The Rings

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The Rings (Zangha)
Directed by	Mohammad Reza Honarmand
Written by	Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Starring	Mohammad Kasebi Reza kasebi BR
Music by	Ali Gholamali
Cinematography	Abbas Takin
Distributed by	Islamic artistic centre of Iran
Release date(s)	1985
Running time	88 min.
Language	Persian

The Rings is a 1985 Iranian horror mystery film written by the renowned director Mohsen Makhmalbaf and directed by Mohammad Reza Honarmand. It tells the story of a reporter investigating the sudden, inexplicable deaths of a growing number of people who had received phone calls informing them of exactly how long they had to live. The word Zangha is Persian for "The Rings" (as in phone rings).

[edit] Plot

The citizens of an unnamed city are being terrorized by an extraordinary killer. The victims pick up a ringing phone and are told by a mysterious voice how long they have to live. Invariably, they all die in mysterious ways at the exact specified moment.

A reporter begins to investigate the phenomenon, but the more he investigates the deaths the more mysterious they seem. As he delves into more cases he becomes personally involved and obsessed. Before long, he finds his family and finally himself targets of the elusive killer. The film ends with the reporter's death. The nature of who or what (if anything) caused the deaths is not resolved in the end, and the audience is left to decide on the film's narrative.

This film is similar to (but predates) the series of books entitled "the Ring trilogy".