The Ring (2002)
VERDICT:
9/10 Brand Spankin’ New DVD Players
I really don’t get it when people tell me they weren’t scared by this movie. I don’t think I turned on my TV or answered my phone for a good week after seeing this evil bastard.
The Ring is about a nosy journalist that discovers a suspect VHS tape while investigating the mysterious death of a teenage girl who was found in her closet looking like this. Because she’s a journalist and because she’s just so darn nosy, she pops the tape into her hi-tech VHS player, watches all the bizarro shit that’s on it, then receives a phone call whereupon a creepy girl’s voice informs her that she has seven days left to live. Nice one. So over the next week she starts investigating everything about the video in hopes to find a way to, you know, not die.
I was thinking about giving this movie an 8 when it occurred to me that it’s freakin’ October and I’ve only reviewed a measly three horror movies this month, then I thought back to all the J-horror remakes that came out after this and how The Ring is the only one that wasn’t utterly abysmal. A well-deserved 9. Suck on that, One Missed Call.
Luckily, I didn’t catch this in theaters, so I was able to shit my pants in the comforts of my own home. I watched it with a family friend who’d already seen it and I vividly remember the moment I saw that first dead girl’s face in the closet just as I was about to take a bite out of my pizza. Strangely enough, I didn’t jump out of my seat like the pathetic wimp I am, but instead my entire body froze and I didn’t touch that slice of pizza for the rest of the night.
So, yes, if it’s not crystal by now, this movie is pretty effing scary (and it didn’t help that the main character’s creepy son is named Aidan). There are some serious jump out of your seat moments here and there, but it’s most effective when it aims to create a pretty unsettling and completely unnerving experience for those watching. From the damn video that it the movie forces you to sit through to each new chilling discovery as the journalist starts to unravel the grim story behind it, just cross your fingers that someone doesn’t call you during this thing like someone did to me.
And it’s great because the scares feel new for once. Right from the get-go you realize that this is something different. It doesn’t go for the generic horror scares like looking back into a mirror and seeing someone standing behind you, instead it lets you wait it out, slowly building the tension, teasing you until you’re curled up in the fetal position looking through your fingers, and it is awesome. I still haven’t seen Ringu, but Gore Verbinksi really did a kickass job of putting together a finely crafted horror movie that legitimately freaks you the fuck out without being cheap. Not an easy thing to do.
The story is great, the villain is absolutely fantastic, the acting is good on everyone’s part (special mention to Brian Cox who never gets the respect he deserves), it’s a really pretty and terribly eerie movie to take in when you’re not hiding under your T-shirt, and it’s simply one of the most original and effective horror movies of the new millennium. I’m hearing noises in my apartment right now and getting freaked out just by writing this, so I should probably go ahead and wrap things up.
Go watch The Ring. It’s October for chrissakes.
And don’t see the sequel. The sequel’s a piece of shit.
Cut The Crap Movie Reviews 
i saw this on a grey, rainy, overcast day, in a theater with maybe 5 other people in it. i was in the perfect mood for being scared, and it did the job. it hits you with the closet scene early on, and leaves you expecting similar scares throughout, but really it just lets that build and build until the end. i’m a fan of a good mystery, and i liked that aspect of this movie too. it’s fun watching naomi run around, trying to solve the puzzle before it’s too late.
i’ve seen Ringu, and it’s pretty good too, though not quite as nice looking as The Ring. it has a little bit of a different twist on the ending as well.
I agree with you about Brian Cox, it is always worth watching a film with him in. The film is probably good for anyone who hasn’t seen the original, for those that have it loses its impact. I would recommend you see the original but it won’t have the same effect, most people I know who have seen both prefer the one they saw first.
Interesting. Gotta give it a look.
LOVE this movie! Nice adaptation on the original…stylish without getting silly. It’s actually one of the few films I cannot fall asleep watching, since the odd noises in the audio end up playing tricks with my imagination when I close my eyes.
Do take a look at RINGU. Equally awesome, and perhaps a tad creepier given it’s gritty lower-budget look.
Great post!
it may have been one of the seven films he did that week, but Cox is still great in this. its a good film, but not in the same class as Ringu, something me and Ross McD have debated on our site if you could be bothered hunting through our archives.
on second thoughts, dont bother hunting through our archives, heres the rub: The Ring has a great horse on a ferry scene and Brian Cox… but I still cant watch Ringu on my own.