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2002 American remake of the 1998 Japanese horror film, Ring (also known as Ringu)
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Rating:
THE RING is one of those films that makes you wish the writer and editor and director had spent more time with the released project. This little fright film houses some fine effects, gets you hooked into an almost implausible concept, and then sells out to sensationalism in the end. But the cast of actors includes Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson as contemporary lovers who have a strangely sensitive son (well played by young David Dorfman), Jane Alexander at her usual fine state as a physician, and Brian Cox in yet another superb cameo. The underlying metaphors about life and death, meaning and parenting are good. The scenery is gorgeous (Seattle and surroundings) and the tricky camera work is excellent. But better to leave the room before the last 10 minutes or so of this scary movie turns into Hollywood silliness.
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More The Ring reviews
review by Sean_Rhodes.
October 25, 2009
I have to preface this review by saying that I didn't actually see Ringu, but I've often heard that Ringu is scary as all hell. So one day I'll see that. On the other hand, I did enjoy The Ring and I thought some of its instances were quite good. However, it is worth saying... The Ring has been branded (unfairly so) as a horror movie. It isn't actually that much of a horror movie. It's a Mystery/Suspense. It has a couple of scary moments--some of which terrified … more
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review by honeybee.
May 16, 2009
I'm use to seeing horror movies with zombies, vampires, blood and gore so when I saw this movie it really gave me the creeps. I don't know if it was all the hype behind the movie or the movie itself ,but the movie had us (my sister, niece and I) so scare that we did not want to answer the phone when it ringed. That was probably because our house phone ringed right after seeing the 'ring video tape' on the movie. There was not much detail as to why the little girl in the ring had … more
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review by jbeswick.
April 23, 2009
I'm not entirely on board with many of the J-horror remakes - there seems to be something deeply entrenched in the Japanese psyche that doesn't translate well (if anyone reading this is from Japan, please let me know why little girls are so paralyzingly scary, because I've always suspected that they are). I don't think The Grudge pulled it off: if you were a neighbor of that house, you'd definitely wonder what in the hell is going on. Literally everyone who enters the house is dead: … more
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review by Captain_Couth.
May 02, 2009
Cheap thrills. That's a summary of the entire film. The Ring (2002) is a dumbed down Hollywood version of the Japanese horror film Ringu (1999). The Ring is actually two movies in one, it combines both elements of Ringu and Ringu 2. Instead of making a straight horror ghost story like the Japanese version, The Ring suffers from the old scheme of trying too hard. Yes, it tries to be scary, hip and an instant classic. The movie fails on all three levels. The subliminal scenes are of old hat nature, … more
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(3.5 *'s) Nearly into the first thirty-five minutes of `The Ring' I got so many jolts, I nearly turned the DVD off. Popular, and often revered by horror fans, the film renders a favorably mixed bag. Conceptually it frightens and fascinates even if its premise is hokey, and there are many rules of thumb that are broken or inconsistent. Still, I was glad to take the journey. If the goal of a horror movie is to scare and tell a story, then the film truly has the goods to deliver. The … more
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Compliments (9)
Pros: .... Cons: ...... The Bottom Line: ___________ I’ve often watched a movie and wondered if I am going to die from watching it but I never assumed that such a thing could really happen. The video in this particular movie has some supernatural power to it so that once viewed the watcher dies exactly one week after watching it. Hey, I’d steer clear of the thing, especially since the glimpses I saw of it … more
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Compliments (9)
...Still, it wasn't a bad film by any means. I might not agree with others that it was the scariest movie ever, but I thought it was skillfully-made and had some genuinely creepy moments. I really liked the overall atmosphere it created, and the effects were subtle, for the most part, not overdone. The meat of it is that I enjoyed it. It's a good scary movie, though classics like "The Haunting" are still scarier.The thing I think I appreciated most about "The Ring" is that it wasn't trying to be … more
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About the reviewer
Grady Harp (gradyharp)
Grady Harp is a champion of Representational Art in the roles of curator, lecturer, panelist, writer of art essays, poetry, critical reviews of literature, art and music, and as a gallerist. He has presented … more
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About this movie
Disturbing images and a few good shocks don't stopThe Ringfrom being a hash of half-baked ideas. It's 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 hitRingu, based on Koji Suzuki's popular novel) collapses into a heap 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 vague urban legend, causes the viewer's death seven days later. (Fear Dot Comborrowed the same idea while avoiding this film's lofty pretensions.) The reporter, her son, and her estranged boyfriend view the tape, and the film's countdown structure follows them 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
Cast:
Charles Farrell,
David Dorfman,
Naomi Watts,
Carl Brisson,
Clare Greet,
Harry Terry,
Chuck Hicks,
Lilian Hall Davis,
Ian Hunter,
Forrester Harvey,
Gordon Harker,
Billy Wells,
Tom Helmore,
Jane Alexander,
Martin Henderson,
Rachael Bella,
Brian Cox,
Chris Cooper,
Richard Lineback,
Keith Campbell,
Sara Rue,
Gary Cervantes,
Joe Sabatino,
Alan Blumenfeld,
Lindsay Frost,
Daveigh Chase,
Lindsey Stoddart,
Adam Brody,
Art Frankel,
Shannon Cochran,
Sasha Barrese,
Pauley Perrette,
Amber Tamblyn,
Sandra Thigpen,
Joanna Lin Black,
Stephanie Erb,
Tess Hall,
Billy Lloyd,
Maura McNamara,
Guy Richardson,
Michael Spound,
Aixa Clemente,
Ronald William Lawrence,
Coleen Maloney,
Catherine Paolone,
David Povall,
Joseph Chrest
Director:
Gore Verbinski
Genre:
Drama
Release Date:
October 18, 2002
MPAA Rating:
PG-13
DVD Release Date:
March 04, 2003
Runtime:
115 minutes
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