The Ring Sequel Sadako From Original Director Gets New Trailer

The American trailer has been released for Sadako, the upcoming feature film from director Hideo Nakata, who first created the world of The Ring back in 1998. Not long after, his film was adapted into an American franchise film, and since then the property has been a consistent presence in multiplexes on two continents.

In 2002, The Ring helped usher in a new trend in horror which featured terrifying supernatural stories from Asian horror films getting American remakes. Ringu, which inspired the 2002 film, has earned multiple sequels, and Sadako is the latest sequel in that franchise, serving as a kind of soft reboot after the 2016 film Sadako vs. Kayako (The Ring vs. The Grudge).

The site describes Sadako, “The film will star Elaiza Ikeda as the main character Mayu Akigawa, a psychology counselor who gets involved in an incident with Yusuke Ishida, played by Takashi Tsukamoto, who will try to fix it. Hiroya Shimizu will play the part of Mayu’s younger brother Kazuma Akigawa who becomes a YouTuber to try and awaken Sadako’s curse. Himeka Himejima will play Jinko, a mysterious girl who lost her memory and is taken in at the hospital Mayu works at. Renn Kiriyama will play Mayu’s colleague Minori Fujii.”

The original 1998 film Ringu earned five sequels while also earning four remakes, in addition to the American remake starring Naomi Watts. That film earned two sequels, the most recent of which being Rings in 2017. The entire franchise originated with the 1991 novel Ring, which earned five sequel novels.

Sadako has been in theaters in Japan since May, but will have its North American debut at the Fantasia Film Festival later this month.