The Ring (2002)

Director: Gore Verbinski

Writer: Kôji Suzuki, Hiroshi Takahashi, Ehren Kruger

Tagline: Before you die, you see the ring.

Actors: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Brian Cox, Jane Alexander, Lindsay Frost, Amber Tamblyn, Rachael Bella, Daveigh Chase, Shannon Cochran

Runtime: 1h 55m

Category: Supernatural, Ghost

Synopsis: Rachel Keller is a journalist who is investigating a local myth about a killer videotape. Only when her niece is found dead in her closet just one week after viewing this tape does Rachel start to believe. The story is that after you watch the tape the phone rings and a raspy child’s voice says, “You will die in seven days.” Rachel decides to investigate her niece’s last few days and ends up in a remote cabin outside of town. There she rents the cabin her niece and her friends stayed in. During her one-night stay, she locates the video and watches it. To her surprise it seems to be nothing more than a college student’s film project. But as the video comes to an end…her phone rings! Now she is on the hunt for answers about the origin of the tape and who the people are that are pictured in it. Struggling to find closure and save her son, who has watched the tape by accident, she winds up back at the old cabin and…The ending will not be described her for your own sake. Watch it to find out!

Background: Ok…I went and saw this movie at the theatre with my buddy Aaron. We were supposed to see the 9:00pm show and got there early. Well, Slim Shady was working the desk that particular night and sold us the right tickets…for the wrong time. So, thinking that we were late we went into the theatre to see the movie had already started (I was pissed…I love the previews). It seemed that the movie had been on for a while but we decided to just sit down because the movie looked really intense already. We ended up watching the last 20 minutes of the movie first! So, thinking that the movie was only 20 minutes long, we went to the front desk to complain. After being straightened out, we went in and saw the rest of the movie.

Review: After seeing the last 20 minutes first I was already blown away. Those last 20 minutes were absolutely fantastic. The rest of the movie wasn’t bad though. From start to finish I was totally into the story. It was original (for the U.S.) and had nice plot-lines. The acting was alright but the special effects and make-up were top notch. Though not a whole lot of special effects were used, the way they made Samara move and the time lapsing at the hospital made up for the minimal amount of special effects present. The video on the other hand could have been a horror short film all on its own. Some people told me that the video was cheesy and childish. I agree! That was the point! It was put together to look like a child had made it. The video was Samara’s memories and grief displayed as a visual stimulus. Overall I thought the movie was very well made and liked how they left the story open for a sequel. The concept was original, as previously stated, and was executed very smoothly. Definitely enjoyed this one!

Rating: 22. I give it a 22 because of originality and sheer creepiness. Ask anyone who knows me what freaks me out the most about horror movies and they will tell you that creepy dead children who move with that jittery and shaky effect scare the shut out of me. So this movie scored high points for that area! Anyway, the movie was well put together and well played and I was very impressed. The reason I did not rate it higher was because I wanted more story out of this movie. Even though I knew there would be a sequel, I wanted more from this one. Overall a great flick. Must see! (22of25).