???
  • ckline291
    March 25, 2008
    I love this Movie
  • cybercyber87
    November 1, 2007
    Uhm, to me it's not a unbearably scary film. but 2 days after watching it, I was always imagining a head with long hair would shoot out from my PC. Anyway, I think the Japanese one is better than the USA's.
  • blackdeathnr5
    October 27, 2007
    woow

    cool

    i never be scare when i see it
    lol
  • wwwsoulreaper555
    October 5, 2007
    I saw scary movie 3 first, so I was completely unable to take this film seriously. I kept wondering what would happen if you put your only T.V. on a high shelf and she crawled out of it? Or if the only T.V. you had was a tiny portable, would she come out a midget? Personally I would just sit, seven days after watching the video, in a small room, facing the only door with the T.V. in front of me and a shotgun pointed at it. :P
  • nathan693
    September 19, 2007
    a damn good film, made me paraniod for 7 days!
  • moymoy215
    September 2, 2007
    u must find me a solution . since I watched this movie and I can't sleep or sit in a room alone. I'm talking seriously , I'm very afraid of this movie:(

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The Ring Trivia


  • Which Lord of the Rings movie does the following quote come from and which character said it? "I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone"  Answer »
  • What is the name that Peter Parker gave to the ring announcer when he entered the wrestling contest (it wasn't the name that he will later make famous)?  Answer »
  • in the movie 'the ring' what actually is the ring  Answer »
  • Which movie has this tagline : " Before you die, you see the ring " ?  Answer »

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