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The Ring (Widescreen Edition)

The Ring (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $15.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS PREMISE - AVERAGE TRANSFER
Review: Somewhere along the way, someone in Hollywood forgot to tell the purveyors of horror movies that their primary objective is to scary the heck out of an audience. "The Ring" is a convuluted tale of a video tape that kills people once they've watched it. The film begins as urban legend, switches over to psychological thriller, mutates into family melodrama and then comes full circle to try and be a horror movie once again. There are sparks of originality that get layered onto too much explaining done by the principle characters and not enough of a "oh my gosh I almost wet my pants!" sensation to get the whole mess off the ground.
Transfer wise: WARNING!!! - this is a movie in which all of the principle characters and their surroundings register in varying degrees of tonal green. But, as that is the way the film makers intended you to see this film, what can I say? The green levels are nicely balanced. Fine detail is generally good, even during the darkest scenes (and this film has a lot of them), black levels are rich and deep and contrast levels (between green and more green) are good. There is some pixelization, particularly during the flashback sequences, that is excessive. Also, film grain is present throughout and is, at times, distracting. Audio - well balanced, nothing amazing but lacking in any shortcomings that should be mentioned herein.
BOTTOM LINE: If you like this sort of thing, the DVD offers an ample quality that is sure to please. If you think this is a great horror movie, my condolences.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Terrific Movie!!!
Review: This is the most terrifing scary movie I've ever seen! It kept me up all night, I couldn't sleep at all! (I did fall asleep from my dreamcatcher tho, lol) In the beggining, it take's place at a girl's house w/ her friend, sleeping over. It seem's like a cheesy movie b/c of the first 10 minute's, but thankfully, the rest is SCARY! The girl from the begginging, dies from a horrible death, b/c her friend told her a legend of a tape killing you, after 7 days! After you watch the tape, the phone ring's and a voice said's "You will die in 7 days", that made me have chills! A reporter named Rachel Keller (played by the fantastic Naomi Watts!) tries to solve the mystery of her nieces death, and watches the tape herself. Her little boy Aidan (who is... sordof cheesy; he's trying to be like the kid from 6th Sense, but fails) is having disturbing images, and so is she. Her ex-husband Noah, and herself try to solve the mystery of The Ring. The cause of the tape, and the mysterious murder's is from a little girl named Samara Morgan. Samara is the one who's calls people on the phone, kills them, ect. The ending was soooooooo scary! Well, I won't spoil the rest. This is one of the best movie I've ever seen!

Warning: Do NOT watch this if you can't sleep at night!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Response to "is this supposed to be scary?"
Review: Give me a break. I'm an X-Files fan too and I have never seen an episode that scared me as much as this movie did. Also, for God's sake, the VCR was invented more than twenty-five years ago (and Samara is obviously not restricted to time as we think of it anyway). *Think*, people; it's not that difficult to figure out.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My Personal Protest
Review: Okay; first off, I thought this movie was really skillfully made, thoughtful, and *very* scary. In light of that, I have my own question for those whose main question was "why did I just pay seven bucks to see this?" (Just look through the other reviews on this site and you'll know what I'm talking about). My question is simple: what is wrong with you? Admittedly the movie was a little tough to follow (which is obviously intentional on the part of the filmmakers), but to call it completely incoherent is such crap that I'm at a bit of a loss for words. Heaven forbid that you should actually freaking think about what's going on and try to piece it together yourself rather than waiting to be spoonfed the answers like a pudgy, drooling baby. Excuse me if I'm going a little overboard; it just really grates on me when people attack a well-made film because they can't be bothered to actually pay attention or think about what they're watching. The story makes perfect sense, it's just that not everything is evident to the casual observer. I don't think it's that hard to figure out; suffice to say, every detail on that videotape corresponds to something in reality, and it's all part of Samara's curse, which goes back to her true origins. Now, no more hints, children, but please let's have a little respect for a film that aims higher than the common denominator.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Video Only Enhances "The Ring" Fear Experience
Review: Here on video is "The Ring", one of the most terrifying films of the last 20 years. Forget the kitsch of "Friday the 13th" or "Scream". This one has the cold horror of your worst nightmares. It's an instant classic, a movie like "Seven" or "The Blair Witch Project" that redefines your expectations of the what the horror film genre can deliver. It begins with the constant chill of dread and intensifies until it explodes into one of the most unforgettable endings ever.

This is one of those rare movies that has you dreading the next scene, not because it's bad, but because you know when it comes it will pack a wallop. When I saw this in a movie theater with a packed house, I didn't think I had seen audience hysterics like that since "Carrie." Naomi Watts, fresh from her triumph in "Mullholland Dr.", gives a plucky and touching performance in the lead as the young reporter and mother who finds herself up against unimaginable evil.

The video release only enhances the impact of "The Ring". You can use your slow-motion and freeze-frame buttons to clarify some of the horrific images that go by so quickly. For example, I think I discovered the identity of a girl shown in a quick cut to a mental hopital; an identity that may be a terrible prophecy of what happens *after* the movies ends. On the "Limited Edition" of the video there is a 15-minute, artfully edited short film that is made up of outtakes from "The Ring". Lindsay Frost has a big scene; it's too bad it was cut. Another victim of the "haunted video" is shown. And there's what appears to be an alternate ending, set in a video store, that has monstrous implications. If you are a fan of genuinely scary movies, you can't afford to miss this.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Better than average thriller
Review: "The Ring" does it's job and does it better than most. It's a good old fashioned ghost story with a modern twist. The film is well acted and beautifully shot and has some genuine scares, despite the some holes in the story. But by the end of the film, your'e too scared to care about the inconsistencies. Very similar to "The Cell" in certain aspects. Take a shaky premise and hire a decent cinematographer and a great editor and you a better than average genre piece. Be wary of taking at the film for more than it is and just let it entertain you. Nothing really special on the DVD. Shows deleted scenes and a trailer for "RINGU," the Japanese film that inpired the "The Ring." Also a short film that bears signifigance after watching the feature which I can promise a slumber party will eat up. Good stuff.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not As Good As The Reviewers Promise
Review: I live in London and although The Ring was originally released in 2002 is wasn't released in England until Febuary 2003. Three weeks before the movie was released there were masses of trailers, radio clips and creepy posters going up everywhere truly making The Ring one of the most popular horror movies around. Of course I went to see it and I'd heard that the plot was more of a figure-it-out-yourself one than a normal spoon fed horror plot so I prepared myself. What I didn't prepare myself for is how BORING it was! Sure there were bits that gave me a small chill up the spine but I basically thought the plot was too dragged out and although it did have a solid storyline is was . . . well just so boring! I don't know why people compare The Ring to great horror classics like Halloween and The Exorcist because it doesn't even come close to them! I also thought that the characters were too over the top. Especially the end scene with Noah! Sure if a rotting girl crawled out of my TV I'd be spooked but I wouldn't be crawling around the floor in a blind panic! Samara was totally ugly but she wasn't that scary! All in all good for a night in but don't get excited about it! Stick with horror movies that came out from 1996 until 2000. Nowadays all horror movies seem to be about aliens, killer little girls and vicous creatures! Just look at the failure of movies like They, Dreamcatcher and Ghost Ship

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Very Scary Movie Indeed
Review: I don't scare easily. I have sat through a thousand and one episodes of "The X Files," "Poultergeist," and various slasher flicks and hardly batted an eye. This film is an entirely different matter, the one thing I've ever watched that I can truly say scared the hell out of me. The palpable, Gorgonish dread of the scenes is profound, and very skillfully cultivated through subtle sound, masterful visual effects, and the richly textured look of the film. The acting and script aren't Shakespeare, but they are fully competent and more than good enough to get the idea across. The story is mysterious and compelling... and by the way, what the hell is so difficult for some people about this plot? Yes, it's confusing and unclear, and they don't tell you everything you want to know- duuuh! It's supposed to be! God forbid that a movie should actually require some thought on the part of the audience to make sense. I thought it came together well at the end, especially for a film with the feel of an oblique nightmare. The realization of the ideas behind the story hit me soon after the movie ended; for those of you who fried your brains watching "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and the like, I'll give you a hint: Who (*cough*, or what) do you think Samara really is? As for those who didn't think it was scary: granted, there are only four or five frightening scenes, and in between them it seems fairly innocuous (if bizarre), but they are very creepy indeed in my opinion. If you weren't freaked out at all then you either missed the significance of a lot of the details or you're a heck of a lot braver than I am.
Overall, even if it hadn't been delectably freaky, I would still have appreciated this film because of the excellent cinematography and the obvious thought that went into it. I highly recommend it for true psychological horror fans.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: better than a lot that is out there right now
Review: I give this a little credit for being somewhat original in the concept, and it is weird enough to please me. Only complaint: ENOUGH with the pg-13 horror flicks, more gore please!!! Other than that, this is a head trip from hell. "in the mouth of madness" is a good head trip movie to...I couldn't imagine taking recreational drugs and watching this, you'd flip out!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: OVER RATED!! Not worth your time!
Review: I was really looking forward to a scary movie but this wasn't!! I was just sitting there at the end with tons of questions; What the hell happened to the horses? Why did the wife go crazy? Main points of the movie left unanswered really left me with a bad taste in my mouth, I felt like throwing away the DVD after I watched it. One of those that keeps building and building and nothing but a let down in the end. Quite disappointing!


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