Rings (2017 film)

In 2013, on an airplane bound for Seattle, a man reveals that he has watched Samara Morgan's cursed videotape. Another passenger reveals she has seen the tape too and asks the man if he made a copy; he replies that he did not. Moments later, Samara causes the airplane to crash.

Two years later in 2015, college professor Gabriel Brown buys a VCR, discovering the videotape inside. Elsewhere, student Julia sees her boyfriend Holt off to college but grows concerned when he ghosts her. Soon a panicked girl contacts her: she too is concerned about Holt. When Julia goes looking for her boyfriend, she meets Gabriel and finds a group of people known as the Sevens, who are involved in an experiment involving the cursed video. The group films themselves watching the video before passing the footage to another person called a "tail."

Julia recognizes group member Skye as the panicked girl on the phone. She goes with Skye to her apartment to unknowingly watch the video. When Skye tries to force her to watch the video, Julia locks herself in the bathroom. Samara kills Skye in the apartment. Julia tries to rush out of the apartment and when finally opening the door, she finds Holt on the other side. Holt reveals that he has watched the tape as well and has 12 hours left. Julia watches his copy and when she picks up the phone, she experiences a vision of a door. The phone burns a mark into her hand. Julia's version of the video cannot be copied and contains additional images of a mysterious woman. She realizes they must cremate Samara's physical remains.

Gabriel sends them to Sacramento Valley, where Samara was given a proper burial (the residents of Moesko Island refused to accept the remains). He realizes the mark on Julia's hand is Braille, translates it, and goes to warn them. Julia and Holt find an unmarked tomb, but when they break in, they find it empty. They are caught and taken to a blind man named Galen Burke, who claims Samara's body was entombed by the local priest but a flood came, leading the priest to rebury her in a potter's field outside town.

On the way to the field Julia and Holt come upon a car crash and learn that Gabriel was involved. He tries to warn Julia about the Braille message, but he is killed by a falling utility pole. After experiencing a vision of Samara's mother Evelyn, Julia and Holt return to town. Julia goes to the church and discovers a hidden chamber beneath the bell tower. She finds evidence that Evelyn was imprisoned there while pregnant: held in captivity by the priest after being raped. She escaped eight months into the pregnancy.

Julia visits Burke and explains her findings. He attacks her, revealing he is the priest as well as Samara's biological father. He blinded himself to escape the reach of her powers. Julia pushes him down the stairs, temporarily incapacitating him. Holt rushes to Burke's house, where he is knocked unconscious. Julia discovers Samara's skeleton behind a wall, and Burke tries to strangle her to prevent her from cremating Samara's remains. He claims the cremation would unleash an unspeakable evil upon the world, and that he has killed several people who previously attempted to do the same. Suddenly, a swarm of cicadas fly in, summoning Samara through Julia's phone. Samara cures Burke's blindness and kills him. Holt recovers and rushes to Julia's aid. That night, he and Julia cremate Samara's corpse, in an attempt to appease her spirit once and for all, and return home.

While Julia is in the shower, Holt notices a voicemail from Gabriel, who warns him of the Braille, which Holt begins to translate. In the bathroom, Julia peels away the skin where the mark was, revealing grey skin underneath. She begins to cough up black hair, from which a cicada is born. Meanwhile, Julia's copy of the cursed video is sent to everyone on her contact list, eventually going viral, despite Holt's futile attempts to disconnect the computer. As his computer glitches, the Braille translation is revealed to be "rebirth." Samara is reborn in Julia, who sees Samara's face in her mirror instead of her own.

Paramount Pictures originally set the film for a November 13, 2015, release,[13] but in September 2015, the film was pulled from the schedule,[14] and in October 2015, Paramount rescheduled the release date to April 1, 2016.[15] On February 17, 2016, the film was rescheduled for release on October 28, 2016, to take the place of Paramount's previous October horror release staple, the Paranormal Activity series, which ended in 2015 with Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension.[16] On September 22, 2016, the film was delayed to February 3, 2017, most likely to avoid competition with Ouija: Origin of Evil, leaving the latter as the only horror film that debuted around Halloween 2016.[17][18]

Speaking at CinemaCon, Paramount Vice Chairman Rob Moore said that should the film prove successful, more sequels could recur annually, taking the place of Paramount's Paranormal Activity series.[37] These plans were left in doubt following Moore's departure from the company.[38] In a post-release interview, Moore's successor, Megan Colligan, said that "time will tell" if another sequel is in the cards.[39] Following Colligan's departure, there has been no update on a sequel.[40]

In September 2019, The Grudge director Nicolas Pesce expressed interest in a crossover film between The Grudge and the American The Ring film series.[41]

• Official website
• Rings at IMDb
• Rings at AllMovie
• Rings at Rotten Tomatoes
• Rings at Box Office Mojo