See the DVD... I don't quite dare watch the videotape.

The thing I think I appreciated most about "The Ring" is that it wasn't trying to be a "hip" scary movie, like the "Scream" series or its many clones. It was a serious, genuine attempt at a classic horror film.

The first 5 to 10 minutes of "The Ring" probably represents the most genuinely scary part of the whole movie. This was a good way to go, as it certainly put me on edge for the rest of the movie.

When one starts looking at particulars, it gets even better. The main subject of the film (as is probably well-known by now) is a videotape which, once watched, somehow guarantees that the person who watched it will die in exactly seven days. The reason for this is somewhat explained by the end of the film. As a video geek, I liked some of the details thrown in about the tape itself, such as the fact (revealed fairly early) that it has no timecode track, and any copies made similarly have no time track. As a practical matter, this is pretty much an impossibility. Which is why this detail creeped me out quite a bit, and certainly lent a great deal to the mystery of the origin of the tape.

Another nice detail was the way the images from the tape are worked into the days that follow. It's not made obvious in all cases, as in through a flashback or anything, but if one is observant pretty much every disturbing image from the tape (and there are some very disturbing images) is reflected in a similar image in the events after it is viewed. One exception to this turned out to be in a deleted scene on the DVD, so it was clearly intentional, even if not quite completely carried out. Some of the parallels between "real life" and the tape are subtle, but they are definitely there.

One really surprising thing about the film was the music, which was understated and subtle throughout. This is not surprising in itself, but it is when you consider the composer. I thought perhaps it might have been Maurice Jarre or even Thomas Newman, with their tendency towards quiet undertones and ambient sounds. The surprise came at the end when I saw in the credits that Hans Zimmer, usually author of skilled but over-the-top scores such as "Gladiator" or "Mission: Impossible 2," had worked on "The Ring." I admire Zimmer and I enjoy his scores in general, but he truly outdid himself for this film. The music is a strong counterpoint to the atmosphere of the movie, and Zimmer abandoned his usually-identifiable style and allowed the tone of the film to set the tone of his score. He had a soft touch with the music, for once, and it really added a great deal to the movie.

As for the scary stuff, there was plenty there to be found. Though I have to say, "The Ring" is not so much scary as it is intense. Somewhat like "The Blair Witch Project," "The Ring" sets up an effective tone early on, and never really lets up. Through a steady series of surprises, it manages to keep the audience guessing about what's going to happen next. I won't give away any of the specifics, because if you haven't seen it yet then they're best seen fresh, and my description likely wouldn't do it justice anyway. But basically, as you watch the film and think that something can't happen, that what's about to happen is impossible... that's when it does. I had several "gasp" moments during the film, because it managed to surprise me several times. And the effects were done well enough that even such impossiblities remained convincing. The scares in "The Ring" are well-placed and skillfully executed. During the film I was sucked right into it, only afterwards could I start to appreciate how well it had been done.

The end result is that "The Ring" is a good, solid horror film, and makes no pretensions otherwise. Though not as good as some of the classics, it definitely hearkens back to the days of movies like "The Haunting" or "Rosemary's Baby," as one of those rare horror movies that simply accomplishes what it sets out to do - scare the heck out of you - and is satisfied. Which is not to say there is not some social commentary inherent in the film, even though it takes a back seat to the story. The fact that the film's terrors reach us through our new media - television, video, and telephone - says something about the pervasiveness of these media. We trust them implicitly as methods of communication and modes of entertainment. "The Ring" seems to suggest that this trust is not earned, that these media can be used for evil as much as they can be used for good. That message blinking on the answering machine is an unknown quantity until you listen to it, that videotape is a mystery until you watch it, and a screen full of static may be the most frightening thing of all.