World Famous Comics: The Ring (Widescreen Edition)
The Ring (Widescreen Edition)
Starring: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Brian Cox, Jane Alexander Directed By: Gore Verbinski Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Dreamworks Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: March 04, 2003 Running Time: 115 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 2002
Product Description: 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 its too late. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/01/2007 Starring: Naomi Watts Brian Cox Run time: 115 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Gore Verbinski
Amazon.com: With its disturbing images and a few good shocks, The Ring is the kind of frightfest you'll watch to set a chilling mood or spook your susceptible friends, but when you try to sort it out, this well-mounted American remake (of the 1998 Japanese hit Ringu, based on Koji Suzuki's popular novel) becomes a batch of incoherent parts. The negligible plot follows a Seattle reporter (Naomi Watts) as she investigates the death of her niece, the victim of a mysterious videotape that, according to urban legend, causes the viewer's death seven days later. (Fear Dot Com borrowed the same idea while avoiding this film's lofty pretensions.) The countdown structure follows the reporter, her son, and her estranged boyfriend into deepening layers of terror--all quite effective until the movie attempts to explain itself. At that you're better off shutting down your brain and letting the creepy visuals take over. --Jeff Shannon
OOOOOver-hyped... Wow...thought this was going to be MUCH better than it was...with so many critics putting this and its Japanese counterpart-Ringu-on their top 10 or 50 or whatever scariest films I thought this would be a classic...nope...certainly not...while there are some well done moments that build suspense, the story itself is such a mishmash of different ideas you really don't care--and the twist at the end?? That the main character went through all this stuff trying to help out a girl ghost who is actually evil?!? That was massively tacked on, as though the filmmaker/author was trying to one up the run of "twist" movies like 6th Sense and others...Overall it was a waste Naomi Watts' good looks and mediocre acting, neither scary nor fulfilling...
It's all about atmoshpere Like all masterpieces in the horror genre, this film succeeds not on the basis of gore and slash, of which there is little, but on the basis of the single most important element for a great horror film--atmosphere. The Ring uses unusual, creepy imagery (the twisted photos, the "death" film), color and shadows, unexpected episodes (the horse on the ferry, the coughing up of the medical patch), spooky settings (the remote island, the well), and truly frightening plot twists to keep the suspense and fear factor high. Some critics panned this film in favor of Ringu, but I can only guess that they were afflicted by the "if it's less popular or rarer it must be better" syndrome. I saw Ringu and found it rather absurd (and not intentionally), and not much in the way of frightening, either. Sometimes bigger budget films do get it right. The Ring is one of them.
Frisson at its best!
I watched this film because I thought it was another I had seen several years ago. It wasn't. "The Ring" is much more. Another reviewer called it a cerebral exercise in terror. Exactly! What could have been so hokey became excellent frisson (that thrilling moment that makes your hair prickle).
First, the premise: An urban legend that watching this particular video, receiving a phone call immediately after watching will cause your death in exactly seven days. Don't we pooh-pooh urban legends? "The Ring" makes us consider their validity.
Second, the video itself. Where did it come from? Who made it? How? Why? So many questions, none answered, ever.
Third, again the video. What do the scenes represent? The strange, surreal images?
That brings in Naomi Watts' character, a reporter doubly bound in the story, first through her son, not unlike the boy in "The Sixth Sense" with his sixth sense for the supernatural. Aiden is definitely attuned to the other world.
Secondly, Rachal is bound to the story through her research. Her niece watched the movie and died horribly seven days later. Rachal first watches the tape, then begins investigating the images. One by one she peels off the layers of this gothic mystery/puzzle/freakshow.
Rachal's appearance in the movie parallels the changes with the story. At the beginning she is frankly beautiful, cool and assured. As revelations unfold and she begins to experience frisson, she begins a shift in appearance, becoming rumpled. By movie's end she is almost gray, as if psychologically preparing to join the urban legend dead.
The viewer's frisson builds. The ending is a nightmare. "The Ring" is definitely a cerebral experience in terror.
SPOILER ALERT: One of those fast flashes of film reveals this: "Live birth." An intriguing bit of information that many viewers and reviewers missed or I misinterpreted. It explains better what happens at the well between Anna and Samara.
A definite see-again movie!!
Special recognition goes to Jeffrey Leach for his superb review. Please read his for a great overview of this haunting film.
Cant get it out of my head Having just watched The Ring a few nights ago the film is still very vivid and powerful. Leaving a full aray of haunting images that cant be easily forgotten. The story is about a supposed cursed video tape that if watched results in a phone call in where a young girl tells you that in seven days you will die. We see this happen in the opening part of the film. One of the victims is the niece of Rachel Keller(Naomi Watts) who because of the request of her sister digs deeper into the mystery of four young teens who die in mysterious ways all exactly at the same time. The same four friends who watched the video together exactly one week earlier. Her young son, superbly played by David Dorfman and ex boyfriend (Kiwi Martin Henderson) are drawn into the mystery as well. She soon realises she must solve the origins of the tape quickly as she herself recieved the same phone call straight after viewing the cursed tape. Full of some shocking moments and great horror the film has you gripped from beginning to end with one of the most shocking and freaky endings ive seen in a long time..you will never feel the same about your t.v again! With wonderful cinematography and haunting music (also periods of creepy silence) this is a film you cant easily forget or get out of your head!..leaving many unanswered questions at the end.
Damon Medic's review of "The Ring" Damon Medic says that of every creepy movie ever made, this film evokes the most real horror this reviewer has ever experienced! This is a film about a video tape that once seen, kills the viewer in seven days. The content of the video tape that kills, has an extremely eery quality. The silence of the video images adds to the horror that just cannot be described in words. You almost feel as though YOU are the viewer of the video tape and that You will die in seven days. I have nightmares about this film, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Damon Medic
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