Rating: 
Summary: A fantastic Horror Movie
Review: When I first viewed a preview for The Ring I was under the impression it was going to be another "Scream" movie. The premises seemed to be banal and ridiculous. I couldn't have been any further from the truth. The Ring's introduction is a bit "screamish;" However, the remainder of the movie is terribly frightening. The subtle atmosphere and slow pace only adds to the scare factor. I was very pleased the movie did not rush itself like so many other horror flicks. The filming style reminded me of that of Begotten's. An extremley disturbing movie that is filmed entirely in black and white, and has no dialogue. Much of The Ring's creepiness is derived from its atmosphere. Occasionally streams will be seen with their water depleting. Other times a simple shot of the sun with clouds nearby will be seen. Alone these scenes are usless. However, The Ring effectively utilizes these shots to add to the horror. In various respects, The Ring has a documentary feel similar to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. One of the strongest points in The Ring is its finale. A rarity in Hollywood. I was pleasantly surprised, and horrified! I had few qualms about The Ring after my first viewing. I watched the movie again and everything was cleared up. It was after I watched it a second time I fully realized how great this movie really was. I was left with the same chills and feelings that invaded my body the first time. Very few movies have left me with such incredible feelings. Until I viewed The Ring, William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist was the only movie that truly terrified me. The Ring is truly a fantastic horror movie filled with psychological terror. I would go as far as to dub The Ring a masterpiece of the cinematic universe.
Rating:
Summary: Truly the scariest edge-of-your-seat movie I've ever seen
Review: From the previews, I assumed that "The Ring" would be some kind of supernatural teeny-bopper slasher flick that I would wait to see on video--if at all. I only saw it in the theater because other friends were going. Wow! I really misjudged it."The Ring" does begin like a cliched scary teen movie: Two girls are home alone. One tells the other about watching a strange videotape with some friends, and then getting a phone call telling her that she will die in seven dies. And, guess what, that night is Day 7. Later, the video-watching girl's aunt (Naomi Watts) tracks down the video and tries to uncover its mystery. What she discovers is terrifying, fascinating and unpredictable. Since the aunt also watched the movie, she's on a race against time. "The Ring" does a good job of reminding the audience how time is running out by counting off the days that have gone by with "Day #" labels. The story is told with very minimal gore--just lots of intensity and mundane objects that have taken on terrifying significance. The sound effects and the soundtrack, coupled with great cinematography in both the "killer video" and the film in general add to an overall ambience of terror. The suspense in this movie is reminiscent of the best Hitchcock films. As a Hitchcock fan, that's not praise that I give out lightly.
Rating:
Summary: Horror At It's Best
Review: I'll start out by saying I have seen the Japanese version. It messed me up for a few days. The American remake scared me even more. Some reviews I have read are leaning both ways. My review is leaned toward the American remake. Now apart from that this movie is an experience of its own. This is the first time I have been in a movie theater where this audience is so quiet you could hear a pen drop. People were curling up in their sets and closing their eyes. A huge breath of relief was heard among the viewers once the movie was over. Everyone I have talked to other than the Guy sitting behind me at the movie theater with his comment, "I thought that was suppose to be scarey," loved this movie and think it is one of the scariest or disturbing movie they have ever seen. What was funny the entire movie that same guy was breathing hard and jumping around at each scarey moments. The actors are great. Naomi Watts is so perfect for this film and that kid freaked me out. Another great Naomi Watts film I would recommend is Mulholland Dr. Go see this movie on the Big Screen or you will wish you had.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Horrifying - Deserves The Hype
Review: Last night a group of friends and I went to check out this movie and we loved it. From the chilling beginning to the unsettling end, this movie never fails to frighten or entertain. The movie is about this tape of someone's nightmare and when you've watched the tape the person knows you've seen their nightmare. Then the phone rings and tells you that you have seven days to live. And then you die. No one of course believes this myth until two teenage girls watch the tape in the opening of the film which to me was the scariest and most disturbing opening of a movie since Scream. Trying to help comfort her sister and get a story, a reporter played by Naomi Watts gets the video and views it herself hoping to solve the mysteries of her niece's strange death. She gets the phone call that warns her she's gonna die in seven days and hides the tape; unknowing her child would find it and watch it. On a mission to find out what's going on and make sense of the tape, she leaves town and starts searching for answers. This is where we as an audience think we know where the movie is headed, but just when we think we have it figured out, it's twists and turns take us for a very unexpected ride. The Ring has easily made it's way onto my top ten list of scariest movies of all time and I really urge anyone and everyone with an apetite for horror to go see it. It's been too long since such a good, nerve racking movie like this came along. Don't watch it alone!
Rating:
Summary: Unknowns put together a spooky film....
Review: It's difficult to describe this film. The easiest way might be to tell you what it is not, instead of what it is. It will disappoint those who go expecting a movie in the genre of "I Know What You Did Last Summer". It's not "the scariest movie of 2002". It's not gory in the manner of "Sleepy Hollow". It's not like "The Sixth Sense", with a film secret that amazes you when you learn of it in the end. What is it? It's a spooky, supernatural puzzle on
film. There is little about the cast and director to draw moviegoers. Director Gore Verbinski is known mostly for his failed and flawed film "The Mexican". Based
on his lack of results with Julia Roberts, he was unable to cast Gwyneth Paltrow or Jennifer Connelly in his movie. Instead, Naomi Watts, an Australian actress best known for "Mulholland Drive" plays Rachel, the lead role, and does a wonderful job creating a character so caught up in her career
that she has disjointed relationships with the men in her life, son Aidan (David Dorfman), and Noah (Martin Henderson). Perhaps the casting of relative unknowns actually added to the focus of the film, which is the Ring, itself. What is it, and what does in symbolize? What causes those who view a videotape to die, all in the same, horrible way? Reporter Rachel Keller is drawn into the mystery by the death of her niece. Rachel manages to track down the video, full of disturbing and seemingly unrelated images. Like her niece, at the conclusion of watching the video,
she gets a phone call, and is chillingly told that she will die in seven days.
She enlists Noah's help in unraveling the mystery, and is eventually terrified when she realizes that Aidan, too, has been influenced by the video. She runs the mystery behind the video to ground over a series of seven days, becoming increasingly worried about her own fate, and the fate of those she's involved in helping to find out who the young girl in the video was in real life. Verbinski specializes in misdirection here, and you are unsure whether the realities are realities. There's a reliance on visual imagery, and he uses the symbols of the ring, a ladder, an old fashioned rocking horse, and girls
with long black hair, over and over. The film was paced and recorded for the camera like a bad dream, and you're kept guessing until the very end, and beyond. And in the end, even when you learn the secret of the Ring, you're still not sure how
what happens, happens. "The Ring" surpassed my expectations, and left me guessing. Just what you want a supernatural thriller to do! Go see it!
Rating:
Summary: I am impressed
Review: As mentioned before, the first scene is border-line hokey. And it's done so deliberately - watching the typical giggly teenage girls staying up and telling each other about urban legends makes you hope desperately that the movie gets past stuff like that quickly. And jesus, it does not dissapoint.
With little gore and the quickly cut black and white images on the infamous video tape, the cinematography is very intense, and the movie is really quite beautifully done, particularly for a horror flick.
It was definetly about time there was another worthy addition to the world of frightening movies - a well thought-out ending, mind games that will be [messing] with you days after you see it, and not so many invulnerable chainsaw-wielding sociopaths jumping out and scaring the characters every couple of minutes :).
Definetly worth seeing at least once, um.. long live toast.
Mmm.. toast.
Rating:
Summary: WARNING: thought required
Review: I am of the generation that film critics lovingly refer to as the "Scream" generation, a generation that has seen nothing but poorly written slasher flicks, backed by coorprate focus groups. This has made the movie going public lazy where the horror genre is concerned. Because of this trend I can understand why critics would be quick to judge and move on. It was a poor decison concerning this film. That's why you should ignore the critics and go see "The Ring". The fact is that "The Ring" treats it's audience like human beings, trusting us to be able to think for ourselves and fill in the gaps on our own. Indeed if you pay enough attention, you will. It's anything but scream generation marketing. The plot creates a mystery that keeps buliding on itself right up until the very end, and the audiance only gets to know what the main character (Rachal Keller, beautifully performed by Naomi Watts) knows. But therin lies the payoff of "The Ring". If you coninue to think about it after you've left the theater, you'll find how even the smallest things link, mostly linking back to the villan (ghost, what have you)Somara, who is explained the least. This was done on perpose. Psycologically, and audiance grows more comfortable with a character if thay can rationalize where they came from, and Somara has no story, making her that much more frightening. Now that I have throughly purged my critics gripe I can tell you that, on a scare level, "The Ring" succeeds with flying colors. The film is brilliantly paced in the fact that, just as you feel comfortable watching it, a big scare pops up, and each time you see one, it makes you paranoid and uncomfortable enough to be scared of EVERYTHING in the next 20 minutes. The infamous "tape that kills you" is very unsettling itself, comprised of dreamscape-like images that are very dark, strange, and horrific. The videotape actually acts as a road map to its place of origin (it's offical origin is another point not explained directly, but when ponderd is actually VERY obvious). Another thing that is SURE to scare you are the victems of this tape, dying strange stroke like deaths; thier faces frozen in horrific grimaces of fear and pain. I recommend "The Ring" only if you agree to think about it afterwords. It's so much more satisfying knowing that, for once, YOU actually pieced the missing parts together, rather than getting it force fed to you. Gore Verbinski thinks your smart enough to figure it out... are you?
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful To Look At, Ridiculous As A Whole
Review: I am a big fan of the intelligent horror film. Gore has never scared me and never will. The slasher genre was played out long ago. I was so looking forward to "The Ring", based on the buzz and previews. It appeared to be right down my alley. Well... First of all, let me say that the film was beautifully shot. The cinematographer did an incredible job. Secondly, the acting is top-notch, for the most part. Finally, there ARE a few good scares. Now, the bad news. To avoid spoilers, I won't go into detail, but the basic premise of this film is so, for want of a better word, stupid. I didn't buy it at all, so the entire film was nearly ruined for me. I am willing to suspend disbelief to a point, but this one stretched beyond my limitations. See "Unbreakable" for another example of a premise ruining an otherwise well-done film. Also, is anyone else tired of the precocious, all-knowing child? First, there was Haley Joel Osment in "The Sixth Sense" (who was great), then Rory Culkin in the god-awful "Signs" and now little David Dorfman, who is fine as an actor, but he is playing what's become a stereotype in modern film. Enough already. The film earns three stars from me, based on its look and the acting talents of Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson and Brian Cox.
Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: I went to see "The Ring" expecting to see a good scary movie. Nothing that was oscar material, but a good old spook fest. What I got was a boring, barely scary, and depressing film that looks great but is empty almost everywhere else. I do think that there is some real talented people behind this film, especially director Gore Verbinski for creating a unique look and feel for the film and the good cast who make this film fairly watchable. The story, however, always felt like it was lacking something. It lacked real suspense. I only jumped once in this film and it was only because of the music. It also takes scenes from other films, especially "The Sixth Sense" and "Poltergeist", and tries to disquise them to come off as original for this film. The film also drags on way too long and, in my opinion, doesn't deliver in the end. It does however give the audiance one of the dumbest explanations to the story that could have been chosen. I was very disappointed with this film and hope that the people who made it can come up with something a lot better next time.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: Maybe there is hope for new horror after all. If they shock, thrill us, disturb us, and scare us, then it is good. Even if this didn't scare you, it is still a great movie! Great story, great dialogue, authentic scares, and it is also one that makes you think. This is a psychological/shocker film and boy does it deliver the goods. One of the scariest and creepiest films ever made! Go see it. Oh yeah something funny happened at the end of the movie (only those who have seen the movie will get this) at the very end of the film we all stood up and somebody's phone rang and scared us all half to death! It was a golden moment.
|
