The Ring – remake of Ringu

A disturbing videotape appears to hold the power of life and death over those who view it in this offbeat thriller. A strange videotape begins making the rounds in a town in the Pacific Northwest; full of bizarre and haunting images, after watching it many viewers receive a telephone call in which they are warned they will die in seven days. A handful of teenagers who watched the tape while spending a weekend at a cabin in the mountains scoff at the threat, but as predicted, they all die suddenly on the same night. Rachel Keller ( Nomi Watts ), the aunt of one of the ill-fated teens, is a journalist who has decided to investigate the matter, and travels West with her young son Aidan ( David Dorfman ), a troubled child who has been drawing pictures of strange and ominous visions. Rachel managed to find the cabin in the woods and watches the video herself; afterward, she receives the same phone call, and realizes she must solve the puzzle of the video and the person or persons behind it within a week. Rachel turns to her ex, Noah ( Martin Henderson ), an expert in video technology who at first is convinced the story is a hoax, until he digs deeper into the mystery. The Ring was adapted from a 1996 Japanese film by Hideo Nakata , which became a massive box office success in Asia and spawned two sequels. — Mark Deming