The Ring Virus

Lore & Background

The film follows journalist Sun-Joo, who investigates the mysterious deaths of her niece and three friends after they stayed at a hotel resort. She discovers an unmarked videotape containing strange imagery, including a tidal wave and an old woman, ending with a shot of a well and a message that viewers will die in one week. After watching the tape, Sun-Joo receives a phonecall with music box-type music.

Reader's Guide

The Ring Virus is significant as a South Korean adaptation of a Japanese horror story, produced during a period of cultural import restrictions. It shares several scenes with the 1998 Japanese film Ring, including scenes on the videotape and the climax, despite filmmakers claiming adaptation only from the novel. The film introduces Park Eun-Suh as the psychic creator of the curse, whose backstory involves rape and murder by her cousin Oh Kyung-Pil. The curse is ultimately broken not by finding the body but by copying the tape and showing it to someone else, replicating it like a virus. The film's legacy lies in its role as a cross-cultural horror remake and its place in the broader Ring franchise.

Did You Know?

• The film was commissioned because South Korea had a ban on Japanese cultural imports, which would have prevented the Japanese film Ring from being released.
• The ban was lifted in late 1998, but production had already progressed to near completion.
• The film's cursed videotape was created by Park Eun-Suh, who was intersex and was raped and killed by her cousin.
• The curse is broken by copying the videotape and showing it to someone else.