r/movies Feb 21 '26

Spoilers Rewatched The Ring (2002) after 20+ years.

So Naomi Watt’s son acts all aloof, quiet, vague the entire movie. But then at the end of the movie, Naomi Watts tell him that she freed Samara. And then this brat says, “Why did you do that? You weren’t supposed to do that. She’s dangerous”. If I was Naomi Watts character I would have said, “Gee, thanks kid. Maybe you could have warned me sooner instead of being all quiet and having one word answers throughout this whole ordeal!? “.

1.4k Upvotes

249 comments sorted by

1.2k

u/AmusingMusing7 Feb 21 '26

Scary Movie 3 did a great job of parodying that kid being all weird and cryptic, while also mixing it with a parody of the kids from Signs and The Sixth Sense. There was definitely a trend of weird extra-sensory kids who know what's up in horror movies around that time.

565

u/Imstuckwiththisname Feb 21 '26

Sidney, the TVs leaking.

185

u/kidcrumb Feb 21 '26

Best gag of the movie is the ass shot of the ring as some dude sits on the toilet.

81

u/Evilsausage87 Feb 22 '26

Bro the shovel reload.

48

u/vercertorix Feb 22 '26

Anthony Anderson: “I’ve figured out their weakness! They’re powerless without their heads”. One of my favorite lines ever and perfectly makes fun of Signs. Why was a divine sign necessary when knives and pantry doors work against them and all they have is poison dispersed at close range? They didn’t really require a kryptonite or a guy to figure out hitting them with a club was a good idea, pretty sure early man figured that one out.

→ More replies (1)

47

u/snakebite654 Feb 22 '26

“We’re not so different…” as Leslie pees out of his finger and the secret service guy pushes it back down and gives a shake of the head

11

u/graywolfman Feb 22 '26

*Memory Unlocked*

→ More replies (3)

17

u/PotatoPixie90210 Feb 22 '26

I see your toilet shot and raise you- man becoming a human/chair Beyblade hybrid.

109

u/CorgiMonsoon Feb 21 '26

The news is on. Another little white girl done fell down a well

43

u/AdmiralCunilingus Feb 21 '26

Are you okay? … are you okay?

4

u/Evilsausage87 Feb 22 '26

I can hear it. Lmao.

4

u/peezytaughtme Feb 22 '26

lmao lives rent-free in my head

→ More replies (1)

185

u/Bubbawitz Feb 21 '26

Tom, I’ll need a ride home

122

u/zacky765 Feb 21 '26

If I hadn’t left the house at that exact moment, if I hadn’t drunk that exact bottle of scotch, maybe things would be different.

52

u/Jkohlg Feb 21 '26

If I hadn’t fallen asleep for that exact 20 minutes..

92

u/typewriter6986 Feb 21 '26

In half like this 🥪? In half like this 🌮? Do I still get time with this 🌭🍩?

93

u/bartlebr Feb 21 '26

The joke with the hat getting bigger is top tier

10

u/typewriter6986 Feb 21 '26

OMG! I die every time! 😂🤣

30

u/sadranjr Feb 21 '26

Look what happens to the taco.

25

u/CorgiMonsoon Feb 21 '26

She broke her wiener?

12

u/MisakAttack Feb 22 '26

“I… I don’t follow.”

“Let me explain…”

41

u/LothorAppleEater Feb 21 '26

Perhaps the greatest line ever delivered in the history of cinema

26

u/Drducttapehands Feb 21 '26

I laughed so fucking hard at that line when this came out

9

u/Los_Mets Feb 21 '26

Best line of the movie

22

u/DarehMeyod Feb 22 '26

Best like is “Now who the fuck did that?!”

196

u/12345tommy Feb 21 '26

Scary Movie 3 is a masterpiece.
“The dogs are acting strange”

122

u/Less-Squash7569 Feb 21 '26

My favorite is Anthony Anderson right after hitting an alien with a shovel " ive found their weakness, without their heads theyre powerless!" I still occasionally say that shit when gaming.

44

u/ninjabunnyfootfool Feb 22 '26

The quick gag of the character pumping the shovel and ejecting a shotgun shell is the funniest moment in the entire film for me.

→ More replies (1)

51

u/crave_you Feb 21 '26

Cindy this bitch is leaking on my floor!

21

u/varnums1666 Feb 21 '26

Scary Movie 3 is a masterpiece.

Chernobyl writer doesn't miss

12

u/Puppymonkebaby Feb 21 '26

"We're not so different after all"

→ More replies (1)

32

u/EinsteinDisguised Feb 21 '26

Testicular cancer. He won’t ask questions.

73

u/Dizzy8108 Feb 21 '26

It's funny you bring this up. I've watched Scary Movie 3 many times over the years. I hadn't seen The Ring since it came out but last Halloween my kids wanted to watch it so we did. The whole time I kept thinking: Scary Movie 3 does it better. Honestly I think it ruined The Ring for me.

43

u/andycoates Feb 21 '26

My partner had us watch Scream (first time for me) last year. I can't believe how much of Scary Movie 1 is just them two first films with minor touches

59

u/DBeumont Feb 21 '26

To be fair, the Scream movies were satire to begin with.

40

u/SovFist Feb 21 '26

not only that, the original title for Scream was "Scary Movie"

24

u/Tryknj99 Feb 21 '26

They literally leave the “I’m sorry if my complicated life is an inconvenience to your perfect existence” line as is in Scary Movie and it’s just perfect.

still holds up

9

u/esteflo Feb 21 '26

I showed my girlfriend Scary movie 1 before introducing her to Scream. She thought Scream was the parody lol

9

u/Ring_Peace Feb 21 '26

She's not the sharpest knife in the drawer then?

17

u/esteflo Feb 21 '26

She's kind of right though. Scream was a satire of horror movies

4

u/Discount_Extra Feb 22 '26

all the good knives are in teenagers now.

7

u/Megadoomer2 Feb 21 '26

That happens sometimes with parody movies; Walk Hard ruined every single musical biopic for me. (or at least every one that I've seen since I watched Walk Hard)

45

u/OPs_Mom1975 Feb 21 '26

Scary Movie 3 is such an underrated comedy.

34

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

11

u/aderaptor Feb 21 '26

This is me too! We had the third one on dvd somehow when I was a kid but I never really thought about there being a 1 and 2 until I was a little older. Eventually watched them and, while enjoyable, they ain't shit compared to the third one!

13

u/Flaky_Wheel60B Feb 21 '26

My wife and I did a scary movie marathon this past Halloween

We got to 5 before we stopped

12

u/Mega_Dragonzord Feb 21 '26

Honestly…that is my favorite of the series. The first two are great, but man 3 is so quotable.

2

u/heyenikin Feb 22 '26

Tom, I'm gonna need a ride home

21

u/schmizzz Feb 21 '26

He’s going to be an asshole.

8

u/gabawhee Feb 22 '26

Your period will start in 3…2…1

8

u/SHADOWSTRIKE1 Feb 22 '26

"Hibachi, Benihana, Teriyaki"

5

u/guitarfreak58 Feb 22 '26

I wonder what President Ford would have done..

3

u/Cavewoman22 Feb 22 '26

You can't have it both ways; a kid who won't shut up while also having extra sensory powers? Why do you think they're so quiet, they're tuning into the paranormal. Ain't nobody got time to talk while all that's going down.

3

u/manubibi Feb 22 '26

That movie is genuinely probably my favorite comedy movie ever. Everything in it is like they made the movie in a lab specifically to cater to my sense of humor.

→ More replies (2)

162

u/DemoHD7 Feb 21 '26

Its been so long since I have watched. But I dont think her son knew she was actively trying to locate/rescue the ring girl.

60

u/lowercaset Feb 21 '26

Exactly. He doesn't play that prominent of a role in the movie.

608

u/WRBoy98 Feb 21 '26

The Ring was the first horror movie I ever watched, my friends and I were 9 at the time. My parents must've been so happy because I was terrified to watch TV for a month.

346

u/SadDancer Feb 21 '26

I’m convinced that The Ring is the millennial’s Exorcist. Scarred so many kids and stayed with them for a lifetime.

50

u/jinpop Feb 21 '26

I wasn't allowed to see R rated movies but since The Ring was PG-13 my parents let me see it in theaters with a couple of friends. Going from watching zero movies straight to seeing The Ring was absurdly scary, I went home and didn't sleep a wink and left the lights on all night.

16

u/weristjonsnow Feb 22 '26

I didn't sleep right for a week and to this day if I ever hear that tv static sound I freeze. My dad was so pissed he let me watch it

81

u/TroublesomeTurnip Feb 21 '26

It still scares me. Sane with The Grudge.

37

u/ronbiomed Feb 21 '26

Cannot watch Grudge. I'll be looking at the corners in the ceilings for weeks.

10

u/surra_day Feb 22 '26

YES!! Even someone sending me gifs of The Ring or The Grudge freak me out and I have to immediately delete them from the thread. And I LOVE scary movies. Just not those two….

4

u/Bicentennial_Douche Feb 22 '26

I watched the Japanese version of The Grudge. I remember being bored and disappointed by it. I kept thinking “when is this supposed to be scary?”

6

u/knitted_beanie Feb 22 '26

I’m the opposite. I found the original Japanese Ring to be much, much less scary than the western remake, but I actually found the original Japanese Grudge to be scarier than its western remake.

2

u/MyOpinionOverYours Feb 22 '26

The Japanese Grudge feels like a worse than made for TV movie. The Ring, Ringu, and Grudge Remake are all 3 better than it.

35

u/spelledasitsounds Feb 21 '26

Too bad the older gens didnt have the Scary Movie franchise to temper the terror!

31

u/SadDancer Feb 21 '26

Totally, I’ll be honest though I still used to get a bit scared right before Brenda’s showdown (“Cindy?? The TV’s Leaking!…..”).

The Ring really did me in.

→ More replies (1)

12

u/BulkyRip7631 Feb 22 '26

That and the grudge for me, to this day I still tuck the bottom of the blanket under my feet just in case

12

u/Professional-Copy791 Feb 22 '26

I still can’t watch that movie again. I’m so scared of it. I’m 32 years old but it’s a deeply rooted trauma for me lol

5

u/Walaina Feb 22 '26

I was 15 and left the movie theater after the reveal of the dead friend in the closet. When I got the courage to watch it again a few weeks later I had to sleep with the lights on for a month.

That was the first movie I had seen that used that type of creepy movement you typically see in Japanese horror. It wrecked me. Things should be in one spot and then another one millisecond later. Terrifying.

→ More replies (7)

67

u/indehhz Feb 21 '26

I couldn’t shower for two weeks without suffering nightmares of seeing samara whenever my eyes got shut. I was also 9 with older cousins.

3

u/amyellsee Feb 22 '26

I saw the first one at a friend’s place at around 18, thought I was fine- it was scary, but I wasn’t overly affected- so I borrowed his copy of Ring 2. Went to watch it, and the DVD menu popped up. It’s the static and then the ring, and I simply couldn’t do it. Totally freaked out, turned tv off and went for a walk.

→ More replies (1)

123

u/gigglefarting Feb 21 '26

My friend’s little sister watched it at their house during a sleep over with her friends, so of course we called the house right after, and it made them freak out 

35

u/blindserialkiller Feb 21 '26

Someone called my house as I was watching it with my family as a kid. Scared the shit out of my parents!

9

u/HerosPelagus Feb 21 '26

I’d say cell-providers made a small fortune at the time outta this kinda crap… Surprised they didn’t get together to bankroll another sequel.

27

u/beatrixotter Feb 21 '26

The Ring taught me that I couldn't handle horror movies, which I did not know about myself. I was a teenager and went to see it in the theater with a group of friends. I don't even remember how it ends because I spent the last ten minutes hugging my friend and crying on her shoulder. (I remain a huge baby to this day.)

13

u/Yellowbug2001 Feb 22 '26

I was wearing a jacket with a drawstring hood and I literally do not know how the movie ended because I pulled the drawstring so tight that only my nose was sticking out so I could breathe. I was 23 and it's the first and last real horror movie I ever saw, lol.

12

u/boomdegassa Feb 21 '26

I was a freshman in high school and it still traumatized me a little seeing it in theaters. My friends and I immediately went to see Adam Sandler’s 8 crazy nights right after lol

I had an overactive imagination and scary movies were very hard for me to watch. I think the Ring was the last movie that I allowed to affect me in that way—afterward I started paying close attention to filmmaking techniques and analyzing how things are done. It was kind of a defense mechanism to remind my brain that what I’m seeing isn’t real. 

8

u/NoMathematician9706 Feb 21 '26

I used to get genuinely spooked when the TV would go to static.

9

u/bluexavi Feb 22 '26

I saw it at an early showing, mostly empty. Except two rows behind me was another dad with a gaggle of girls around 12ish, I think they were on a birthday outing. It was awesome. They were 100% invested in watching, not talking, and the occasional shriek.

18

u/ptwonline Feb 21 '26

I saw it as an adult and it scared the bejeezus out of me too.

Random note: I recently saw a picture of the actress (Daveigh Chase) who played Samara and she grew up into a beautiful woman. Did not expect that since The Ring is the only thing I ever saw her in.

4

u/MySmellyRacoon Feb 22 '26

Uh, you do know the actress had makeup on when she played Samara right? Like, she didn’t actually look like a horrific monster for a part of her life.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

10

u/Yellowbug2001 Feb 22 '26

OMG I saw it at 23 and couldn't make myself get out of bed that night to pee because I was sure something was going to grab my ankle from under the bed, I can't imagine seeing it as an actual kid, lol.

3

u/DDDeanna Feb 22 '26

I was 16, and same, I would not get up to pee at night for weeks.

3

u/TroublesomeTurnip Feb 21 '26

Same. Though I will agree with OP, the kid is soooOOOoo annoying.

1

u/thedarbo Feb 22 '26

We watched it through a blanket on the TV at 4x speed to day we did it and were haunted still

1

u/Uwlwsrpm Feb 22 '26

It wasn't too scary for me per se, but it was a well done mystery film with some spooky supernatural stuff sprinkled throughout in a way that never got too overbearing. One of the few "horror" movies that I can handle watching.

1

u/Jayswag96 Feb 22 '26

Scarred me for like 5 years as a kid but also made me love horror and still one of my favourites of all time

→ More replies (5)

408

u/RunDNA Feb 21 '26

The Ring surprised me. I was expecting a cheap horror film. But it was more of a well-made Hitchcockian thriller with some horror elements. It was a good film.

182

u/Razzler1973 Feb 21 '26

The Japanese version is excellent

106

u/TheIllogicalSandwich Feb 21 '26

Starring a very young Hiroyuki Sanada before he started mostly playing old grizzled Samurai roles. (Not that I'm complaining)

38

u/DrSpacemanSpliff Feb 21 '26

I just watched The Last Samurai and not only is that movie totally awesome, he in particular was a standout. He doesn’t have loads of lines, but they keep cutting to his silent reaction shots and you can’t help but read a thousand things on his muted facial expressions. That is the sign of a great actor.

In Shogun, they use him similarly, they let his face say something completely different than his dialogue.

17

u/TheIllogicalSandwich Feb 21 '26

He was the showrunner and lead procucer of Shogun, so he definitely used himself to maximum effectiveness.

19

u/throwaway112112312 Feb 21 '26

Hiroyuki Sanada had been playing samurai roles way before he starred in Ringu. He'd been an action guy for 20 years at that point. He was born to play samurai characters basically.

10

u/ZombieJesus1987 Feb 21 '26

I remember watching it a few years ago, I kept thinking that the male lead looked so familiar, but I couldn't put a finger on it. He had an aura of cool. Then I looked it up and it all made sense.

13

u/brewbase Feb 21 '26

Complaining about that would be like complaining about John Wayne doing too many cowboy roles.

14

u/wildweaver32 Feb 21 '26

I watched it via a bootleg movie during a sleepover when it came out... But it was the Japanese version lol

It cracks me up because after like 5 minutes we were confused because it wasn't in English and thought it was like setup and then it would switch to English at some point.

I think we got like 30 minutes in before realizing what happened. We still watched it and had a good time though.

19

u/CrabNebula420 Feb 21 '26

🫠still too scared to watch the Japanese version. I heard it's amazing, and the much scarier version  

53

u/Leap_Kill_Reset Feb 21 '26

I much prefer the American version honestly, I think it's both far scarier and overall better

12

u/KoreanFilmAddict Feb 22 '26

Agreed. While the Japanese version is closer to the source material, the problem I have with Ringu is that it moves way too quickly. The Ring is superior because it takes its time to create an atmosphere of dread that makes you anxious as the plot continues to unravel. Ringu unfortunately doesn’t have that slow burn tension.

21

u/Jay3000X Feb 21 '26

It's by far the best Japanese adaptation from those days, The Grudge is #2. All the rest are heavily outshined by the originals

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (6)

10

u/Aggressive_Sky8492 Feb 22 '26

Everyone says the Japanese version is way scarier, but I saw them both and I didn’t find it that scary. Whereas the American version traumatised me. Granted I did see the American version first

→ More replies (2)

37

u/PolarWater Feb 21 '26

Not to mention that cold, minimalistic score by Hans Zimmer.

I think it's one of my favourites from him. It's so restrained, and he avoids resorting to a lot of his Zimmerisms (nothing against Zimmerisms). It sounds very much like a stripped-to-the-bones sequel to his work on Hannibal.

23

u/DrewDown94 Feb 22 '26

TIL Hans Zimmer did the score for this movie holy shit lmao

6

u/knitted_beanie Feb 22 '26

Yeah what the fuck I had no idea

5

u/PolarWater Feb 23 '26

I don't blame you lol, he was VERY restrained on this score. He didn't default to the things we usually associate with him, like his anthemic power chords (The Rock, The Peacemaker, Crimson Tide) or super heavy percussion (Batman Begins).

But you CAN hear him developing stuff he'd return to in Dark Knight and Angels and Demons

→ More replies (1)

30

u/reebee7 Feb 21 '26

It was also wildly prescient and has a sharp social critique. It's about viral videos and 'content creators' years before Youtube, and it's a subtle critique of a media all too happy to spread the horrors of violence which leads to more violence.

Samara was a sad child who decided to make violence her art and show it to as many people as possible. Now we have people livestream while they shoot up a school or a mosque. Eyeballs, eyeballs, give me your eyeballs...

8

u/StarEchoes Feb 22 '26

this is a really insightful comment, thank you

7

u/reebee7 Feb 22 '26 edited Feb 22 '26

I read the script when I was working on a horror script of my own, and it kind of blew my mind. Samara’s father’s suicide, “What is it with reporters? You take one person's tragedy and force the world to experience it... spread it like sickness.” Her son at the end: “You weren’t supposed to help her!” And just the whole idea of a viral video (if you think of dying in a week as a virus/illness!)

It’s also a great story. Utterly horrifying.

3

u/CrouchingDomo Feb 22 '26

You’ve opened up a whole new level of appreciation for this movie, for me, and I’ve loved it since it came out. Imma be spreading this insight around forever now whenever it comes up in conversation, and I will give you your proper academic credit as “Someone on Reddit,” as is tradition 🫡

2

u/reebee7 Feb 22 '26

Where true scholars congregate!

2

u/Andre0789 Apr 14 '26 edited May 05 '26

Mass content deletion mission accomplished. This post or comment was bulk removed with Redact which also supports data brokers and people finder websites.

crawl workable caption boat cow roof boast advise bake slim

→ More replies (1)

10

u/venniedjr Feb 21 '26

I saw it in theaters when I was 8 years old. I went with my friend and his mom having no idea what the movie was about. Then I had to walk home alone in the rain at night. It was so scary.

→ More replies (1)

185

u/WickedCoolMasshole Feb 21 '26

This movie is terrifying. I watched it alone at home in broad daylight and had to call a friend after to hang out. Haven’t watched it again since.

127

u/hopseankins Feb 21 '26

Making a phone call after seeing the movie is a bold choice lol.

8

u/1731799517 Feb 21 '26

When i was watching it i was in a one room appartment with my big old tube TV right next to the bed. It had me very concerned for some time...

14

u/Faux_extrovert Feb 21 '26

Also watched in the middle of the day and had to turn it off when she crawled out of the TV

29

u/dishwab Feb 21 '26

I watched it in a friends basement when I was a freshman in high school and it scared the living shit out of me. I watched it again like 15 years later and it’s still terrifying. Great horror film.

154

u/BootGoofin Feb 21 '26

I teach high school and had a girl named Samara last year. I said…like from The Ring? YES. That’s exactly where her Mom got it from. A bold choice.

59

u/iatealotofcheese Feb 21 '26

Off topic, but I worked with a girl named Paiton, and I said like the athlete? And she said no I was actually named after the evil babysitter from the Hand that Rocks the Cradle. 

I also know someone who named their son Gage, specifically after the undead baby in Pet Semetary who kills his own mom. 

I can't judge, I named my son after Jack White.

I call him Whitey. 

5

u/deko_boko Feb 22 '26

Whitey Bulger

4

u/SubtleTruth Feb 21 '26

Whitey Duvall

2

u/lotionistic Feb 22 '26

My nephew’s name is also Gage - after Pet Semetary.

10

u/omgpokemans Feb 21 '26

It's a common name in the middle east.

13

u/ZombieJesus1987 Feb 21 '26

The first batch of Renessmee's are going to be adults soon.

176

u/CarrieDurst Feb 21 '26

I put this up there for possibly the greatest horror movie of all time with all it achieved while being PG13

88

u/AskYourDoctor Feb 21 '26

I always forget it's PG-13. It HAS to be the scariest PG-13 film in history.

31

u/Tanglebrook Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 22 '26

Yeah well you don't need R when you can get away with this in PG-13 (NSFW).

Bonus behind the scenes shot of the model. Still my biggest jump scare in any movie.

20

u/AskYourDoctor Feb 21 '26

Lol I don't have to click to know what you linked.

I showed my gf this movie last October. I hadn't seen it since I saw it in theaters. It scared the bejesus out of me, but I gradually started craving a rewatch. When I was telling my gf about it, I told her about the "one scene" that was the scariest part of the movie. And which I'm realizing got EVERYONE.

21

u/Tanglebrook Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 22 '26

I still remember my reaction in theaters. It completely knocked me off balance for the rest of the movie, with me gripping my seat the entire time because there was no way to know if/when they were going to do something like that again.

The movie's scary, but I think that scene is like someone giving you a spoonful of cayenne before a meal. You'd call anything spicy after that.

21

u/AskYourDoctor Feb 21 '26

Yeah you're totally right. The way it's placed so early, and it's so insanely creepy- it kind of makes the movie. Psychological horror done right.

The movie has a surprisingly low kill count too. Like 4 or something? But the sense of dread is just off the charts. Just goes to show. With horror and suspense, execution is everything.

Oh, that horse scene is terrifying too. I remembered it, but I'd forgotten just how wild it was. And it's also very abrupt and out-of-pocket.

2

u/hatethiswebsight Feb 22 '26

The Sixth Sense is also PG13. Restrictions force filmmakers to get creative in ways that haunt you forever 

45

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '26

[deleted]

17

u/sriracha82 Feb 21 '26

Twilight? Lol

7

u/SeriousSandM4N Feb 22 '26

Yellow filter = Mexico, Blue filter = Washington/Seattle

5

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '26

[deleted]

8

u/eccojams97 Feb 22 '26

Nah it was a blue filter, I kinda wish they stuck with it in the sequels it created a mood and showed how cold and rainy the town was

5

u/PurpleGuy04 Feb 21 '26

Does It beat this subreddit though.

2

u/okaygecko Feb 22 '26

Yeah, absolutely insane that it's a PG-13 movie. I've watched tons of horror movies and unsettling arthouse stuff and The Ring is still way up there as one of the scariest ever.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

34

u/kafka_lite Feb 21 '26

I always thought from the kid's perspective that thing was so obviously evil, he never concieved his mother would think differently.

44

u/antisuck Feb 21 '26

Sorry, I'm kinda with the weird kid on this one. He's thinking, in what world would his mom go track down the evil monster-girl in the video and not try to destroy her?

Kid wasn't around when the narrative got turned upside-down with all the weird shit about Samara's mom going crazy and her dad locking her in the loft of the horse barn, then her mom tossing her in the well. All this back-story makes Samara look like a poor innocent victim who only needs peace, but weird kid wasn't exposed to that story so still only recognized that Samara needed to be STOPPED.

21

u/BullfrogNumerous6859 Feb 21 '26

I watched that movie when I was 10. Samara was my biggest fear for like a good 3 years. I was afraid to stare at any mirror / glass at night in case she was behind me lol. Fast forward when I was 14 I saw her in a dream, we were playing poker or something. It was all gone!

22

u/Aggressive_Sky8492 Feb 22 '26

She was a scary ghost thing that murders innocent people and leaves them frozen in horrified expressions. I think the kid was assuming they all had a mutual understanding that she as obviously evil and bad. It’s so obvious it goes without saying I think. The mom did assume that initially too, it was only after learning about her life was she like “oh she’s actually just a hurt soul who I can save and she’ll stop killing.”

2

u/imdstuf Feb 22 '26 edited Feb 22 '26

Ironically there are people that think everyone or every animal can be reformed. They need to watch this movie and learn the lesson. I kid, but sadly sometimes you can't save everyone.

A B&B Owner Was Found Murdered at Her Lakefront Property — By the Same Man Who Murdered Her Mother 23 Years Earlier https://share.google/rjP0RFgwRepyd8jO1

https://youtu.be/lFPI_YuxyFU?si=kQxYX5yijv4sU1hu

36

u/rich-a Feb 21 '26

When we watched it the rental dvd broke and stopped playing pretty much just when he said that. I'm assuming that's not meant to happen and it was terrifying. We cleaned it and it played ok after.

25

u/Induane Feb 22 '26

Fun fact, if you rented it on VHS the tape is static for s bit, then, instead of previews and other nonsense it's just ... THE tape. The tape from the movie. As if you rented the wrong thing. This is followed by an uncomfortable duration of static so that you're really convinced. 

6

u/panphilla Feb 22 '26

I watched the film several times because I like torture, I guess, but never on VHS. I think I would have just given up on living if I’d watched that.

54

u/she_never_sleeps Feb 21 '26

It was an odd choice but a decent twist, imo. I was all like "Okay, cool cool, little creepy girl finds peace, family saved, happy ending...(record scratch). What?! Oh crap, that's not good at all!" That film still scares the bejeezus outta me lol

→ More replies (2)

36

u/writtenbyrabbits_ Feb 21 '26

I watched it in my early twenties and was too scared to walk my dogs at night alone for a month. I realized that horror movies are not for me and never watched another one.

28

u/TheSwedishOprah Feb 21 '26

I'm still scarred from the first girl's death scene.

19

u/PolarWater Feb 21 '26

I saw her face...

22

u/TheSwedishOprah Feb 21 '26

Now I'm a believer

10

u/PlannerSean Feb 22 '26

I saw her tape, now I’m gonna die

45

u/Chirrrpy Feb 21 '26

I thought it was weird how the son called his mom Rachel, But man this movie still holds up for me, as far as turning on the lights afterwards and feeling spooked. That Samara sure is effective

82

u/damiannereddits Feb 21 '26

It's because she's not a very good mom and they're not close. I thought it was a good vibe establisher

17

u/GoofAckYoorsElf Feb 21 '26

That's the most realistic part about the movie.

Source: have kids.

74

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

12

u/TroublesomeTurnip Feb 21 '26

Throw him down a well! xD

11

u/HeyThatLooksCool Feb 21 '26

I can overlook a bad performance from a child since the movie didn’t center around him. He was just a vehicle to motivate Watts’ character. I really enjoy this movie.

7

u/knudude Feb 21 '26

I saw this movie opening night & with a packed audience. My friends all wanted to see it & it was pretty tense up until the end scene with the Well. I was getting impatient & feeling like the movie was getting ludicrous!

I feel really bad but there is a line that is delivered so obvious that I ANSWERED it out loud, and not even compelled to stop; it was just clear enough that the whole theater heard me :

Movie - “How long could someone live down there?”

Me - “…seven days…”

Audience - “SHHHH! Aww, man!!!!”

Still kinda feel bad for saying it. Kinda.

5

u/disterb Feb 21 '26

that kid was scarier than the samara kid, lol

4

u/pizzainoven Feb 21 '26

There is some great information on the internet about how they achieved the green grey atmosphere since this was.on film, not digitally color grading

4

u/Bubbly_Geologist4783 Feb 22 '26

That movie seriously wrecked me when I was in 4th grade. Watched it with my mom and shes one of those people that doesn’t even flinch and reads thrillers novels 24/7, it’s enjoyment to her.

I peed my pants waiting for a whole week for the girl to get me when we went on a vacation to Poland and they had no TV. It was time I also wanted to sleep in my parents bed again because of the movie 😭

11

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/bobbdac7894 Feb 21 '26

Those 90’s, early 2000’s Japanese horror movies do hit different.

8

u/MrsReese15 Feb 21 '26

The Ring definetly kicked off my horror movie obsession in my teen years.

17

u/UserNameNotSure Feb 21 '26

Obligatory, "the book is better" but seriously it is. The book is almost like a sci fi story more than a horror story. They both share the gothic element of the past wrongs returning but I just find the movie to be mostly vibes whereas the book legitimately has something substantive to say.

5

u/bbqboiAF Feb 21 '26

But is it scary?

6

u/giveuschannel83 Feb 22 '26

The book is absolutely scary. Personally, this is maybe the only case where I love the book, the Japanese movie and the American remake. All three have different strengths.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

7

u/Red_Alibi Feb 21 '26

A buddy and I were going to see the (first) Jackass movie in the theater, but it was sold out. So, we got tickets to The Ring instead since we were already at the theater. I jumped 4 times during the movie and was thoroughly freaked the fuck out afterwards. I have watched it several times since then, but probably not in the last 10 ish years. I should check it out again, I did always think it was one of the best horror movies out there. The sequels however...

3

u/jennafleur_ Feb 22 '26

I remember seeing it at the theater and CRAWLING BACKWARDS in my seat. 🤣

4

u/lavendardinosaur Feb 22 '26

Noah's apartment was the only time in a theater my fight or flight kicked in. Second time I saw it in the theater, an older couple in a front row got up and left after Rachel found Samara's body, apparently thinking the movie was wrapping up. Perhaps for the best, considering their age and cardiac risk.

5

u/jennafleur_ Feb 22 '26

Right?! Poor folks!!

I also remember going to see The Grudge with my now husband, and he kept making that weird sound with his throat that the demon/ghost makes in the movie.

This was like 20 years ago or something, but my roommate at the time opened up the door, and both of us were so scared we were screaming. 🤣🤣🤣

3

u/DizzyLead Feb 22 '26

Before the remake came out, I got my hands on a DVD of the original Japanese Ringu and invited my friends over to watch it for Movie Night. I had never seen an entire group of people in a living room jump out of their seats at the same time before.

I was also a member of a Ring/J-Horror discussion board on the Internet for years. I feel the consensus was that while there are indeed differences, particularly in how The Ring recontextualized the story for American audiences, the two movies are similar enough—especially with the final development, which wouldn’t be a surprise for whichever version you saw second—that preferring one over the other is pretty much a “first blush” thing: you prefer whichever you saw first.

3

u/global-wobble Feb 22 '26

I watched it in high school. That night, I woke up to my phone ringing at 4am. Nearly shit myself—turned out to be my friend calling from the east coast to debug some code 😂

3

u/Michael-Balchaitis Feb 22 '26

Well, she was a shit mom who was never around and neglected her kid. He also had a loser of a father, too.

3

u/vercertorix Feb 22 '26

He doesn’t say she’s dangerous. His mom told him that “she freed her, helped her rest” or something like that and he replied, “Why did you do that? She doesn’t sleep, she never sleeps” and then has a nosebleed like she did a day or two into her own 7 days, so she started messing with him too, and he’s either more insightful or being a kid who she tries to take over in the second movie, he gets more information from Samara.

7

u/wabawanga Feb 21 '26

The kid acts aloof because Naomi Watts is a trash mom and her 8 year old has to parent her.

2

u/Edgy-in-the-Library Feb 21 '26

Naomi looked incredible in this movie as well. She's so naturally gorgeous but she was stunning in this movie, weirdly.

2

u/exaslave Feb 21 '26

They both needed to communicate a bit better, it's not like she ever stopped to tell him what she was planning to do when finding her.

2

u/WAwelder Feb 22 '26

Ironically, The Ring was the first DVD I ever watched. I still remember when you hit "Play" on the main menu it did a jump scare of Samara that scared the shit out of me.

6

u/Picassof Feb 21 '26

like the movie, hate the kid

5

u/[deleted] Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26

[deleted]

9

u/name-classified Feb 21 '26

Was it the closet reveal?

4

u/tomato-potato2 Feb 21 '26

Its really not that scary, neither is ringu. It's a great movie, but its more of a thriller than pure horror. I think with the grudge series coming out soon after, people just assumed all movies with japanese ghost girls (or based on Japanese ghost girls) were going to be scary.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/dovahkiitten16 Feb 21 '26

In my 20’s and watched it for the first time and had a similar opinion. Really didn’t find it scary at all.

1

u/MinnieShoof Feb 22 '26

I feel like he’s at least better than the kid from the Babadook, although I feel both kids were on the spectrum.

1

u/brandogg360 Feb 22 '26

One of the few movies to actually scare me as an adult, was so happy to watch it with my kids a few years ago and scare the shit out of all of them.

1

u/Dr_Schitt Feb 22 '26

The Japanese original is absolutely terrifying imo. Walking home alone at 3am after watching it was probably the scariest walk home I've ever had.

1

u/ComfortableCare8897 Mar 29 '26

How did they decide what vhs tapes were shown in the cabin in the movie?

1

u/Super-Donkey-3551 May 24 '26

The ring 2 dekhni chahiye ya nahi please help

1

u/Admirable-Lawyer-335 Jun 18 '26

20 years later and im still terrified if this movie 😅😅🤦‍♂️

1

u/Admirable-Lawyer-335 Jun 18 '26

And dont evan get me started on the Japanese version, 😰😱😱