Directed by:
Gore VerbinskiCinematography:
Bojan BazelliComposer:
Hans ZimmerCast:
Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, Brian Cox, David Dorfman, Jane Alexander, Lindsay Frost, Amber Tamblyn, Rachael Bella, Daveigh Chase, Shannon Cochran (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
An inquisitive reporter views a mysterious videotape that is linked to several deaths she sets in motion a chain of events that puts her life in danger. Now she is in a race against time to solve the mystery before it’s too late. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (11)
There are some excellent scenes, and a few compositionally clever shots, but after it finished I told myself “Is that it?”. I don't know what it was that didn't work, but I just wasn't scared, which is a pretty serious problem with horror. The Ring just fizzled through my head. I have quite a problem with remakes of Japanese horror movies.
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If I've ever been scared shitless while watching a movie, this horror film is to blame. I don't know about the Japanese original, but Verbinski has managed to handle an absolutely brilliant and in itself terrifying premise in perhaps the best possible way. When Naomi Watts plays that evil videotape in that remote cabin, I was reluctant to watch it myself, as if I was already expecting a phone call and the deadly words "seven days" when the tape ended. Yes, the atmosphere is incredibly dense from start to finish, it's a completely different kind of fear, one I haven't encountered in any other horror film so far. The gloomy atmosphere is further deepened by the absolutely convincing performance of little David Dorfman. And yet, I’m not giving it a full rating. While the film was a real test of nerves, its story didn't have nearly the power of, say, The Shining or Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Rather, it's a very skilfully packaged and spiced omelette that loses a bit of its flavour on a second viewing. But only a little, really... 80%
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An excellent horror, just the behavior of the characters at the beginning was a little strange. Verbinski layers up atmosphere, combining unpleasant chill with several very effective shockers. The investigation into the origin of the video tape drives the story nicely forward and several scenes are wonderfully surreal - the horse on the ferry, falling into the well, Samara’s emergence. Very good.
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After more than ten years since the film was made, I am surprised how much the audience is fixated on The Ring as some devastating horror movie. And yet it works much better in the dimension of a suspenseful thriller. Gore Verbinski's move by endlessly delaying all the scary moments evidently succeeded. It then leads the viewer towards death through suspenseful scenes (watching the tape, discovering its images in the real world, the horse, old Morgan) right to the literal edge of the well. "-You don't want to hurt anyone. -But I do, and it won't stop."
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Genre-wise, it's one of the best psychological horror films of the decade, a very successful remake of the original Japanese version, which is stylistically more appealing but less digestible for the Euro-American viewer. In terms of gradually building atmosphere, it is very well executed both in terms of direction and screenplay. Overall impression, 90%.
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Gallery (70)
Photo © 2002 Dreamworks Pictures
![The Ring - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/159/935/159935159_c18db3.jpg)
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