In 1991, Koji Suzuki wrote the Japanese mystery horror novel, Ring. The book told the story of a mysterious videotape, with the power to inflict death to those who view its contents.
Upon publication, Ring proved popular with readers and was soon followed by a collection of follow-up novels. But this wasn’t the end of the Ring story, because due to the book’s popularity, Ring was soon adapted into a television film.
The TV movie – titled Ring – aired on Japanese television in 1995. The movie acted as a fairly faithful adaptation of the source material, and was later released on home video under the slightly different title, Ring: Kanzenban.
As with the original novel, Ring/Ring: Kanzenban was well-received, and soon another movie was put into production. This film – also titled Ring (aka Ringu) – was another adaptation of the original novel, but this time was released in Japanese cinemas in 1998.
But Ring wasn’t alone, the movie was accompanied by a sequel called Spiral, which landed in cinemas at the same time as its predecessor. However, while Ring was a hit with audiences, Spiral was not.
Due to the lacklustre response to Spiral, a second sequel was quickly put into production. This movie – appropriately titled Ring 2 – was released in Japanese cinemas the following year and acted as the ‘true’ sequel to Ring, essentially ignoring the events of Spiral.
Shortly after the release of Ring 2, a prequel called Ring O: Birthday (2000) hit cinema screens. Further films followed including Sadako 3D (2012), Sadako 3D 2 (2013), Sadako vs. Kayako (2016), and Sadako (2019).
To date (and including the original 1995 television movie) there are nine entries in the Japanese Ring movie series. The movies were released in the following order:
- Ring (aka Ring: Kanzenban) (1995)
- Ring (aka Ringu) (1998)
- Spiral (1998)
- Ring 2 (1999)
- Ring O: Birthday (2000)
- Sadako 3D (2012)
- Sadako 3D 2 (2013)
- Sadako vs. Kayako (2016)
- Sadako (2019)
While this is a sizeable list to be sure, these aren’t the only Ring movies that have been produced. While Japan has released the most Ring films, other countries have taken a stab at this franchise too.
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The Korean Ring movies
In 1999, while the Japanese Ring movies were making a name for themselves, the Korean film industry tried their hand at making a Ring movie to replicate this success. The film – a joint production between Japan and South Korea – was yet another adaptation of Koji Suzuki’s novel and was called The Ring Virus.
To date, only one Korean Ring movie has been released, so should you want to work your way through this series, it won’t take you too long…
- The Ring Virus (1999)
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The American Rings movies in order
In addition to the Japanese films and the Korean movie, the Ring also made its way to the West in the shape of a collection of American horror movies.
The first film to be released was 2002’s The Ring, which was presented as a remake of the Japanese movie from 1998. This was then followed in 2005 by a sequel, The Ring Two.
After a twelve-year gap, a third film was released in 2017 called Rings. This movie was conceived as a sequel to 2002’s The Ring, essentially ignoring the events of The Ring Two.
Here is a list of all the American Ring movies:
- The Ring (2002)
- The Ring Two (2005)
- Rings (2017)
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Every Ring movie in production order
As you can see from the lists above, between Japan, South Korea, and the US, there is a sizeable collection of Ring movies available to watch. Should you want to check them all out, here is every Ring movie that has been released so far, with the list presented in production order:
- Ring (aka Ring: Kanzenban) (1995)
- Ring (aka Ringu) (1998)
- Spiral (1998)
- Ring 2 (1999)
- The Ring Virus (1999)
- Ring O: Birthday (2000)
- The Ring (2002)
- The Ring Two (2005)
- Sadako 3D (2012)
- Sadako 3D 2 (2013)
- Sadako vs. Kayako (2016)
- Rings (2017)
- Sadako (2019)
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Thank you for stopping by It’s A Stampede! to read this post about the Ring movie series – I hope it gives you plenty of supernatural viewing suggestions, next time you’re in the mood for a spooky movie. For more film posts, be sure to check out the recommended reads below.
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