Revealing mistake: Near the end (DVD), when Sadako comes out of the TV, you can see where her finger extensions have been placed (you can see the join between her real finger and the fake one). (01:22:50)
Ringu (1998)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Hideo Nakata
Starring: Miki Nakatani, Hitomi Sato, Nanako Matsushima, Yuko Takeuchi
The video tape contains the vengeful spirit of Sadako. Reiko and Ryuji discover the well where Sadako's skeleton resides and they believe it's all over. At Ryuji's place, Sadako crawls out from the screen of the video tape and kills Ryuji. To save yourself from the curse you have to make a copy of the video and another person has to watch it. Reiko makes a copy to save her son's life.
Nightbreed
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Suggested correction: She's not wearing finger extensions. There are small prosthetics to make it look like her fingernails are missing, but her fingers are normal length.
Yoichi Asakawa: You know what, Mother?
Reiko Asakawa: Yes?
Yoichi Asakawa: Tomo-chan watched the cursed video.
Trivia: Sadako's mother, Shizuko, was loosely based on a real person - Chizuko Mifune. Mifune was a self-proclaimed psychic. Just like Shizuko in the film, in real life Mifune took part in a press event to prove her abilities, but was labeled a fraud by reporters, and later committed suicide.
Question: There is a scene in Sadako's video (ie. the death tape) which features some people crawling backwards. I have watched this film millions of times and cannot work out what it means. Does anyone know what it means or if relates to anything in the film? Does it even have a meaning?
Answer: The other answer is not correct, although you could take it that way if you wanted. The novel upon which "Ring 0" is based was not even out at the time, nor was the prequel even planned at the time this movie came out. So that's not really the answer, although you could retroactively try to connect the two. As for the actual question: the crawling figures are typically viewed as being representations of the victims of the volcanic eruption that Shizuko (Sadako's mother) predicted. Especially as they appear right after words like "eruption" appear onscreen. Or they can be viewed somewhat more nebulously as representations of Sadako's pain, or the pain her victim's feel.
Answer: It may relate to a scene in Ringu 0, which goes a bit more into Sadako's origins; in that film, Sadako is a normal girl trying to hold back the evil spirit within her. A large group of people chase Sadako past the well, but the evil spirit breaks out and Sadako kills them all; the crawling people could be them as they were dying.
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