Ringu (1998)

Country of Origin: Japan
Year of Production: 1997
Running Times: 98m
Length:
Format:
Colour Format: colour
Ratio:
Sound: Dolby/DTS

DIRECTION

Director: Hideo Nakata

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Company Ltd/Pony Canyon/Toho Co Ltd/Imagica/Asmik Ace Entertainment/Omega Project /Ace Pictures
Executive Producer: Masato Hara
Producers: Takashige Ichise, Shinya Kawai, Takenori Sento
Line Producer: Tatsuya Isomura
Associate Producer: Makoto Ishihara
Unit Production Manager: Tetsuya Nakamura

SCRIPT
Screenplay: Hiroshi Takahashi
Novel: Suzuki Kôji

DIRECTION
Assistant Director: Kuni Rishô

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Junichirô Hayashi
Lighting Supervisor: Nobuo Maebara

EDITING
Editor: Nobuyuki Takahashi
Digital Film Editing: Hideo Tsuji, Yoshinori Watanbe

MUSIC
Music: Kenji Kawai
Song Performed By: HH (Feels Like Heaven)

SPECIAL MAKE-UP EFFECTS
Special Make Up Co-Ordinator: Takuya Wada
Key Special Make Up: Yoshiichi Matsui

VISUAL EFFECTS
Visual Effects Supervisor: Hajime Matsumoto
Special Photographic Effects: Sei Yokoyama
Digital Effects: Kô Kawabata
Digital Matte Paintings: Yoshiyuki Kimura
Special Effects: Hajime Matsumoto
Optical Effects: Kôsei Haibara

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Iwao Saito

CAST

Nanako Matsushima (Reiko Asakawa)
Miki Nakatani (Mai Takano)
Hiroyuki Sanada (Ryuji Takayama)
Yuko Takeuchi (Tomoko Oishi)
Hitomi Sato (Masami Kurahashi)
Yoichi Numata (Takashi Yamamura)
Yutaka Matsushige (Yoshino)
Katsumi Muramatsu (Koichi Asakawa)
Rikiya Otaka (Yoichi Asakawa)
Masako (Shizuko Yamamura)
Daisuke Ban (Doctor Heihachiro Ikuma)
Kiyoshi Risho (Omiya the cameraman)
Yurei Yanagi (Okazaki)
Yôko Ôshima (Reiko's aunt)
Kiriko Shimizu (Ryomi Oishi)
Orie Izuno (Sadako Yamamura)
Hiroyuki Watanabe (Hayatsu)
Miwako Kaji (Kazue Yamamura)
Yoko Kima, Asami Nagata, Yukiko Shimodaira (junior high schoolgirls)
Keiko Yoshida, Yoshiko Matsumaru, Yoho Naose (senior high schoolgirls)
Maki Ikeda (Yoko Tsuji)
Takashi Takayama (Takehiko Nomi)
Toshihiko Takeda (Yamamura as a teenager)
Chihiro Shirai (Sadako as a young girl)
Mantarô Koichi (town hall moderators)
Shinkichi Noda, Kazufumi Nakai (press representatives)

PLOT SUMMARY

After her cousin Tomoko and three of her friends all mysteriously die at the same time but in different places, reporter Reiko investigates. She begins to hears rumours of a sinister video recording of a TV broadcast that can kill anyone who watches it exactly one week later. She watches the tape herself and strange thinks start to happen. With the help of her ex-husband, she discovers that the recording on the tape is the psychic projection of Sadako, a young psychic girl murdered many years ago. But time is now running out for Reiko as Sadako prepares to take her revenge from beyond the grave... (Full Synopsis)

Japan
Theatrical Distributor: Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Company Ltd
DVD Distributor: Pioneer

UK
Theatrical Distributor: ICA Projects
Video Distributor: Tartan Video (TVD3320 - widescreen; TTV1350 - widescreen rental; TTV1351 - rental)
DVD Distributor: Tartan Video

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Fine Line Pictures

Hong Kong
Rating: IIB? IIA?

Singapore
Rating: PG

UK
Rating: 15

1999
Golden Raven Award, Brussels International Festival of Fantasy, Belgium

1999
April
29: Hong Kong - theatrical release

August
12: Singapore - theatrical release

2000
August
18: UK - theatrical release
Day Unknown: USA - shown at the Horror and Science Fiction Film Festival, Egyptian Theater, Los Angeles

September
27: Finland - shown at the Helsinki International Film Festival

October
Day Unknown: shown at the 2000 Leeds International Film Festival

2001
March
19: UK - video and DVD release

April
27: UK - shown at the National Film Theatre, London (in NFT2)
28: UK - shown at the National Film Theatre, London (in NFT2)

September
28: Denmark - theatrical release

November
3: UK - television broadcast (on FilmFour)

2002
February
22: USA - shown in New York as part of the Film Comment Selects season
25: USA - shown in New York as part of the Film Comment Selects season

May
6: UK - television broadcast (on Channel 4)

2004
August
31: UK - television broadcast (on The Sci-Fi Channel)

September
1: UK - television broadcast (on The Sci-Fi Channel)

Ring - English language title
The Ring - alternative English language title

SEQUELS
Rasen (1998)
Ringu 2 (1998)

PREQUEL
Ringu 0: Baasudei (2000)

REMAKE OF
Ringu (1995)

REMAKES
Ring: Saishushô (1999)
Ring Virus (1999)
The Ring (2002)

SEE ALSO
Rasen (1999)
Ring Virus (1999)
Saan Chuen Liu Shut (1999)
Saan Chuen Liu Shut II: Sik Ji Nyn Gwai (2000)

WEB LINKS
Ringworld - "Your source for the most complete information on the Ring available on the internet"

PERIODICALS

Asian Cult Cinema no.27 (2000) pp.4-13 (USA)
illustrated article (by Daniel Grissom and Yuko Mihara Weisser)

Asian Film Library Bulletin 36 (30 September 2000) (USA)
note

Avant-Scene du Cinéma no.511 (April 2002) pp.128-133 (France)
article (Vents nippons by Stéphane Derdérian)

Cinemad no.3 (2000) p.18 (USA)
review (by Theron Patterson)

Empire no.135 (September 2000) p.59 (UK)
illustrated review

Fangoria no.193 (June 2000) pp.18-21 (USA)
illustrated article, interview with Hideo Nakata (by Donato Totaro)

Film Comment vol.38 no.1 (January/February 2002) pp.35-46 (USA)
illustrated article (High and low: Japanese cinema now: a user's guide by Chuck Stevens et al)

Film Review no.597 (September 2000) p.32 (UK)
illustrated review (by Alan Jones)

Film Review no.604 (April 2001) p.85 (UK)
illustrated video review (by Grant Kempster)

Film Review Special no.34 2001 Yearbook p.102 (UK)
illustrated review (by Alan Jones)

Flicks September 2000 p.46 (UK)
illustrated review (by Lucy Barrick)

Premiere no.290 (May 2001) p.74 (France)
illustrated interview with Hideo Nakata (Pionnier malgré lui by G.D.); review (by Gérard Delorme)

Screen International no.1235 (19 November 1999) p.6 (UK)
article (Fine Line chooses Ring by Mark Schilling and Mike Goodridge)

Sight and Sound vol.10 no.8 (August 2000) pp.16-18 (UK)
illustrated article

Sight and Sound vol.10 no.9 (September 2000) pp.48-49 (UK)
illustrated review (by Mark Kermode), synopsis, credits

Sight and Sound vol.10 no.12 (December 2000) p.64 (UK)
note

Sight and Sound vol.11 no.5 (May 2001) p.65 (UK)
DVD review

Starburst no.273 (May 2001) p.70 (UK)
illustrated video review (by Ian Atkins)

Variety 2 August 1999 p.34 (USA)
credits, synopsis, review (by anonymous)

NEWSPAPERS

Independent, The 18 August 2008 Review p.11 (UK)
illustrated review (New take on the video nasty by Kevin Jackson)

Times, The 31 July 2000 Section 2 p.23 (UK)
note (by James Christopher)

Times, The 17 August 2000 Section 2 p.18 (UK)
review (by James Christopher)

OTHER SOURCES

Edinburgh Film Festival Catalogue (54th) 13 - 27 August 2000 p.131 (UK)
illustrated credits, synopsis

boats, children, islands, journalists, psychics, revenge, scientists, teenagers, television, urban legends, videotapes, volcanoes, wells

Last Updated: 22 October, 2009