THE RING / RINGU Breakdown | Hidden Details, Ending Explained, Differences & Making Of

Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show, I’m your host Paul, and in this video, we’re breaking down “The Ring.”

Over the last week or so, I’ve burned through the original Japanese trilogy, the non-canon sequel “Spiral,” and the American remake, obsessing over the tape. If I’m dead in seven days, then you know what happened, but like the characters in the movie, it was difficult to stop myself.

HIDDEN DETAILS IN RINGU

I think “The Ring” is one of the most unforgettable horrors of all time, and that final scene is forever burned into my memory. I was actually someone who saw the remake before the original and didn’t get around to watching that until years later. However, it opened up the well and made me become fascinated with the genre, with the original trilogy being one of my favorites of all time.

Throughout this video, we’re going to be doing a deep dive on both “Ringu” and its American counterpart to talk about all the creepy things that are layered in them. This will also talk about the ending and, as always, where they differ, putting together the major differences and things that they changed.

If you enjoy it, then please hit the thumbs-up button and don’t forget to subscribe for videos like this every week. If you don’t, then in the next seven days…you’ll…you’ll not see the next one…so yeah, please do, mate, and thanks for the support.

Now, “Ringu” was a movie that massively changed cinema and it subverted things away from the slashers that had been dominant for decades. Its reach has since been felt far and wide, with it influencing several forms of media since its creation. Whether it’s stuff like the curse in “It Follows,” the “Fear” games, or even the “Grudge” movies, a ghost girl with long black hair is now a staple in horror.

It paved the way for America remaking Japanese horrors for years to follow and basically opened the door for a whole new subset of films.

Based on the 1991 novel “Ring,” it saw a reporter trying to get to the bottom of a cursed video tape that once watched would kill you in seven days.

The book actually took a little bit of inspiration from “Poltergeist,” with its author recounting how the idea of a ghost coming from a TV was something that stuck with him. His name was Koji Suzuki, and he also went on to make another classic in “Dark Water,” which too had a film adaptation and American remake.

Now, Sadako’s psychic abilities are based on a form of spirit photography, which in Japan is known as Nensha. That allows one to burn images from their mind onto a solid surface.

She also takes inspiration from the Japanese legend of the Okiku, which apparently originates from Himeji Castle. According to the legends, there was a servant girl who was tortured and dangled over the well at the castle before being dunked into it. In the days following, her screams could be heard coming from the well at night, and after she died, her spirit rose from the well to exact revenge.

The title itself has different interpretations, with it possibly having multiple meanings laced throughout both films. Rings are, of course, circles that move in a cycle, and the tape itself acts like a virus being spread to whoever watches it. Upon seeing the tape, your phone also rings, and the view from the well Sadako was trapped in appears like a ring, too.

Rings also appear throughout both versions, which we’ll be pointing out as we get further in.

Now, this idea of cycles was continued in the now non-canonized sequel “Spiral.” This actually comes on the “Ring 2” Blu-ray released by Arrow, and it actually had a bit of a weird release.

“Spiral” came out the same day as “Ringu” did, so you could literally finish the film and then go and see its sequel. It has them actually examining how Sadako’s curse is like a virus and it creates a new one that you get by reading the journals studying the tape. The ring then spirals out of control, and we end with several of the characters resurrected and talking about how it’s going to evolve humanity. Honestly, I can see why it was dropped from the canon as “Ring 2” is by far a much more superior follow-up that feels more in the same vein as the original.

Also, we’ve actually just teamed up with Arrow Films as a partner, and if you’re into these older films, then definitely go check out our link in the description for 10% off. Like I said, they’ve got the ring collection, “Robocop 4K,” “The Exorcist 3,” and a ton of older films rescanned and upgraded to 4K. Again, the link is in the description and it massively helps out the channel. Click the link below or use the code Heavy

Spoilers for 10% off.

It’s hard to hammer home how much of a success this film was, but at the time, it was the highest-grossing horror film in Japanese history. Now, obviously, Hollywood wanted a piece of this too. It was a pretty smart decision as well, with the movie making 249 million off a 48 million budget. In just the US alone, it sold 2 million DVDs in the first 24 hours of its release, and it was a phenomenon that built off the back of more supernatural low-key films like the “Blair Witch Project.”

Now, for the next part of the video, I’ll be going through “The Ring” scene by scene and talking about all the extra details in it that you might not know. Amongst this, I’ll also talk about “Ringu” and some of the bits that differ or the details in it that didn’t make it across to the US version. The films have basically the exact same plot, with a couple of characters changes, but I think that’s the best way to tackle both movies in one breakdown. If you’re looking for which one you should watch, then I think that “Ringu” is the better film due to its atmosphere, character portrayals, and the general tone of it.

Now, on the other side of this, the US version has way better effects, and even comparing the two final scenes side by side, you can totally see where that extra money comes into play. Due to them also remaking the movie, it gave them a lot more hindsight, and because of this, they were able to add a lot more subliminal images and foreshadowing throughout.

Like I said, there are rings throughout, and that comes from the off with the DreamWorks logo having it flicker on the screen when we hit the D. From here, we cut to an establishing shot of a house, and the first thing you’re probably going to notice is the green filter that’s over the top of it. This is throughout the entire film, and I’d totally forgot this s**t is greener than a “Matrix” movie.

Now, this is obviously a choice, with the creative team purposely doing it so that the movie would have a sickly and unnatural feeling to it. According to IMDb trivia, they also lit the entire thing so that the characters don’t actually have a shadow, which gives the sort of feeling that something is off.

This opening shot also begins with heavy focus on a withered tree to the left, which itself becomes an icon laced throughout the film.

This tree is known as a Japanese maple, and the fruit that grows from it is known as a samara. Samara Morgan is the name of the girl in the US adaptation, with the Japanese one being called Sadako. I will probably jump back and forth between the names, so bear in mind that Rachel’s called Reiko in the original.

Rachel’s ex is called Noah, whereas in “Ringu,” he’s called Ryuji, and their son’s called Aidan and Yoichi. Butchered the pronunciation, but the first line in the remake is pretty witty due to what happens.

Now, this opening is pretty similar to how the original opened, with two schoolgirls talking about the cursed video tape.

This is very reminiscent of the opening of “Scream,” which again is kinda building off the back of the slasher genre but going somewhere new.

Here, they’re wearing Japanese uniforms, and this was done on purpose as a tribute to “Ringu.” In that, we learned what actually caused the tape to be created and heard of a cabin in Izu where a boy tried to tape a sports game. Selecting the wrong channel, he left the VCR running, and when he watched the tape, it had the strange images on it.

This is what then started off the curse, and we learn Sadako’s well was located right underneath the cabin. Here, they kinda skip over the story and instead go for some conspiracy theory stuff about radio waves burning the molecules in your brain.

Now, the book was originally written to be more of a science fiction one, with it later becoming more in line with horror. The sequel “Spiral” leaned more in line with it, and the science here could be something that explains how the characters are killed. The movie is often thought to be a metaphor for technophobia, with screens and technology being twisted to take human life.

The Japanese version actually framed a lot of the TVs to be almost like shadowy screens watching the protagonists, and they’re often placed in the corner of rooms pointed directly at the characters.

What do you mean that’s the best way to watch TV?

Nah, but you’ll understand it if you see it, and these shots give the television a sense of intimidation.

Now, further ring imagery appears on the clock, which we cut to as the phone starts to ring.

In both versions, it’s the character’s mother calling them which then leads into the TV starting up. Katie ends up unplugging this in the US version which then extends the scene and takes it to upstairs. We see a reflection on the screen with Samara behind her and then catch water dripping from under the door as she goes upstairs. All of this wasn’t present in the original with the water of course linking in Samaras death.

Now, inside the room, we get some really subtle things that you’d only really notice if you slowed down the footage. As you can see, there are several images from the tape that are difficult to pick up with the naked eye. This is something that appears in both deaths caused by Samara, with it happening to Noah just before he’s killed too. Just before it happens, we also get a shot of the well, which they also do something really cool with throughout the film. Every time it pops up in the movie, Samara is a little closer to the screen, building to her eventually crawling out of it in the final act.

Now, from here, we cut to Aidan drawing a ring, which in the end is revealed to be a sun. This is something he constantly draws throughout the film, and we later see as he has several drawings lined out where it gets bigger and bigger. Eventually, this forms into a giant ring, like what Samara saw in the well, showing how the curse could have affected him throughout the movie. These subtle bits of iconography also appear in this scene beyond the drawings, and we can see that his teacher has little horses on her shirt. When Rachel walks along beside the window, we can also see a little board with horses on it and, looking back at Aidan’s drawing, he’s created several rings.

Now, Rachel not really being there for her son adds to the theme of motherhood that keeps popping up. You have to remember that back in the 90s and early noughties, being a single mother wasn’t as accepted as it is today. I remember a lot of kids having a really difficult time with it, and there’s more of a taboo side to it here due to the time period. Due to her job, she never really got to be a mother to Aidan, and thus he turned to his cousin Katie.

Rachel and Aidan are really distant, with the latter just referring to her by her first name. In the end, she embraces Samara’s corpse, and this is all to save these two lost children, which cements her as a mother to these two children that haven’t really had one. This separation is also clearly pushing them apart, though, and we see some of the drawings that Aidan’s done of his cousin Katie. These show her body lying in the ground, with her even being underwater, like what happens with Samara. Later, we see some of the psychic photographs Samara did, and there’s one especially that riffs on what the drawings are like here. We find out that Aidan drew them the week before she died, and this could be because of two things. The first is that Katie told him about the call and that she only had 7 days left to live. The second is it shows that he has somewhat ESP abilities, which links in with the original. In that, both the kid and his dad Ryuji had the powers, with this also being what helped cause the divide between the two.

Due to his abilities, he’d shut himself off from his son, whereas here, Noah just doesn’t think he’s mature enough to be a father. Aidan very much had Katie as his only lifeline, and we even see in his room how he has a picture above his bed signed by her. These scenes paint out the divide between the two, with Rachel looking at her son through the mirror in the car to symbolically show their separation.

In the original, after the intro, we cut to Reiko interviewing students about the tape before she came home to her son, who she’d left in the house by himself. In both, the pair then attend Katie’s wake, with the remake having Aidan getting dressed on his own, showing his independence.

Looking at the lampshade, we can also see black circular rings on it, and Rachel’s top also has a girl dancing in the middle of a black ring. This is clearly a ballet dancer; however, it could also be a little nod to Samara being stuck in the well.

Now, in both versions, the son ends up going up to their cousin’s room while the girl’s mother discusses how they found the body.

I love how this is solely told to us in flashback, and it kinda builds dread throughout the film over what the attack looks like. The entire movie kinda builds towards that final scene, with us getting hints towards it laced through the films.

Now, in both versions, the son sees his cousin’s legs running up the stairs, but this apparition gets more sinister further in the movie. Now, how the son watches the tape is guided by one of two things, with “Ringu” building off the back of this haunting vision. In the original, it’s Tomoko’s ghost who apparently tells him to watch it, whereas in the remake, he does it off his own back. Personally, I always took Tomoko as being Sadako, whereas here they’re trying to sell us the idea that she’s one of the good guys. With Aidan, we see as he catches something in the reflection of the TV, whereas in the original, the horrors more implied.

Now, outside, in both, the protagonist interviews some of

the students, and is…is that Adam…Adam Brody?

This scene appears in both versions, with the students talking about how their classmates also died at the same time that the cousin did. Now, Rachel eventually goes and gets her son, and we see a ring-like mirror positioned above her head. Discovering a scrap album, we see all the people in it have their faces scribbled out, which is a new motif they made for the American version. This, of course, ties in with the distorted faces in the photographs; however, it also possibly foreshadows Samara’s long black hair covering her face.

Developing the photos, we see as they chronicle the trip and show when the group ended up having their faces distorted. Rachel then starts to investigate the deaths, and we see that two died in a car accident. This is a bit of a nod to the original, as we had a scene where two of the students were found dead in their car.

All of them were surrounded by screens and reflective surfaces, which is what Samara used as a gateway to get out.

There was originally going to be a scene where we also saw one dying in a motorcycle accident where Samara would’ve killed him by emerging from his helmet’s visor.

Traveling up to the cabin, we get a shot of rain running down the window, foreshadowing the water that will later run down Noah’s TV.

Here, we see the sign for the Shelter Mountain Inn, which gets a slight update at the end of the film. Around about the hour 24 mark, Rachel and Noah pass by it, and we can see that it says “closed until further notice.” This was because it turned out the manager watched the tape, and his death caused the place to get shut down.

As she walks in the reception, we see a clock on the wall, with two rings, of course, being used as the faces. Here, she discovers the tape, which is amongst stuff like “Yor,” “Sherlock Holmes Revisited,” “Scent of a Woman,” all of which will be getting breakdowns soon… “Garden Pond.” There’s also “Chud” on the top, which is about cannibalistic humanoid under-dwellers that rise from the sewers to kill people. There’s also “Rage to Kill,” which might have been picked out as little clues. In the middle, we have a tape slanted like how it is in the original, but in that, it calls out to Reiko, whereas here it doesn’t.

Passing by the red tree on the hill, this becomes prominent later on, and the tape itself has several things in it that pop up throughout the film. There’s, of course, the ring that becomes the well lid, and then the red blood in the water, which foreshadows the horse’s death. Next, we cut to a chair, which looks like the one Samara sat in when we see the interviews that were carried out on her.

Next, there’s black hair and her mother combing her hair in a mirror, which itself is circular to play off the ring motif. We also have her father standing in a window and a fly moving across the screen that later comes out of it. This is to give the idea Samara can climb out of it too, with the cliff also being what her mother jumps off of.

In the original, we learned that she was a psychic who predicted the eruption of a volcano. Her name was Shizuko Yamamura, and she was actually based on Chizuko Mifune. This was a real person from the early 20th century who used to give psychic readings in the 1900s. Accused of being a liar, she took her own life after her career was destroyed by the accusations.

Next, we see a strand of hair coming out of a mouth, which Rachel herself pulls out later in the film. Cut to the tree burning and then a nail getting pressed into a nail, which we can’t really show because YouTube’s turned into demonetizing everything unless you’re a really big content creator that doxxes people.

MAKING OF THE RING/RINGU

Anyway, as we learn in the well, Samara’s fingernails came off from trying to climb out so much, which this nail being removed ties back to.

There’s also a horse’s eye and a ladder against a wall, which Rachel ends up later walking under. This is obviously a sign of bad luck, and the entire thing’s like an early A24 student film. We see horses also washed up on the shore and lastly catch the well before the static plays.

Cut to Rachel’s eye, which starts to dilate again, creating this ring effect.

Also, Rachel is called Rachel Keller, which…is that a Friends reference? I dunno… anyway.

Now the look in these scenes is really striking, with production designer Tom Duffield drawing inspiration from the work of Andrew Wyeth to create the film’s look.

After receiving the phone call, she heads back home, where we start to see the countdown of days. In the Japanese original, they used dates, but here we have a ticking clock, indicating that time is running out.

Aidan goes to school, and I love the bus ad featuring Frasier and Seinfeld… ah, the early 2000s. There, he bumps into his father, a scene played almost exactly as in the original. There’s a real disconnect between the two, with Ringu linking this to his psychic abilities. Rachel reaches out to him because he’s an expert on video recordings, whereas in the original, he was a university professor. In both, he’s now dating one of his students, with the American version showing them sort of rekindling their relationship.

We see Rachel wearing a Kirkland University top at this point, and discover his girlfriend is attending there too. Her T-shirt displays the school’s name, showing how he met both women at the same place.

Both versions have him watching the tape while Rachel goes outside to stand on the balcony. We see her looking around and catch a woman leaving her child inside the room, metaphorically representing the separation between mothers and children.

In another apartment, we see a ring-shaped object on the TV before a Japanese program appears on another screen. This nods to the film’s original country of origin and is followed by a reference to a different kind of thriller.

We catch a glimpse of a man in a wheelchair with a broken leg and binoculars resting on the windowsill, a visual nod to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window,” where James Stewart’s character spies on his neighbors.

On screen, the man is watching a race, echoing “Rear Window,” where the man broke his leg photographing a race.

In the original, Ryuji didn’t get a call at this point, as explained in the novel. Only those close to Samara received a call, hence why the people in the cabin were the only ones to get the message. The American remake differs, with her receiving an answering machine message that she deletes.

Noah, initially skeptical, begins to believe after Rachel makes a copy of the tape, which ultimately saves her life. I’ll discuss the true meaning behind both endings later, but passing on the curse is the only way to save oneself.

The remake includes a scene that I think improves on the original, with Noah explaining how videotapes and tracking work. It’s a nice info dump that discusses the science behind it and how tracking can unearth hidden clues.

We also see a ring-shaped object behind Rachel… and I swear I’ll stop pointing them out… wait… just outside, by the ladder, we see a manhole… I can’t stop.

“Not the bees, not the bees!”

Now, cut to a mental institution where we see Katie’s friend being escorted through the corridors. They have a sheet over her to obscure her from the TVs, a nod to Ringu 2, where we saw Tomoko’s friend in an asylum. Here, she passes by it okay, whereas in Ringu 2, Samara launches a psychic attack on all the patients.

Also, Rachel’s earrings are rings, and earrings contain the word “rin…”

Using professional equipment at work, Rachel adjusts the tracking and spots the Moesko Island Lighthouse, which in real life is the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. It was chosen for its eerie location and rumored haunting by a previous lighthouse keeper.

Online, we see Samara’s mother, dressed in black among other islanders. Learning she hosts a horse show, we briefly glimpse Brian Cox’s character. Again, this differs from the original, where Sadako’s mother was a psychic. Accused of being a fraud, Sadako psychically killed the journalist who accused her, drawing attention to them. Realizing her danger, her father killed her, a story expanded upon in Ringu.

The American version paints Samara in a less sympathetic light, showing her as inherently malicious, unlike Ringu’s more tragic backstory.

Samara’s attacks plagued the island, killing all the horses there due to their annoyance. In a photo, we see her mother Anna’s head, which Rachel circles with a black ring.

–

We learn that this led Anna to take her own life, worsened by hallucinations brought on by Samara. While researching, Rachel scribbles out Anna’s face, and we see Noah’s distorted face on a monitor in a shop.

“You’re gonna die.”

Woah, spoilers, love. His face in the footage makes him realize the curse could be real.

With Rachel, we get the hair scene, showing the pressure Samara’s putting on her. The room focuses strongly on water, with attention given to a jug and glass. In the

window behind her, water rushes down before dripping out of the telephone. At this point, we see Samara in a chair, flashing back to her time being studied. Grabbing Rachel’s arm, she leaves a burn, a scene mirrored in the original with visions of the backstory with her mother.

Waking up, we catch Aidan watching the tape, with it ending showing Samara getting further out of the well.

This moment is a big deviation from the original, where this happened while Reiko and Yoichi were at her father’s. In the end, he played a major part, as she left her son with him while they went out to Samara’s. Discovering the need to make a copy, she drove out to her dad’s with a VCR player and the tape, implying she was going to ask her father to watch it, thus sparing his grandson. In the sequel, we learn he indeed saw it, highlighting the theme of family sacrifice. This contrasts with the American version, which introduces a new character we’ll talk about later.

We see the cop thrown under the sofa, similar to the American version.

Cut to day 6, and we see Katie’s notepad with drawings of a chair, horses, and a ring. Aidan’s left with her mother while they set out to uncover Samara’s origins. Noah searches for Anna while Rachel heads out on the ferry, where a horse jumps overboard, illustrating Samara’s terrifying influence.

We get a shot of the horse running through the ferry, focusing on a car window covered in raindrops, highlighting Samara’s control. The boat’s name, Quinalt, ties to horses. Just after the boat turns, we catch a split-second flash of a ring on screen.

Noah heads to Anna’s asylum, noticing a fly crawling on the door as he breaks in.

He finds electrical nodes hanging out of a box, resembling rings, a circle within a circle.

On the island, we see the lighthouse and the beach where the horses drowned, then cutting to the ranch. Standing under the window, we get the same angle as where Samara’s dad stood in the tape.

The barns and fields are empty, with Brian Cox portraying an isolated old man harboring a dark secret. Interestingly, he played William Stryker in a film the following year, whose son Jason also projected images into people’s heads.

In expanded lore, we learn Samara’s real mother was held captive in a basement and assaulted by a priest. Born from this trauma, Samara was adopted by Anna and her husband Richard, but her early life’s trauma manifested in her powers.

Spotting Anna’s mirror, Rachel realizes this is the place, but her dad denies it. However, outside is a child’s swing, and Rachel also pulls out a drawing Aidan made, which aligns with the scene. Samara’s face is further scribbled out, foreshadowing the hair draping over it.

With Noah, we watch as he goes through records, seeing notes with Japanese characters, harking back to the source material. These moments remind me of “The X-Files,” where characters investigate paranormal events and seek explanations.

In thermophotography, we also see dinosaur skeletons, possibly linking to the toys in Aidan’s room.

Cut to a doctor’s office, and we focus further on the countdown, with Rachel now having just one day left. The center has a ring, with circles also on the doctor’s cardigan.

Learning that everyone on the island was affected by the visions, the island kept the outside world safe from her. However, she was taken to the mainland at Eola when she was studied and experimented on.

Learning her dad Richard watched a tape of this, Noah heads out to stop Rachel from getting too close to Richard. We see her entering the home and also catch a Japanese canvas on the wall. Appearing inside the mirror, it creates a ring around Anna, closing in. Samara, standing closer to the camera, shows what’s to come.

Rachel finds a file and sees a centipede in it, crawling away like the one on the tape. We see that Richard took the tape of his daughter, with the writing on it matching the file. Rachel plays it, and we watch Samara in a room for hours, with the clock… you know what it is.

We learn she never sleeps, one of the final things Aidan and Richard say about the character.

–

We also see thermophotography with a horse and a ring-like sun imprinted on one.

Pressing this onto carbon paper is how she transferred it onto the film of the videotape, leading to the curse being on it. The name Samara refers to the story “Appointment in Samarra,” about a man who meets Death in a marketplace before fleeing to the town Samara.

Taking his own life, Richard does it using a bathtub, similar to the water grave he sentenced Samara to.

They discover she was kept in the barn, with her room only being accessible by a ladder. This is of course the one that appeared in the tape and we see models of horses dotted about in it.

RINGU ENDING EXPLAINED

This extends to the wallpaper, which features horse heads, matching the film’s recurring motifs.

At Shelter Mountain, they find the tree burned into the wall, leading them back to the cabin. Underneath, they discover the well where Samara’s body was. In the original, they tried to empty the water, adding tension as night fell. Reiko swapped places due to tiredness, but in this version, Rachel is knocked into the well by the TV.

Samara appears on the TV as it slides down and hits Rachel into the well.

In this version, Anna, not her father as in the original, pushes Samara down the well. This change creates a narrative reversal, with Rachel attempting to save Samara.

Unearthing Samara’s body seems to break the curse, suggesting she can finally rest. However, we learn she wanted her tapes spread.

Rachel learns to be closer to Aidan, completing a narrative arc from the beginning when she refused to look at Aidan’s drawings.

Back at Katie’s old house, Noah picks up Aidan, and the family appears ready to reunite, symbolized by them holding hands.

Rachel showers, and the water washing away suggests the curse is also being cleansed. This would be a perfect ending… but there’s more.

Aidan’s mark hasn’t faded, unlike Rachel’s, whose time had passed. Noah, using a magnifying glass resembling a black ring, and a coffee cup leaving a black ring on a newspaper, bring us back to the curse’s imagery.

The newspaper features Chris Cooper, a notable actor, in a scene cut from the film. Originally, Rachel was to investigate him, a prisoner claiming to have found God and up for parole. The plan was to give him Aidan’s cursed tape, using it as a weapon.

These scenes were cut to maintain pace, leaving only Cooper’s face in the film. This tighter ending focuses on Samara climbing out of the TV to claim her next victim.

The scene’s memorable horror, with Samara’s glitchy, water-dripping movement, leaves a lasting impression. The Japanese version enhanced this with reversed footage and an intense final eye shot, achieved by the actor cutting off their eyelashes.

The film ends with Rachel discovering Noah’s body, while in the Japanese version, Reiko finds the character already dead. The American version leaves the identity of the next tape viewer ambiguous, while the Japanese version has her father watching Aidan’s copy.

Rachel ensures Aidan presses the tape in, hinting the curse will continue. Rachel, like Samara, now seems indifferent to the victims, focused only on spreading the curse.

The film ends darkly and nihilistically in both versions.