Shay

Answer: People who have seen Samara are infected by her - one of the side effects is that she can recognise people who are cursed, and how long they have left.

Shay

Chosen answer: Yes, the blurred faces do indicate that you've been cursed by the video. It has to do with Samara's face always being covered by her hair, which is also the reason behind infected people unconsciously scribbling over the faces of people in pictures. It also foreshadows the victim's fate (hence the distorted face) if they don't copy and send the cursed tape to someone else.

Shay

Answer: The tape was never made as such, Samara projected the images onto the tape when the college kids tried to record the football match. In the original novel she is trying to spread her curse across the country - each person will see it and pass it on to another person, or two other people to be safe and so on until everyone is infected. There is no reason given - she is just angry with the world after her mother's death.

Shay