Sadako DX

Ayaka Ichijo is introduced to the cursed videotape by Master Kenshin on a televised variety show. Kenshin warns that the tape has killed victims in seven days, but a new variant can kill in 24 hours. Ayaka remains skeptical but agrees to take the tape home to investigate at Kenshin's request.

That same night, Ayaka's sister Futaba watches the tape out of curiosity. The footage shows Sadako climbing from the well and appears to reveal Futaba's location in the house. After viewing, Futaba begins seeing Sadako following her at school.

Ayaka travels to Kenshin's office where she encounters Oji Maeda, a frightened man threatening to throw himself off a building. She talks him away from the edge, explaining that the curse will be painful and not necessarily fatal. This encounter sets up the return to Kenshin as they seek an exorcism.

At Kenshin's exorcism, Ayaka watches the tape with Kenshin and Oji. Kenshin claims the curse has been exorcised, but Ayaka remains doubtful and continues her own research.

Ayaka contacts the online mystic 'Kanden' who has been researching the curse. They theorize about its mechanism, linking it to smallpox and suggesting that the digital age spreads it faster and with a smaller incubation period.

Oji reaches the 24-hour countdown after watching the tape and seemingly survives, causing some to believe the exorcism worked. This fuels a debate about how the curse spreads and subsides.

Ayaka and Kanden propose that having more people watch could immunize viewers by distributing doses across a larger audience, calming the curse's spread. They frame it as a protective measure rather than a cure.

With minutes to spare, Ayaka calls her mother and asks her to watch the tape with Futaba. The plan seems to work as Futaba survives past the 24-hour deadline, reinforcing the idea of communal watching as protection.

Believing the method is sound, Ayaka uploads the tape online and urges others to watch, hoping to immunize the public against the curse. The move sparks a flurry of reactions and further debate about the tape's spread.

Ayaka discovers that Master Kenshin intentionally spread the curse to boost ratings for his show. He explains his motive in a blunt confrontation, showing a willingness to weaponize fear for entertainment.

Immediately after the confrontation, Kenshin collapses and dies from the curse, undermining the immunity theory based on mass viewing and leaving the true mechanism unresolved.

Ayaka goes to Kenshin's father's shrine with her mother and sister, joined by Kanden, hoping to piece together the curse's origin. They search for clues that might explain why the tape keeps resurfacing and how to stop it.

Ayaka recalls a pattern: the solution lies not in mass viewing but in repeat exposure, having each person rewatch the tape every 24 hours. The group agrees to test this by continuing to rewatch and track the countdown.

With only minutes before deadlines, the group—Ayaka, Oji, Kanden, Futaba, and their mother—rethink the plan and rewatch the tape in shifts via video calls and in person. They synchronize the watches to ensure ongoing exposure and a fighting chance against the curse.

A post-credits sequence shows a gigantic Sadako emerging from the well into a movie theater, terrifying the audience. The screen then reads END, implying the cycle could begin anew for another audience in the future.