is a 1998 Japanese supernatural psychological horror film directed by Hideo Nakata and written by Hiroshi Takahashi, based on the 1991 novel by Koji Suzuki. The film stars Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani, and Hiroyuki Sanada, and follows a reporter who is racing to investigate the mystery behind a cursed video tape; whoever watches the tape dies seven days after doing so. The film is also titled The Ring (stylized as the Ring) in Japan and was released in North America as Ringu.

Plot

During a sleepover, high schoolers Tomoko and Masami discuss an urban legend about a videotape that curses its viewers to die in seven days after a foreboding phone call. Tomoko then confesses that last week, she and her friends watched a strange videotape and received an inexplicable phone call. The phone rings, startling them, but it is an innocuous call. While Masami goes to the bathroom, Tomoko witnesses the TV turn on by itself and is killed by someone or something unseen.

Awards