The 2002 horror hit The Ring is coming to streaming, and fans of the genre will be able to revisit one of the scariest films ever made without paying anything for the privilege. The Naomi Watts-led film, an American remake of the Japanese horror film Ringu, will stream for free on the ad-based Tubi platform as part of their October update — just in time for the spooky season. Trust us when we say this one will get under your skin.
The Ring follows journalist Rachel Keller (Watts) investigating her niece’s mysterious passing. The teenage girl has been found literally scared to death in her closet, and it seems she died after watching a VHS tape that’s gone viral among local teens. When she sees the contents of the tape, Keller receives an ominous phone call that announces she’ll die in just a matter of days — although the caller doesn’t tell her how. Per the Rotten Tomatoes synopsis:
It sounds like just another urban legend – a videotape filled with nightmarish images leads to a phone call foretelling the viewer’s death in exactly seven days. Newspaper reporter Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) is skeptical of the story until four teenagers all die mysteriously 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.
The Ring was released in theaters in October 2002 and was extremely successful, grossing over $249 million at the box office against a relatively large production budget of $48 million (fairly rare for a modern horror movie). Although popular with American audiences, the film made a significant portion of its earnings overseas. Today, it holds a 72% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, while the audience score is significantly lower, at 48%.
The film provided modern audiences with elaborate scares and some of the most disturbing horror scenes in 2000s horror. Director Gore Verbinski took the original and put his own stylish spin on the concept. Better special effects and a more unsettling backstory for the villain are just a couple of the innovative elements that make The Ring a perfect example in the discussion of “some remakes are better than the original.”
Is ‘The Ring’ Better Than the Original ‘Ringu’?
Not to be contentious about it, but The Ring could be a great example of a remake that tops the original. Along with the aforementioned special effects, and Verbinski’s direction is spotless, with visuals that are much more impressive and cohesive with the film’s tone. In some ways, The Ring is far superior to Ringu.
But not all of them. The original Japanese film from 1998 is extremely eerie, and its grainy, analog-style visuals blend well with the story. Special effects are mostly practical, and director Hideo Nakata does a great job with timing and exposure. In The Ring, Samara appeared on camera, only not as much as many would have liked. In Ringu, Sadako lingers on the screen for an unsettling period of time. Yes, in horror, sometimes less is more. But Ringu presents the perfect argument for why horror must sometimes fully reveal its monsters.
- Release Date
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October 18, 2002
- Runtime
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115 minutes
