The premise of this page is to identify how the three different versions of the Ring myth (namely: Ringu and its sequels, The Ring Virus and the US remake The Ring) compare visually. Obviously there's slight differences in the plots, which is beyond the remit of this page. Instead, look at how Nakata, Verbinski and Dong-bin Kim interpret Koji Suzuki's source material differently.

Or, in other words, this shows how Gore Verbinski did his homework...

Masami / Tomoko, Katie / Becca get nervous when the phone rings. Don't worry, it's only mum. For now...

An interesting one, this: the shot on the left is from The Ring, as Katie approaches her room, about to be claimed by Samara. The shot on the right is from Hideo Nakata's immediate post-Ringu work Dark Water, as the ghost of Mitsuko approaches Ikuko for the first time. While Samara died in a well, Ikuko died in a water tank. Both Samara and Mitsuko leak water as they move. Evidence that Verbinski has seen Nakata's other works?

Tomoko sees the (unseen, for now) Sadako. Katie is killed by Samara; what you can't see on this still is, as the camera zooms in, how her face slowly morphs into a clear echo of the blurred photos. This aspect is unique to The Ring.

The first victim of the video is found in her closet: Tomoko and Katie have distorted faces, while Sang-Mi has sprouted pixie ears. Oh dear.

The funeral of each movie's first victim. This seems to be a scene lifted by both remakes straight out of the original, as Reiko / Sun-Joo / Rachel talks to her sister about the death and with assorted teenagers with vital plot-exposition details outside while her son/daughter investigates the bedroom of the dearly departed in more detail.

Yoichi / Aidan at the bottom of the stairs at Tomoko / Katie's wake, clearly reckoning there's more than meets the eye upstairs.

Why is Aidan so damn irritating? Yoichi was cute and naive, Boram was just there, but since Aidan seemed to have so many answers (viz: 'she never sleeps' and 'why did you help her') why the hell didn't he let on? Anyway, this is the scene in Tomoko / Sang-Mi / Katie's room during the wake, when mother comes to see what's going on.

The photos of the doomed teenagers. Again, it's amazing what the smear tool in Photoshop will do. You can do it at home in Paint Shop Pro much cheaper, so scare your friends!

The Lodge where Tomoko (left) and Katie (right) saw the video. It's interesting that the US version has a far more gothicy, traditional horror movie look, while the Ringu original is reasonably nondescript. In The Ring Virus, it wasn't a cabin at all, rather a holiday resort!

(left) Anna Morgan throws herself off the cliff. There's no footage of Shizuko throwing herself into the volcano in the Japanese Ring series, but The Ring Virus does show Eun-Suh's nameless mother about to throw herself off into the sea. A clear sign that at least the scriptwriter of The Ring had seen The Ring Virus.

Shizuko combing her hair, and Anna Morgan. Both lifted from Sadako / Samara's video. Here at Snowblood Apple we're much more keen on the 7th generation VHS that Sadako's clearly is; the Samara one looks way too clean, as if it's never ever been copied, even though it's plainly not an original?

Now who scares you more here; Shizuko from Ring 2 (left) or Anna Morgan from The Ring?

A scene from both videos (only we've chosen a clearer shot from Ring 2); a young Sadako / Samara reflected in her mother's mirror.

We've got a theory here at Snowblood Apple about the controlling nature of the Sadako virus, and especially (bearing in mind events at the end of Rasen) how it may be possible that the virus spreads overseas and causes exactly (give or take a few details) the same events to happen in individual countries. We'll have a go at explaining it in our FAQ page at a later date. But this is the virus seen clearly in Rasen (left) and what we reckon is probably a virus (or at least microbes) in Samara's video in The Ring (right).

The appearance of the well in the video in Ringu (left), The Ring Virus (right) and The Ring (centre).

Ryuji / Yoichi and Aidan / Noah meet in the street. A direct reproduction of the original shot.

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