Wondering why she hasn't died like the others, Rachel remembers that she made a copy of the tape, which her son watched. The only way to escape and save Aidan is to have him copy the tape and show it to someone else, continuing the cycle. Rachel helps Aidan copy the tape, prompting him to ask what is going to happen to the person they give the tape to. She does not respond.

Verbinski was initially inspired to direct the film after a friend sent him a VHS copy of the original Japanese film.

Naomi Watts struggled to find a VHS copy of Ringu (the Japanese film version) while shooting in the south of Wales. When she finally got a hold of one she watched it on a very small TV alone in her hotel room. "I remember being pretty freaked out," Watts said. "I just saw it the once, and that was enough to get me excited about doing it."

The film is based on a Japanese mystery horror novel by Koji Suzuki called Ring (1991). The book had two sequels: Spiral (1995) and Loop (1998).