The Ring(2002)

Shaun Watson reviews�

Movie poster from the
Internet Movie
Database

Main Cast for

The RING
Naomi Watts as Rachel Keller
Daveigh Chase as Samara
David Dorfman as Aidan Keller
Brian Cox as Richard Morgan
and
Martin Henderson
as Noah Keller

I'd like to point out that before I start this movie review, I'd like to point out that I have not seen the Japanese film Ringu(1998) directed by Hideo Nakata, nor read the novel Ringu by Koji Suzuki. I went into this film on a past trip back home with a clear mind--and after seeing this movie, I STILL double check to see if my TV is off when I turn it off.

With that said, ON WITH THE SCARY.

Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts, Tank Girl) is a reporter living in the Seattle area with her son, Aidan (David Dorfman, Galaxy Quest). She's living a normal life under a constant blue filter, like everyone else in the always-cloudy Seattle. Every now and then, she bumps into Noah (Martin Henderson, Windtalkers), Aidan's father and her ex(husband?). They are on that complicated relationship level of legal separation. The fact that Aidan is Emotionally Handicapped(EH) doesn't help in events where Noah tried to become involved. Things are still hunky-dory, though�

�until Rachel's niece dies mysteriously.

At the closed-casket funeral, we find out that Rachel's niece and a friend were watching a tape that was rumored to be haunted. To be a bit more clear on the haunting/curse:

The tape had weird stuff on it and if you watch it, you will get a phone call that tells the watcher that they will die in seven days.

Right, Rachel thinks. It's just another urban myth. When the teenagers at the funeral are questioned about the tape, some are spooked but one tells her where to find the location of the tape: in a mountain cabin resort. Smelling possible clues as to what really happened to her niece AND a possible story, Rachel hotfoots it to the foothills.

She finds the tape in the main lobby's rental shelf and asks for a VCR to play it in. The guy at the counter won't rent her the tape & I think she steals the tape and then lies to him or something. Rachel goes to the only cabin with a VCR in it and watches the tape.

What is on that tape I will not begin to describe, simply because some of the contents are jarring, disturbing, and cannot be done justice in my written hand. I could try, but it would ruin a lot for you.

Rachel is weirded out by this tape and picks up to go home--

--and then the phone rings. Like a dumbass, she picks it up to hear a little girl's voice say:

"You will die in seven days."

This is where the movie begins to pluck at hairs on the back of your neck. From here on out, it's a race against time to piece together a puzzle from the images on the tape to form clues as to who is the culprit behind this tape and what is really happening to the victims of this "haunted" tape. Some noteworthy clues from the actual scenes of incidence are:

a broken television
mold
puddles of water
dead victims skin has turned a putrid green as if submerged for an extended periond of time; hair is wet with eyes rolled back into head, face contorted into a scream

As these clues surface, Rachel begins to find out more and more about this tape while finding clues that only appear to her:

she coughs up an electrode pad from a glass of water
absent-mindedly scratches out the faces of female pictures with pens in the same way
ability to pull items from the videotape as it plays on the TV

Armed with these clues, Rachel begins to put 2 and 2 together and, unfortunately, makes "4". The culprit for all this weirdness and the numerous calls is a little girl named Samara Morgan (Daveigh Chase, voice of Lilo in Lilo & Stitch).

The problem is that this little girl has disappeared.

The events and circumstances of Samara's disappearance, particularly those involving her father Richard (Brian Cox, X-2) and mother will shock you to the core.

This movie is the real deal. I have been scared before('bout what I'll not say) but this movie took the cake. This movie truly had me on the edge of my seat, every time the day marker would show up on the screen. It was a good way to build tension for the scenes to come. There were scenes of imagery that were both savage and chilling to my eyes simply because of the choice of bleak, washed out colors. The mannerisms of everyone in the movie not involved directly with the Samara phenomenon seemed to be in low spirits also, no matter the circumstance.

The music is a big deal in this film. It takes the art form of scoring a movie to a new level. Every stinger was right where it needed to be, along with the score's location in respect to its scene: it's wasn't in your face nor was it hidden when unwarranted.

Rachel and Aidan Keller at the funeral.

I'd like to address a point that i notice while watching the movie: that there are some people who are scarier looking than others. Personally, I think that lil' Aidan is pretty spooky. He weirds me out. His mom Rachel is another thing. His mom is played by Naomi Watts and I've noticed that she is an extremely beautiful woman. The problem is that she's beautiful to the point that it becomes frightening. I think it's because her face is kind of static in its behavior throughout the movie.

The other scary person you may have seen in previews or commercials for the film. That person is scary because of what they can do to you, and what they can do is really scary.

CHOICE CUTS:
-Not a lot. That movie scared the crap out of me. Oh wait, there it is.

PRICELESS QUOTE:
-Aidan, after his mother makes a copy of the cursed videotape and explains that they have to give the videotape to someone else: