Sadako () aka Sadako KOL () is a 2019 Japanese supernatural horror film directed by Hideo Nakata. Loosely based on the novel Tide by Koji Suzuki, the film is an installment in the Ring franchise, and a sequel to Nakata's 1999 film Ring 2. The film centers around a vengeful ghost named Sadako Yamamura who is associated with a cursed video tape; whoever watches the tape is killed seven days later.
Sadako premiered in Japan on 24 May 2019, and it played on the opening night of the Fantasia International Film Festival. A tie-in manga series, Sadako-san and Sadako-chan, was published in February before the film's release.
Plot
Believing her daughter to be Sadako Yamamura's reincarnation, clairvoyant Hatsuko Sofue prepares to set fire to the padlocked closet where her daughter is confined. Sadako's ghost breaks free from a cave on Oshima Island and appears inside Hatsuko's apartment. The little girl suddenly appears outside the closet with Sadako and Hatsuko faints as the apartment erupts in flames.
At Kurokawa Memorial General Hospital, clinical psychologist Dr. Mayu Akikawa examines her patient, Ms. Kurahashi. Wandering the streets alone, Hatsuko's daughter collapses after encountering the ghost of a woman who jumped off a bridge to her death. Police bring the girl to the hospital.
Detectives inform Mayu and her supervisor, Dr. Minoru Fujii, about the fire that killed five people, including Hatsuko, at the apartment building. Detectives add that there is no public record of the little girl, whom Hatsuko raised in secret. The girl explains that her mother called her Sadako, although her real name remains unknown. Mayu sees the girl telekinetically moving toys while being interviewed. Mayu's dropout brother Kazuma works with web marketing consultant Yusuke Ishida to boost his social media presence as an aspiring YouTube personality. Ishida recommends recording a frightening urban experience to excite Kazuma's dwindling audience. Kazuma decides to investigate the apartment building fire.
Meanwhile, another child at the hospital teases the mysterious girl, who then telekinetically throws a rolling cart at her. The girl collapses after seeing a vision of a dying old man in an elevator. When Mayu consoles her afterward, the girl tells Mayu about being imprisoned in her mother's closet and collapses after seeing Sadako's ghost reflected on a TV.
Ishida contacts Mayu to report that her brother disappeared following his visit to Hatsuko's apartment. Mayu watches an online video of Kazuma's investigation, which shows talismans covering the interior of the closet where the girl was imprisoned. Kazuma flees when he encounters Sadako's ghost. Mayu pauses on an image of skulls underwater. Mayu encounters Kurahashi in an empty hospital hallway, and an altercation ensues when Kurahashi realizes Mayu is afraid of her. The girl entrances Kurashi and collapses. A video of a well suddenly plays on a lobby television. Sadako crawls out of the well, then out of the television, climbs atop Kurahashi, and grabs Mayu, who faints.
When she recovers, Mayu discovers the girl was taken to ICU in a coma. Kurahashi was readmitted for psychiatric care. Mayu tells Fujii about seeing a ghostly woman with long hair. In a dream, Mayu relives the girl's experience of imprisonment in a closet, while her mother accuses her of being Sadako reincarnated. Believing her brother's disappearance is connected, Mayu goes to see Kurahashi demanding to know who Sadako is. Kurahashi recounts Sadako's origin story: She was born with the ability to strike people dead with a thought, and, fearful of her power, her father threw her down a well to kill her, inadvertently creating a curse that killed many people.
When Kurahashi grabs her, Mayu sees a vision of Kazuma and Sadako. Kurahashi warns that Kazuma cannot be saved. After Mayu leaves, water pools on Kurahashi's ceiling. Sadako emerges from beneath the bed to kill Kurahashi. While watching another online video of her brother, Mayu sees images of a cave, a baby reflected in an eye, bodies rising from the water, a woman falling to her death off a cliff, submerged skulls, and her brother.
Ishida, who watched the video, too, meets with Mayu and tells her about a cave on Oshima Island in Izu that became a shrine for dead priests until it was rendered off-limits by a cave-in. A picture of the shrine shows a talisman like one seen inside the girl's closet. Ishida also mentions an urban legend about a cursed videotape that once went around the Internet. Mayu connects Ishida's notes to Sadako's origin and concludes Sadako was born on Oshima Island.