The Ring (October 1/02)

The Ring, based on the ridiculously successful series of books and movies from Japan, is hopefully another nail in the coffin that is the teen scary movie. In fact, aside from a couple of girls in the opening sequence, there's not a teenager to be found in this film. Like this summer's Signs, The Ring relies more on gloom and doom to provoke fear in audiences; you won't find any oh-it-was-just-the-cat moments here. And while it's not quite as scary as Signs, The Ring is still pretty darn creepy.

In a sequence that turns out to be one of the most effective in the film, The Ring opens with two girls talking about a supposed videotape that causes the viewer to die seven days after watching it. Not surprisingly, it turns out that one of the two watched the tape exactly a week ago. Soon after, we're introduced to Rachel (Naomi Watts), a reporter who just happens to be the aunt of one of the girls. A little research reveals that the dead girl and a group of similarly dead friends all watched a mysterious tape while staying at a cabin. Rachel gets her hands on said tape and foolishly decides to watch it for herself. Immediately after the tape ends, she receives an ominous phone call warning her that she's going to die in seven days. Since she's an intrepid reporter, she quickly begins researching the origins of the tape and soon learns that there's a lot more to this story than just an urban legend.

I suppose I should confess that I haven't seen the Japanese version of The Ring, which affords me the ability to judge this re-telling solely on its merits - and not, as I'm sure most will, on the basis of whether or not it's faithful to the original. The film works best as a mystery, as Rachel tracks down clues and interviews possible witnesses as to the various images contained within the tape. It's kind of like a supernatural Law and Order, except the stakes are much higher for Rachel than they generally tend to be for Jerry Orbach and co. And while there are a number of extremely suspenseful moments (the opening stands out) and genuinely unnerving images (that infamous tape doesn't contain an episode of Spongebob Squarepants, you know), it's that mystery that propels the narrative forward and keeps the viewer interested. Though some of the clues contained within the tape seem a little too convenient, such as the lighthouse that Rachel almost immediately identifies, this is certainly an interesting riddle and keeps the film moving along nicely.

But the real question is, considering the movie's being marketed as a horrifying experience, does it live up to that promise? It does, but not quite to the extent that it surely wanted to. While there's no questioning that The Ring is far scarier than any of the recent so-called horror flicks to hit theaters (stuff like Jason X and the Scream trilogy), the film does tend to over-explain the ghostly goings on. Scare wise, the first hour is far more effective than the second for precisely that reason; as we begin to learn about the various bizarre images on the tape, the mystery around them begins to fade. The reflection of a little girl with long black hair covering her face is disturbing, but once we learn who she was and what happened to her, the fright factor is diminished. Still, there are a number of stand-alone sequences that excel in producing thrills, such as Rachel's bizarre experience with a horse onboard a ferry.

It helps that Watts has created a character that's compelling enough to warrant us rooting for her. Her Rachel is no helpless heroine, and unlike the majority of female characters in horror flicks, this is someone who actively works to prevent her own demise. Likewise, the young actor playing her son (David Dorfman) is extremely effective and though his preternatural ability to see things he really shouldn't be able to is perhaps too reminiscent of Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense, he is nonetheless a suitably creepy addition to the story.

It's interesting that The Ring opens and closes with fantastically scary and suspenseful sequences, with the middle devoted to the sleuthwork of Watts' character. It provides viewers with the best of both worlds; a horror flick that contains a good dose of disconcerting images and a suspense/thriller with an involving mystery at it's core. And it's a good thing for that, too, because the movie almost immediately asks for a huge leap of faith after Rachel watches the tape - even though she's already learned that two people have died exactly a week after viewing it.