Ok, the best and most plausible theory I’ve heard as to where the tape came from goes something like this: Resort gets VCR’s, Cabin 12 is on top of the well that Samara is in, so Samara projects her “nightmare” onto a tape. I think it was even hinted at that the tape was created while they teens in cabin 12 were trying to record a football game or something. So that brings me to my question…
If the above theory is correct (and I’m pretty sure it is), then how did Rachel’s nieces friend (the one she was with when she died) know about the tape? Rachel’s niece and her 3 friends should’ve been the only ones that had watched it at that point and they obviously weren’t dead yet.
[sub]if you’re wondering why I started a new Ring thread instead of digging up one of the ones that have already fallen off of page one it’s because I recently saw Signs and digging up an old Signs thread and posting a question in it left me with no response. I figure a new thread might draw slightly more attention. If the mods have a problem with this (I realize there have been ALOT of ‘Ring’ threads) please let me know and I won’t do it again.[/sub]
Probably not first people to see the images (the horses might’ve seen them, some of the islanders most likely saw them), but I would imagine they were the first to see a video tape of the images, which is what Katie’s friend described.
I believe Samara died in 1978. Did they even have VHS tapes in '78? Certainly not on a secluded island in the Pacific Northwest. The VCR above her well was probably her first encounter with them.
Well, as I recall, we got our first VCR in 1984. It appears that the movie takes place in 2002, what with the cell phones and car models and all. Even if the inn didn’t get VCRs until 1995, that leaves about 7 years for Samara to burn images onto tapes. And I don’t clearly recall, but wasn’t the VCR in the cabin a really old model, with those click-down levers that old tape recorders used to have? They may have bought them even earlier.
You’ll recall that Samara had a knack for imprinting her thoughts onto film, as evidenced by the silhouettes of the toys from her room that showed up on her old X-rays. The images aren’t put there by the VCR; they’re put there by her. It may not even be necessary for someone to record a tape in that cabin for the images to appear on the tape; bringing a tape into the room over Samara’s well might be enough.
Samara’s not an A/V geek, she just imprints her thoughts on film (or, it seems, recordable media). Which explains why some things on the tape, like her mother’s suicide, were things that Samara couldn’t have witnessed; either she psychically knew that her mother would jump off a cliff, or (more evilly) she wanted it to happen, and perhaps made it happen.
Well for what it’s worth, VHS did come out in the 70’s. The first VHS recorders were very large and very expensive. But there’s no reason Samara’s family (who obviously had some wealth if they were breeding horses) couldn’t have had one.