THE RING

REVIEWED BY DALLAS SHIPP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: language, thematic elements

Rated:

“Have you heard about this videotape that kills you when you watch it? You start to play it, and it is like somebody’s nightmare. And as soon as it’s over, your phone rings. And what they say is, ‘You will die in seven days.’ " 

I struggle to find the words to describe this film. There is little I may tell about this film without spoiling it, but I will do my best. I saw a trailer for this film in front of Signs several weeks ago. The trailer was close to being totally devoid of details about the film other than the videotape that kills and the spooky line “Before you die, you see the ring…” It got me hooked about the film. I was caught in the intrigue. I found it almost impossible to satisfy any amount of curiosity about the movie, as the production company was carefully guarding the letting out of any of its secrets, and I am glad I did not find much about the film before I saw it. Now I have seen The Ring. If I die in seven days, you will know why.

 
Two teen age girls are spending the night together. One tells the other an urban legend about the videotape that kills, and the other replies with horror that she thinks she watched it just a week ago. The other girl thinks she is putting her on, but only a few minutes later, the first girl’s soul is scared out of her body. Her friend’s life is spared, but she must be committed to a mental institution.

Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts), the dead girl’s aunt, is a newspaper reporter. Her son Aidan (David Dorfman) was very close to his cousin, and is taking her death very hard. At her funeral, Rachel’s sister begs her to find out what she can about the death of her daughter. Rachel chats with some of her nieces’ friends, and they tell her about the videotape. It seems Katie, the dead girl, went to a remote cabin with four friends. They recorded what they thought would be a football game, but turned out to be the cause of their death. 

Rachel does some research and discovers that all four teens died at exactly the same time on the exact same night. It seems the cause of all their deaths was extreme terror. She travels to the cabin where she discovers the video. She watches a series of bizarre images: a glowing ring, a huge ladder, a mirror with a woman in it, a chair spinning on a table, a finger being run through by a needle, and finally, a stone well in the middle of a field. At the end of the tape the phone rings, and the voice on the other end informs Rachel that she will die in seven days. This is not quite enough to satisfy Rachel, but when she discovers that every picture taken of her distorts her face, she contacts her old boyfriend Noah (Martin Henderson) for help.

Noah is very skeptical, but he agrees to watch the video. After watching it, the phone rings, but Rachel becomes too scared to answer it. Noah does not understand, but he assures Rachel that he will do what he can to try to figure out the tape’s origin. Rachel spends a day researching landscapes and faces in the tape and traces them to an island off the coast of Washington State and a certain family. Specifically a little girl. Soon many strange and horrifying things begin to happen to Noah and Rachel, and they decide that they must work together to solve the mystery before they too see “the ring.”

The Ring has to be the scariest film I have ever seen. Because of this, I must admit that I consider it a masterpiece of horror, but I admit I've seen little of the genre. It is surreal and terrifying. Do not see it alone. I have never seen a story that manipulated the thoughts of an audience so well. Try to speculate during the film of what is happening, and you will see what I mean. Nothing could prepare you to the incredible conclusion. This was brilliant. For these kinds of films there is always an aspect that is unmistakably spiritual. Some of you might guess that it becomes a ghost story. It brought to my mind accounts of the happenings during the Salem Witch Trials of Massachusetts several hundred years ago. Evil happenings that people attributed to some person who had sold their soul to the devil. I thought the same about this film. There are many things that happen in The Ring that are not explained by the film. You will walk away with half the mystery to solve yourself, but this is part of the film’s brilliance.

It seems this film was a struggle between ordinary people and very evil things. Not good verses evil, but common verses evil. I thought this was a lacking element. The complete lack of Christian ideology in the film did not help the story. There can be no victory over evil without good. There could be no victory over the terrors in this film without Christ. Religion should have been an major element. Perhaps the film makers saw that too, which is why the film ends the way it does. (Speculate away. I will not tell you what I mean by that remark.) The acting was not eye-popping. Naomi Watts is a rising star in Hollywood, and this film will definitely boost her career as an actress. David Dorfman was remarkable as the young Aidan, who understands the events of the film better than any of the characters. The moviemaking itself was very good indeed. The directing and assembly of the story and the film were awesome. It is of note that The Ring was first a Japanese film, and was such a huge hit in Japan that Hollywood remade it for America. The mind behind this film deserves reward. 

The Ring made a PG-13 rating. However, I do not know of any 13 year olds who I think would be mature enough for this film. The more likely thing would be nightmares and not fascination for anyone that age. I do not think that this sort of film should be considered a suspense/thriller, though it does deliver both of those. This film is a horror movie, and should be handled as such. It is not for those who are faint of heart. There are many jump scenes, as well as several just plain terrifying. Be prepared to chew on your fingernails and grab your neighbor’s arm. Taking a jacket may be a good idea too. I got cold from all of the chills down my spine. The film is a frightening ride. For those of who enjoy being scared, this film is for you. I do not watch scary movies generally, but I enjoyed The Ring very much. The rating is mostly due to the horror elements of the film, but there is language, as well as some gory/extremely frightening elements. There are a handful of scatological references towards the beginning of the film, several misuses of God’s name, and a couple of crude anatomical references. There is also one f-word.

The real rating, I feel, lies in the gory/extremely frightening category. We see two very quick glimpses of people killed by the video: people who died from fright. Their faces are very disturbing and bloody. We also see a corpse that transforms rapidly into a skeleton ala Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, a graphic and brief clip of a finger being pierced by a needle, and several views of a ghastly ghost figure. There are many very scary and disturbing bits in this film. I was totally freaked out. I want you to know that this movie is not for everyone. If you get scared easily, I advise you to stay away. However, I know that the rush from fear is what a lot of movie goers look for. If you are one of them, go and see The Ring. You won’t be disappointed. I think that the intrigue of the film alone is good grounds for seeing it.

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