Actually, she did not just happened to be loitering by the well. Although it did look like that in the first movie. In the 2nd sequel (Ring 0), we find out that the professor attempted to poison Sadako and she tried to run away. The prof caught up with her at the well and pushed her into it. She spent the next 30 years in the well feeling sorry for herself.
If I’m not mistaken, it was never established in the Ringu trilogy who Sadako’s father was. She was demon-spawned, she was.
I don’t know if it’s because I saw the Japanese version first and therefore had the “Father was a sea demon” idea stuck in my head, but I also got the impression that when the parents left, they somehow made a deal with the devil, and that’s the explaination for the girl’s powers and awkward demeanor.
Okay, the “She never sleeps” comment was a good play off of the whole insomnia thing, as has been pointed out. The other key aspect is that, in most “haunting” stories like this, the discovery of the body, exposure of the crime, and proper burial all lead to the spirit being happy and moving on. The kid’s comment is a warning that her thirst for vengence is so strong, that she’s not going to stop, and quite possibly, she’s going to be stronger now that she has been “freed”. For all intense purposes, it was really just for dramatic effect…and damn was it a good effect!
I was under the impression the field where she was watching the horses was family property as well. I mean, hell, people need a good sized plot of land to race horses, and even though they had their own stalls, it’s possible they had another field. After dumping her body into the well, they covered it up and built the cabin over it so that noone would accidentaly discover her body. Then they ended up selling the land once all the horses died, and it was eventually made into a cabin covered retreat area.
As for the nose bleeds, it was just another little invention by the American filmakers to show that the curse is real and has physical effects on the victims. A lot of the suspence of the movie comes from the question “Is this curse real, or just an elaborate hoax?” It’s easy for people who haven’t seen the video to laugh at someone who has saying they’re “just being paranoid”, much like the two girls in the beginning. I mean, who believes in that stuff, right? So, when Rachel sees the movie, and especially after her ex sees it and passes it off as “student film”, there’s really not much fear. But when you start reacting physically to it, you know there’s something more.
The kid’s nose bleed just helped to drive home the fact that “She never sleeps.” He’s still cursed, the evil’s still out there, and if nothing’s done, he’s going to die.
I haven’t read the book, but I’ve read a lot about it, and it does seem to be a bit too scientific and silly, for the most part. Ring was a great adaptation that took the supernatural aspect and went with it and ignored the science. The Ring isn’t an adaptation of the book, but more the Japanese movie, so if you read it looking for answers, you’re going to be sorely dissapointed.
Also, I’ve heard that the sequel will be both a sequel and a prequel, so it should explain a lot of the back story and help clear up why Samara keeps killing, and what she really is (personally, I took the taped interview to scream “SHE’S EVIL!!!”, but that’s just me).