Note Richard's suicide: in water, with a television on (that flashes shots of Samara's video), while wearing a horse bit. Very apropos, almost ritualistic.
As mentioned under Genius Bonus on the main page, the name change of the antagonist in the US version from Sadako to Samara could be a reference to the story "The Appointment in Samarra", in which a man sees Death (who is female in this story), and then attempts to escape her, only for her to find him because they have an "appointment" at a specific time and place that cannot be changed. The victims in the story also "see death" (the tape), are frightened by it, and attempt to escape their fate of dying at a specific time (seven days later). An appointment WITH Samara?
The speaker is Death: There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned, I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace, and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, "Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?" That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
The video could easily be a tool for mass murder. Imagine using sophisticated jamming equipment to broadcast the video during a television event expected to be watched by tens of millions of people, like the Super Bowl or the World Series.
It's somewhat unsettling to learn that while Katie was hanging out with her friends at the cabin, the dead (or undead) body of Samara was interred in the well right beneath them.
