Rating: 
Summary: One of the best horror movies in a decade
Review: The filming technique makes the movie scary as well or better than the acting. It just has a grainy, erie feel to it which certainly adds to the nervousness you get while watching the horror unfold. The story is believable and the final scenes are incredible. You may not want to watch this one by yourself on a dark night!
Rating: 
Summary: TERRIBLE
Review: In BriefIt sounded like just another urban legend: a videotape filled with nightmarish images, leading to a phone call foretelling the viewer's death in exactly seven days. As a newspaper reporter, Rachel Keller (Watts) was naturally sceptical of the story, until four teenagers all met with mysterious deaths exactly one week after watching just such a tape. Allowing her investigative curiosity to get the better of her, Rachel tracks down the video, and watching now has just seven days herself to unravel the mystery of the Ring. Review So much money has been thrown at redeveloping an original concept into this remake that I was nearly fooled into thinking this was a good film. It is the perfect example of how a low budget original can never EVER be beaten. There appears, as is the case here, a constant desire by American filmmakers to spell everything out: "Oh, and if the original wasn't very clear, that won't matter as we'll change the plot anyway!" This isn't to say that there isn't a fragment of the original left. In fact there are many recognisable moments that have been given the polish and sheen requirements of an easy to swallow pill. While there may be little to choke on for those Stateside there is plenty on offer to stick in the throat, especially for purest fans of the original Japanese cult hit. Biggest amongst these factors is the dreadfully hammy acting by Naomi Watts who never fails to give the impression that she is more concerned with getting her 'good-side' profile on camera than any of that tiresome acting that can obviously be such a drag! This is not to say that she is making a pigs ear from a perfectly silky script, as the dialogue on offer wins hands down as some of the worst committed to film in recent times. In some twist of desperation to make 'their' version of The Ring we have the inclusion of horses to the plot, making for a fairly poor variation on the defunct concept that animals sense things we humans can't. It does however provide one flawlessly executed sequence upon a car ferry that is both original and disturbing. With visual references to both The Shining and Rear Window, one senses that this is a filmmaker clutching to all his 'good' ideas, throwing them at the original classic and using whatever sticks. The Verdict There is a definite visual flair to the makeup of The Ring by the ex-commercial filmmaker; but alas digital editing, jump and subliminal cuts do not make a film alone. The original is quieter, self-contained and far more disturbing - It rules over this, no contest!
Rating: 
Summary: entertaining, but hard to sleep afterward
Review: I liked this movie. It was very entertaining, and very creepy, with no blood and gore, and a nice mystery to be solved. But it left me with nightmares. I didn't like putting a six year old in the way of a life-threatening situation. Also, there's a key assumption that evil exists (not tormented ghosts or a psychotic individual, but real unexplained evil), and even more, that it exists in a child, and it cannot be dealt with: it perseveres no matter what. Yuk! I like a movie like The Others that brings you to a conclusion that enlightens. But this one just is terrorizing for the pure joy of it. Except for the ending, I'd give it 5 stars, because up to that point it had me all the way.
Rating:
Summary: You'll never look at wells the same again
Review: A disturbing thrilling movie to say the least; it kept me on the edge most of the movie. From the disturbing scenes to the twisted plot it makes for a great horror movie. Naomi Watts (whose extremely hot by the way) does a great job as the lead. Many people thought that the plot was too confusing and did not go anywhere and at first I thought that too. The shock value was enough for me. But I realized I needed to watch it once more to determine the actuality of it. I'm not going to be a spoiler here, but I suggest watching it twice if you did not understand it the first time. That is what seperates bad movies from good movies. The ability to have a twisted plot all come together at the end, which is what happens in The Ring. If not watching this for the plot, watch it for the horror value. You will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: The Moose Hole - 'Ring' of Disappointment
Review: magine that you stumbled upon an old video tape. Placing it into the VCR, a large glowing ring appears on the screen in front of you. After that graphic and disturbing images begin to flash on the television screen culminating to a final scene of a black and white forest with a well in the middle. Then the screen turns fuzzy and the tape is finished. Sound like another college independent art film right? Well, let's say that your phone rings and the voice on the other end says you have seven days before you die. Just an urban legend, right? What if it came true? This is the idea from the Japanese horror film, Ringu, which was adapted for American audiences in the thriller, The Ring. But will the adaptation work for American audiences or will the creators of the film be the only ones that are scared? The story goes that Rachel Keller is investigating the death of a teenage girl whose cause of death was declared unknown. But she soon discovers that this story goes way beyond this teenage girl's death. Three other teenagers that were friends of hers also died on the same day at the exact same time as the teenage girl. Their deaths were also declared unknown. What is the connection between the four teenagers? About one week before their deaths, they traveled up to a remote cabin in the woods where they had stumbled upon a tape. Rachel comes upon the tape and watches it. The phone rings and the voice on the other end of the phone tells her she has seven days before she dies. She has seven days to discover the mystery of The Ring before time runs out. The Ring has one of the best stories out there. The plot goes way beyond the usual horror fare that is released around the fall season. Unfortunately the ending ruins almost all tension and mystery that is presented in the film. The cast does a stellar job of presenting believable characters and making the fear altogether more real. Naomi Watts is great in the role of Rachel Keller, the investigative reporter who searches for the answer to the mystery of The Ring. Her character is mainly the focus of the film, though not entirely, and she does a wonderful job of making her character both a wonderful mother figure as well as a strong hero. Martin Henderson plays Rachel's ex-husband who helps her discover the mystery of The Ring. Henderson does a good job though you don't really get to see too many scenes with just him outside of a scene near the end of the film. He is usually just playing of Naomi Watts or her character's son, played by David Dorfman. David Dorfman does a great job at giving a creepy feeling to the audience but also making the audiences feel sympathetic toward his character. His character, though, came off as a Sixth Sense rip-off in parts but not too much so. Daveigh Chase, who voiced the character of Lilo in Disney's Lilo & Stitch, is exceptionally creeping and disturbing as the character of Samara Morgan. Revealing what her character does would give away too much of the movie. But rest assured, she does a fabulous job in this important role. Overall, The Ring goes way beyond the usual horror fare that is dumped during the fall season. As good as it is, the film's ending does not do it justice because the ending is so ridiculously stupid that it ruins the effects presented earlier in the film. Not to say the rest of the film outside of the ending is not good. Gore Verbinski, whose next project is Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, does a great job of presenting the right amount of tension and excitement in parts of the film where it is needed. Unfortunately the ending ruins those effects by giving the audience an ending that makes them feel ripped off. There is no real logical way to explain the feeling without giving away most of the plot. There are also many parts of the mystery of the Ring that are left unsolved but they will reportedly be solved in either the prequel or sequel to the film which is expected to open in theaters in October 2004. If you do decided to watch The Ring, you are in for a real cinematic treat but don't have too high expectations as the ending will leave you disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Ever had the chills? For an entire movie?
Review: I'll admit that I really can't handle horror movies too well. Your typical action-horror adventure type rarely bothers me (see "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", 2003 version), but a total psychological horror movie just scares the crap out of me. I was intrigued the very premise of The Ring by the start, or rather, the lack of understanding of the movie that I got from the trailer. Whoever put together the trailer for this movie, he/she is a genius: presenting some odd urban legend story in grainy grey film ending with a staticky scream and then the actual shot of "the" ring. What the hell is THE ring? I had to find out. First off: opening sequence. Sufficiently scary to set the tone for the rest of the movie, and ending quite violently in a flash of incoherent pictures and a young girl's horrifying demise (DVD owners: watch her face frame by frame, if you have the balls, that is). What makes this movie is the sound: horrifyingly brilliant. If there is a soundtrack to this movie, I hope that nobody buys it, or else they will be found the next morning in the same condition as some of the corpses from The Ring. Speaking of corpses, they are refreshingly few and far between. You only see a shot of them 3 or so times in the movie (plus one more deleted scene), but they are always put in when you don't expect it, and of course shipped together with some frightening ambient sound. The entire setting of the film is perfect: dreary Seattle, raining in every single shot of the city, monochrome backdrops from the actual nightmarish film that the main characters watch, fiery red shadows from between the branches of that ominous tree upon the hill. Problems with the film: perhaps some plot holes. Some might argue that leaving some questions unanswered leaves the air of mystery (and sets up a sequel), but I can think of a lot better elements to be left unexplained. Either tell the entire story or leave it to the viewer's imagination, don't do a half-assed job. In then end (I'll try to keep this spoiler-free), it is discovered how to protect oneself from that scary little girl from the video, but it is never discussed why she chose videotapes as her instrument of revenge, especially when it appears that she died before the advent of home videos. Also, why is she do damn crazy in the first place? And was she the crazy one, or her mom? All in all, a brilliant movie that with a couple minutes of work at the end could make it a classic. Also, if you watch this movie with the sound off, then it won't be scary in the least (though watching a scary movie alone in the dark with the sound off is a creepy visual in itself). I'm getting chills writing this review. Good night.
Rating:
Summary: GEEZ was this thing scary
Review: This was undoubtebly the scariest movie I have ever seen. Probably because this is the first and only horror movie I've ever seen, but still. I'm surprised I haven't had any nightmares about it yet. I'm well aware that the plot was flawed quite a bit -- the only thing crucial to the existance of the video tape was the mom chucking her kid into the well, but they added a bunch of superfluous stuff about the horses, the suicidal husband, and what was with those flies?!?! Anyway, most of it was probably done just for the shock, and, well, it worked. This movie got a PG-13 but I think it should have gotten an R, since me and my three friends I saw this with are all fourteen and fifteen and we were all freaked out of our wits. No PG-13 movie has ever scared me like that before, which is why I only gave it three stars; it was so scary it got ruined for me. Of course, if you're an adult and/or a veteran horror movie viewer you probably won't be too impressed. But if you're anything like me . . . be prepared to sleep with your door open for a week.
Rating:
Summary: WARNING - THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
Review: I had high hopes for this film, since it didn't appear from the commercials and trailer to have much in the way of what I like to call "idiot moments." These are the moments, usually in horror films, when you can no longer suspend disbelief because of a) events that are so completely implausible that they fall clearly outside even a remote realm of possibility, no matter how willing you are to believe the sometimes far-fetched occurrences that have led up to them, or b) characters who act with complete idiocy, defying every conceivable notion of rational behavior or logic. The second one is especially maddening, like having a character or characters travel to some distant town to see someone's grave, have them get there as the sun sets, but instead of checking into a nice Motel 6 and waiting until daylight to see what they're doing, they go on to the graveyard, usually without even a flashlight. Or when they know there's a homicidal maniac in the house, they still go into the basement to look for the missing cat. There are only a few idiot moments in this film, which makes it a pretty effective thriller by current standards, at least for as long as you're watching it. Just don't give it too much critical examination afterward. For starters, while the basic notion is pretty much implausible, it's done with enough style and is well executed enough that you can and do tend to overlook its faults. The bluish lighting, and constant rainfall of the Seattle locations are effective at setting the mood, and probably don't even need the well-done menu screens that hint at some of the images in the suspect video tape, plus give us a notion that the story involves the institutionalizing of a character, and that alone can be a pretty creepy setup. *SPOILER-SKIP TO NEXT PARAGRAPH* They also utilize the time-honored but way overused "gotcha" device in which you think the story is over and done with, only to find it's not. In this particular case, it's handled pretty effectively. Not like a supposedly-drowned Glenn Close suddenly sitting up in the bathtub, wielding a butcher knife, which I think we'll all agree is the cinematic equivalent of a 2x4 to the side of the head. In this film, it's much more subtle.
Those are the good things. Now the not-so-good: The basic story is an OK premise for a late-night campfire tale, but not much more. How does this little girl know you've watched the video, and what celestial phone booth is she calling from? You might also ask about the manner of death that awaits you after viewing the tape, but that's a question that's never really answered. We're led to believe the victims are frightened to death, but in the end, who knows? I will say, Rick Baker's makeup effects for the girl and her victims are very effective, made all the more so by their fleeting, almost subliminal appearances on screen. You see them only in a very few, very brief glimpses. And believe me, you don't want to try to pause on them. Other unanswered questions pop up after watching the film. The little girl lived some time in the not-too-distant past, but you get the idea it was clearly before the advent of home VCRs, so why does she exact her "revenge" (if that's the right word) through this particular technology? What the hell does videotape have to do with anything, other than to lend an urban legend quality to the story? And why *SPOILER-SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH* should anyone be able to "immunize" themselves just through the act of copying the tape? Maybe it's how she encourages people to allow her to propagate. It's certainly the way the writer set up a potential sequel. And what's the big deal with the "gotcha" moment in which the main character's son is horrified that his mother has "set the little girl free?" As effective as that moment is when you see it for the first time, it doesn't hold up under scrutiny - the girl seemed pretty well able to murder people before being "set free," and now that she's "free" it seems she's still limiting her victims to viewers of the video, so what's the difference now? And what's the whole point of the girl's parents' story? We learn that the girl apparently caused "bad" things to happen, but the only example of that is her parents' horses suddenly turn into equine lemmings and run into the sea to drown. Granted, that could be pretty expensive, and it may be cause to shut her up in the stable/barn ("You'll stay here until you and the horses can get along, young lady!"), but not worth institutionalizing the girl, and then ultimately murdering her. So when all is said and done, what did we really learn from the whole trip to the girl's island home? It made no difference at all in the outcome of the story, other than setting us up for the "gotcha." The film spends so much time on this, though, that I have to think the storytellers expected it to do more, but failed. I guess the long and the short of it is that it's a pretty visually effective movie (audibly effective, too - Hans Zimmer's score is ultra-creepy). It's definitely better than the usual teen screamer/Chucky/Jason/slasher movies, although the opening scenes make it look like the filmmakers are aspiring to that sub-genre. Just don't expect a lot of substance. And don't expect to remain frightened by the story after it's over and done and you've thought about it for 5 minutes before turning the lights out for the night. That's always been my touchstone for good scary movies. Can you walk away from it thinking that this could happen to you? Not this time.
Rating:
Summary: the scariest thing ever
Review: To begin with, I am very rarely scared. In fact, The Ring is the only movie that has left me scared after I finished watching it. For more than a week after I saw it, I was terrified that Samara would kill me (even though I knew plenty of people who had seen it and not died). The atmosphere is very well done; everything was spooky and dark, and the music was very good. I was scared for the whole time I was watching, and for a long time after. My friend and I were tightly gripping eachother and cursing and screaming for the entire movie. I recently saw Ringu. I may be biased because I saw The Ring first, or because the subtitles may have been translated badly from the japanese, but it was total crap. The only music was strange squeaks and computer noises. It seemed bright and cheery. For the first time, Hollywood's remake of a foreign film was much better. It corrected all of Ringu's faults. The Ring is a masterpiece. If it didn't scare my so much, it would be my favorite movie.
Rating:
Summary: A great movie!
Review: I mostly went to see this movie because of all the commotion about it. I really do NOT trust film critics but I do trust the collective "taste" of many people. The movie was prety much all I heard it was: Frightful! Yes I found it a bit slow at times but the supsense was great! I could not decide if it was scary until the scene with the horse at the ferry boat. After that scene I took notice but nothing prepared me for the "girl coming out of the TV scene". This scene alone is worth watching the film for. The acting was great and the characters where people that I did care about. The only discusting thing about this or any other movie are the freaks that are too quick to down rate an otherwise great movie just because of their personal biases. Sadly most of them do not even seem to know what they are talking about missing the whole point at times but nevertheles can be prety vocal about their stupid opinions. It just anoys me when some wannaby film critic is expressing an opinion about something he hardly understood in the first place! It also seems that they are prety much the same people over and over again...a bunch of idiots that seem to hate prety much everything in their lives! Now, I know I sound a bit (a lot!) like the people I am bashing but in all seriousness if someone has a different opinion and expresses together with some good reasons of why the feel this way (not the one sentence stupidities these morons are writting...) I absolutely respect them. everyone is entitled to an opinion as long as they KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT! For all of you horror movie fans out there: Do yourselves a favor and watch this movie. It is scary and inteligent and this is more I can say for a some other movies out there. I hope you found this helpful. Enjoy!
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