His literary works are often adapted by director Hideo Nakata, who directed Ring (1998) and Dark Water (2002). He also directed Ring 2 (1999) and The Ring Two (2005), sequel to the American remake, although they were not based on an existing novel of his (the first sequel to Ring, which was Rasen (1998), was based on his sequel novel Spiral, though Nakata had no involvement with it, Ring 2 was the replacement sequel after that film flopped) and the latter film was not a remake of the Japanese version, it followed its own unique storyline.