''The Ring Virus'' () is a 1999

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

adapted from the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese novel '' Ring'' by

Koji Suzuki is a Japanese writer, who was born in Hamamatsu and lives in Tokyo. Suzuki is the author of the ''Ring'' novels, which have been adapted into other formats, including films, manga, TV series and video games. He has written several books on th ...

. A joint project between

and

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

, this version has Park Eun-Suh as the creator of the cursed

videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videoca ...

. Although the filmmakers claimed that the film was adapted from the novel only, it differs from the novel in some ways that match the 1998 film '' Ring'' (also known as “Ringu” in the US), such as having a female lead character, and several scenes were directly copied, including some of the scenes on the videotape and the film's climax. This remake only exists because South Korea had a ban on Japanese cultural imports, preventing ''Ring'' from being released over there. A remake for the South Korean market had to be commissioned instead. The ban was eventually lifted in late 1998, but production for the film had already been completed.https://variety.com/1998/music/news/s-korea-to-lift-ban-on-japanese-culture-1117481242/amp/

Cast

Bae Doona Bae Doona (; born October 11, 1979; also credited as Doona Bae), is a South Korean actress and photographer. She became known outside Korea for her roles as a political activist in Park Chan-wook's ''Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance'' (2002), archer ...

as Park Eun-suh *

Shin Eun-kyung Shin Eun-kyung (born 15 February 1973) is a South Korean actress. She is best known for her leading roles in '' Downfall'' (1997) and '' My Wife Is a Gangster'' (2001). Shin is most prominent Korean actress in the 1990s, alongside Shim Eun-ha, ...

as Hong Sun-joo * Lee Seung-hyeon * Jung Jin-young as Choi Yeol *

Kim Chang-wan Kim Chang Wan (born February 22, 1954) is a South Korean singer, composer, musician, actor, host, radio DJ and writer. Career Sanulrim Kim Chang-wan, along with his younger brothers Kim Chang-hoon and Kim Chang-ik, began composing music d ...

as Reporter Kim * Kim Ggoch-ji * Yu Yeon-su

Plot

Followed by the death of her friends, journalist Hong Sun-Joo comes across a videotape containing incomprehensible images. Towards the end of the tape, she finds the curse which states that the viewer would die at the same time next week if he/she does not perform certain tasks. However, the next scene explaining the nature of the task has been erased. Sun-Joo and a doctor named Choi-Yul embark on a journey to break the curse placed upon them. They discover that the videotape was made by the psychic called Park Eun-Suh. Eun-Suh was an illegitimate daughter of a female psychic and was born an

intersex Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical b ...

. She was romantically involved with her half-brother and worked in a night club for a while. There, a man who found out about her secrets was killed as she had the uncanny ability to protect herself. The video tape is the medium Eun-Suh uses to reveal herself to the society. Her first exposure to the media was a painful experience, which caused her to withdraw from the outside world. When it became difficult for her to relate to the society, she retaliated by infiltrating it like a virus. The way of infiltration is one-way only and any attempt to block the process ends in extremely negative consequences.

Release

''The Ring Virus'' was released in South Korea on 12 June 1999.

References

External links

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Snowblood Apple Ring Comparison
- comparison of ''Ring'', ''The Ring'', and ''The Ring Virus'' films. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ring Virus The Ring (franchise) 1999 horror films South Korean ghost films South Korean horror films Films based on Japanese novels 1999 films South Korean remakes of Japanese films 1990s Japanese films