How to watch The Ring in order (all 14 movies)

Summary

• The ring The franchise, which includes 14 films, began with the 1995 television film RingoAnd its popularity has influenced the horror genre.

• The franchise offers two different ways to watch the films: in order of release date or in chronological order of events.

• Each film in the franchise contributes to the overarching storyline and expands the lore of the curse, introducing new characters and plot twists.

The critically acclaimed horror franchise The ring Movies, in order, consist of several timelines, remakes and sequels, Making it difficult to keep track of his fourteen films order by release date and chronology. While there have been several remakes of the franchise, The ring The popularity of movies began with his 1998 feature-length film Ringo. The film became a pioneer for the J-horror genre and earned worldwide critical acclaim thanks to its achievements in visuals, sound design and cinematography. The ring’s Chilling supernatural tale became a major influence on the horror genre.

While it all started with Koji Suzuki’s book, The ring’s Chilling story about a mysterious girl who kills characters after watching a cursed tape has inspired countless nightmares and revamps, constantly introducing audiences to characters, storylines and universes that can be hard to keep up with. When navigating the franchise, the most common ways to Watch The ring Movies are in order of release date or chronology of eventswhich provide two very different sequences.

The Ring movies in release order

The franchise includes 15 movies from 1995 to 2022

The ring Franchise officially began with the 1995 film Ringo. The first of The ring Movies based on the 1991 book written by Koji Suzuki, Ringo was a direct-to-television film released exclusively in Japan. Ringo was a hit with Japanese audiences, so much so that it was recreated as a feature-length film three years later. The introduction of 1998s Ringo Set the timeline of the movie, which has since expanded ten-fold.

Over its 27-year run, The ring Franchise has expanded to new mediums, birth timelines, spin-offs and international remakes, including 2002’s The ring Starring horror icon Naomi Watts. until now, 14 The ring Movies were released between 1995 and 2022. It all started in Japan with the original horror movie and then moved on to the remake of the United States, which was one of the best American films of a J-horror movie. After that, there are even spin-offs across with The garage And movies specifically about Sadako herself.

The Ring movies in chronological order of events

Ring 0: Birthday (2000)

The first movie in The ring’s Timeline is the 2000 prequel Ring 0: Birthday. The film portrays the Backstory of the revenge Sadako YamamuraGiven context in her character and the events that led to her becoming the urban legend she later became. Set between the late 1950s and early 1960s, Ring 0: Birthday Explore Sadako’s struggles with her psychic powers and her complicated relationship with her father. As the film progresses, it sets up the supernatural events that become the basis for Sadako’s curse and the cursed videotape in the Ringo Series.

Ring 0: Birthday Explore Sadako’s struggles with her psychic powers and her complicated relationship with her father.

Ring 0: Birthday is partly based on the short story Lemon heart By Koji Suzuki. The movie received mostly bad reviews upon release, though it sits with a relatively positive 62% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was also nominated for Fantasporto in 2001, but it lost to Alejandro González Iñárritu’s breakout movie, Amores Perros.

Ringo

Released in 1995

Chronologically, the next events in the franchise occur in the 1995 Japanese television film Ringo. 30 years later Ring 0: Birthday, Ringo was the first adaptation of the novel and is considered a standalone film. The story begins in Tokyo when a journalist becomes intrigued by a series of mysterious deaths occurring in an inn that were all linked to a cursed videotape. After watching the tape, reporter Kazuyuki Asakawa becomes a victim of the curse and undergoes a quest to reverse it before his seven-day timeline runs out.

The most accurate movie when it comes to adapting the Koji Suzuki novel that the story is based on.

The film is the first introduction to the seven-day curse and the rule of copying the tape to break the curse. Although it is nowhere near as popular as these Ringo And The ring Movie series, this is actually the most accurate movie when it comes to adapting the Koji Suzuki novel that the story is based on. This movie was only released in Japan and is not available on home video.

Ringo

Released in 1998

Following the TV film in the timeline is 1998’s feature-length movie Ringo. Ringo Follows Reiko Asakawa, a journalist who actively investigates rumors of a cursed videotape. While investigating a series of murders, Reiko watches the tape and becomes the next victim of the curse. After the curse affects her son Yoichi, Reiko and her ex-husband embark on a quest to uncover the origins of the curse And find a way to break it before the seven-day deadline, which would claim the lives of herself and her son.

Ringo Takes the premise of the original 1995 film and gives it a cinematic facelift.

Ringo Takes the premise of the original 1995 film and gives it a cinematic facelift, with visible upgrades to the visuals, plot and characters that helped make it one of the most ground-breaking films of the J-horror genre. In addition to being a pioneer of horror, Ringo is credited with many firsts for The ring Franchise. Ringo Marks the directorial debut of J-horror legend Hideo Nakata in the franchise and the First time Sadako is shown on screen crawling out of a TV.

races

Released in 1998

Right after Ringo (The sequel was released the same day) is 1998’s racesOr SpiralAs it is known in the US Like these First official sequel to Ringo, races is based on the Koji Suzuki novel of the same name. It follows a pathologist named Dr. Mitsuo Ando, ​​who becomes involved in a series of mysterious deaths after he discovers that one of the deceased individuals has a connection to the same cursed videotape of Ringo.

races Complexity and convoluted plot resulted in its poor critical reception, which inspired a reboot of The ring’s Timeline.

After being affected by it, Dr. Ando must race against time to unravel the secrets behind the curse and the Medical conspiracies rumored to be linked to it. races Complexity and convoluted plot resulted in its poor critical reception, which inspired a reboot of The ring’s Timeline. Although not considered canonical for years, subsequent sequels throughout the 2000s reintroduced races to The ring’s Timeline.

Ringo 2

Released in 1999

Completely disregarding races1999s Ringo 2 Reboots The ring’s Timeline. The film goes back to the events immediately after 1998s RingoReintroducing characters like Reiko and Yoichi to the story. Ringo 2 Puts Mai Takano in the forefront as Reiko still grapples with the effects of the curse. While Yoichi begins to show signs of paranormal abilities, Sadako’s supernatural powers grow out of control, pushing Mai to uncover the secrets behind the curse and save Yoichi from its influence.

Ringo 2 was the first movie not based on Suzuki’s novels and stories and was instead an original tale based on his characters.

The reason that the franchise started over recently is because the races Reviews were so bad. The restart of the franchise also caused another big change, viz Ringo 2 was the first movie that was not based on Suzuki’s novels and stories and was instead an original tale based on his characters. Thanks to these changes, it ended up being a huge success, and was the second-highest-grossing movie in Japan in 1999.Just following Pokemon: The Movie 2000. While critical reviews were also terrible, the box office made it a success for the studio.

The ring virus

Released in 1999

The ring virus Enter the franchise as The ring’s First international remake. Set in South Korea, the film follows the same formula as RingoReplacing Sadako Yamamura with Park Eun Suh. The ring virus Follows journalist Sun-Joo as she investigates a series of mysterious deaths, all linked to the viewing of a cursed videotape. The ring virus is a reimagining of The ring’s Source material and is Not considered canonical to the rest of the franchise.

The movie still received poor critical reviews.

The reason that Ringo Remedy in Korea was that South Korea banned all Japanese cultural imports to the country at the time, including movies (by Variety). As a result, the co-commissioned movie started production and brought it to the huge movie market anyway. The movie still received poor critical reviews, but its 37% Rotten Tomatoes score was still higher than the previous two Japanese movies, races And Ringo 2. However, there was never a sequel to this release.

The ring

Released in 2002

The next movie in the timeline is the critically acclaimed American horror remake, The ring (2002). Set some time between 2002 and 2005The US it. version of The ring Follows Rachel Keller, a journalist who investigates a video tape related to the sudden death of a group of teenagers. The tapestry is rumored to be the source of an urban legend in which the viewer will die seven days after watching it. After watching the tape, Rachel must work quickly to save her life and that of her son Aiden.

The film expands on The ring’s Ever evolving mythos, introducing some new key characters to the timelineIncluding Aidan and the story’s new eerie figure Samara. The ring Helped unlock the door for America to start remaking the ghostly Japanese horror movies, with The garage And Dark water Still, though none of these movies matched the overwhelming success of the Westernized adaptation of Ringo.

The ring two

Released in 2005

Six months after the events of The ring comes its 2005 American sequel, The ring two. The ring two Reintroduces director Hideo Nakata to the franchise and finds Rachel and her son Aidan trying to escape the horrors of the cursed tape in their new hometown of Astoria, Oregon. Their peace is short-lived, as the evil spirit of Samara begins to haunt Aidan once again. As Samara desperately tries to possess Aidan’s body, Rachel once again has to confront the terrifying curse and save her son.

Unlike the first American remake of The ringThe sequel was met with mostly negative critical reviews. Gore Verbinski, who directed The ringLeaving the franchise due to creative differences is what brought Nakata to the project, and one wonders what the sequel would have been like if Verbinxy had returned to the franchise to complete his story. The Ring 2 Opened with a bigger box office than the original, but it fell off after that and ended up making much less money overall, with just $164 million compared to the $249.3 million The ring Made (via Box Office Mojo).

Sadako 3D

Released in 2012

Loosely inspired by Koji Suzuku Sh, Sadako 3D Jump in The ring franchise as a sequel to 1998’s races. Set in 2012, Sadako 3D Takes the supernatural curse from VHS to digital as Sadako begins terrorizing people over the internet. The headline is, Instead of viewers of the haunted footage being killed by a ghost, the curse forces people to die by suicide. In addition to expanding on the lore of the curse, Sadako 3D Click The ring A modern facelift, incorporating the internet and digital technology into his iconic supernatural story.

The Japanese Ring Movie chose to go back on the original story idea of Ringo 2 And again based his story on one of Koji Suzuki. The movie was based on his novel Shwhich takes place 25 years after the events of Spiral (The second book in his Ring series of novels). The novel and movie came out in the same year, showing Suzuki and the studio working hand in hand during this time. The movie let down many fans of the original Japanese Ring movies, because it only had an audience score of 16% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Sadako 3D2

Released in 2013

Set five years later Sadako 3DThe 2013 movie Sadako 3D2 Goes in The ring’s Timeline as a continuation of the races storyline. Sadako 3D2 Next explores the evolution of Sadako’s curse in the digital age, providing new perspectives on her origins and motivations. The film introduces a new cast of characters into its supernatural world, including a university professor, a detective and a young woman with supernatural abilities. Together, they discover the secrets of Sadako’s curse and find a way to put her spirit to rest.

The movie also hints that Sadako’s spirit lives on in a new young child, And the horrors will continue. Despite the trilogy’s travails, however, Sadako 3D2 Totally unable to find his audience. The audience score on Rotten Tomatoes for Sadako 3D2 is an extremely low 6%, as many fans called it a disappointing follow-up to an already below-average relaunch of The ring Franchise. Thanks to the poor reception, it ended Sadako version of The ring Movies, in order, for nine years before the studio tried to resurrect it.

Sadako vs. Kayako

Released in 2016

The timeline in The ring takes a detour with the introduction of 2016’s J-Horror crossover Sadako vs. Kayako. As a standalone film, Sadako vs. Kayako Opens the door to another timeline where J-Horror Classics The ring And The garage co-exist. What started as an April fool was revived due to its high demand (via Anime News Network)Depicting a supernatural face-off against J-horror icons Sadako and Kayako, resulting in a mash-up of sinister proportions.

In much the same manner as Freddy Vs. JasonWhich added touches for fans of both A Nightmare on Elm Street And Friday the 13th Movie franchises, the big test with this movie was to please fans of both The ring And The garage franchises. Since The whole point of the movie was not to scare, Like the original films in each series, Sadako vs. Kayako was a love letter to fans meant to entertain with lots of jokes.

Rings

Released in 2017

Next in the timeline is the third installment to the American remake, 2017’s Rings. Rings Takes the story to 2015, where a girl named Julia begins to investigate a mysterious tape that has influenced her boyfriend Holt’s distant behavior. As Julia dives deeper, she discovers the existence of a “Movie within a movie,” an additional cursed video that gives viewers seven days to pass it along to avoid death. Julia and Holt race to uncover the origins of this new curse, which was linked to Samara’s past, and quickly realize that Samara’s powers are advancing further. From the cursed videotape.

Rings Wasn’t nearly as successful as any of the other Americans Ring movies, only made $83.1 million at the box office.

It has been 12 years since the ring two, And Rings was meant to re-launch the American version of the franchise. The studio also made the smart decision to return to Koji Suzuki’s novels, as the movie adapts his real one Ring sequel novel, Spiral. however, Rings Wasn’t nearly as successful as any of the other Americans Ring movies, only made $83.1 million at the box-office, although it was a minor success based on its $25 million budget. It also received mostly negative reviews and this ended the relaunch of the American version.

Sadako

Released in 2019

Based on Koji Suzuki Tide, Sadako is the next entry in The ring franchise and is considered a direct sequel to Ringo 2. Helmed by the great Hideo Nakata, Sadako Upgraded visuals present a refreshing contemporary look to the franchise. It follows psychologist Mayu Akikawa, who discovers that the legendary cursed video has resurfaced, spreading a new wave of fear and death across Japan. Sadako evolves the lore of RingoIntroducing a reincarnated version of Sadako while exploring the curse’s adaptation in the digital age.

The studio also went all out on the promotions, licensing a manga tie-in series to go along with the release.

While it shares a similar name to the expensive one Sadako movies, it ignored them both and took the franchise back to the beginningAllowing a new sequel to Ringo 2making it the official third movie in that timeline. The studio also went all out on the promotions, licensing a manga tie-in series to go along with the release. The movie received mostly poor critical reviews, like most of the series, but it showed that the studio at least wanted to modernize the classic ghostly tale for a new generation, even if it hasn’t reached that level yet.

Sadako DX

Released in 2022

The last entry of The ring’s Franchise is 2022s Sadako DX. continuing races story line, Sadako DX is considered a sequel to 2013’s Sadako 3D2Although it has little to do with the characters or plot. Sadako DX takes a break from its famous supernatural horror and dives into its funny side, with over-the-top performances and parodies of Gen Z culture that make the movie unintentionally funny. In addition to its quirky new look and feel, Sadako DX Refreshes the rules of the curse, shortening the time from 7 days to 24 hours.

Since Sadako The franchise was not reignited in 2019 as a sequel to Ringo 2The studio went back to the Rasen timeline and tried again three years later. With the comedy added to the story, Sadako DX Really felt like something special. What let it down a bit was the lack of effects work, as the humor was at the forefront, and it seemed the filmmakers let themselves go a bit on the gore and horror effects. Regardless, it received a mixed reception, and so far the timeline of The ring Movies stop here.

There are also unofficial ring movies

There are 14 recognized movies in The ring Franchise when including the original Japanese films and Western remakes. However, there have also been several other projects that use the character of Sadako or take influence from Koji Suzuki’s original novel. Many of them are crossovers with various other franchises in a similar way to Sadako vs. Kayako. However, few have been available to Western audiences, as they focus on characters or franchises that have little-to-no presence outside Eastern markets.

The most famous of them is The trilogy of Bunshinsaba vs Sadakao Movies directed by River Huang, The Taiwanese director is also known for his prowess as an actor. The Bunshinsaba vs. Sadako Movies see Sadako fighting (or working alongside) the spirit known as Xiao Ai from the Chinese horror movie franchise Bunshinsaba.

Bunshinsaba Has been adapted for several crossovers for the Chinese film market, including Sadako Wars: Bixian vs Kayako, which includes letters from Ju-on: The Grudge, And Bunshinsaba: Hoichi the Earless, which incorporates not only Sadako of The ring But also Kayako of Ju-on and the Thai folklore figure Kuman Thong.

moreover, It is also Sadako: Pendant of Mourning, Which is due for release on Amazon Prime Video in 2024, and 2018s The Return of Sadako, Which is the first standalone Chinese remake of Ringo. Both movies take inspiration from the original novel, though have changed many details about Sadako as a character. Finally, the story of The ring Clearly strikes a horrifying note that resonates in many different cultures, and it’s intriguing to see where the franchise will go next.