User Reviews

'The Ring' is one of the few horror films that still makes me jump after multiple viewings and is probably up there as one of my favourites of the genre. I've always admired the way this film seems to sustain a high level of tension from practically start to finish. I can't think of many films that have done a better job at creating an eerie atmosphere and a level of creepiness that never seems to erode away no matter how many times you watch it.

Part of the reason I like this film so much is it has a storyline you can actually buy into. Too many horrors focus too much on trying to scare the audience without giving enough thought to plot. For me an eerie horror like this with a convincing plot trumps anything that relies on gore and jump scares. Personally I would consider 'The Ring' is be one of the best horror films of the 2000s. Strong story, solid acting, successfully creepy and just as effective on second and third viewing.

If you watch the video and then the phone rings, you've got a week to wait, to find out what it will bring, or rather what it will take away, as it's quite a significant price you have to pay, just for pressing play, to see Samara spring.

Still a great piece of horror film making.

I've been watching horror movies for a long time, and I always consider myself to be some what desensitized. When I saw this film when it was released in 2002, I was terrified. Whereas other scary movies I had seen before it tended to be predictable, this one wasn't. Certain images were unexpected and shocking to me. The plot is well-placed and the setting dark and dreary. Such natural things in the world are given new meaning within the film's context.

Watching it again 18 years later, I know what to expect, but it still gives me shivers. This is a solid horror/suspense film and I appreciate it in light of the tendency towards gore which followed.

I must say that I consider myself to be a lover of horror, but much too often, sex and gore is subsituted for real horror and you don't get that feeling of genuine fear in the pit of your stomach. Not so with "The Ring". Never have I seen a film that has affected me so. The images seem to tug at your subconscious, at the dark things we keep inside. I haven't been able to close my eyes without replaying bits of the film behind my eyelids. I have slept with the light on since I've seen it, and we can't stop talking about it. Hands down, it was the best, the scariest, the creepiest, and the most intense horror film ever. The audience in the theater all gripped their armrests, breathed heavily and felt everything the characters were experiencing. It was excellent! But beware.... don't expect to leave "The Ring" in the movie theater, it will certainly be with you for a long time.

This film is the American take on the Japanese original and while it absorbs its source material intact, it twists around its formula a bit in order to make it fit its new surroundings. The story is the same: a journalist, after losing her niece to a mysterious circumstance, investigates and discovers a cursed videotape, which gives a viewer only seven days to live.

Like its predecessors, the film doesn't spend that much time on the supernatural elements, but focuses more on the mystery. However, The Ring features a lot more supernatural elements immediately and throughout the film than either previous version, perhaps to make more obvious and visceral the impending doom that faces our protagonist. Visually, The Ring has been injected with a shot of adrenaline, being less the brooding mystery of the original and more immediate and menacing. The color palette is colder than Ringu and the story is also more detached and focused on the ghostly mechanics than the human story, which leads the film to be more recognizably intimidating.

The story itself is a little more mysterious in that the backstory of our villain is rather thin and unexplained. Furthermore, the villain is clearly portrayed as senselessly malevolent; this weakens at least two significant scenes. The ending, I think, is more clever than the previous versions. I like that there is something to the relationship between the protagonist, Rachel, and her ally, Noah, but it still seems a little weak when compared to Ringu--where one line can effortlessly show the development in the relationship.

As far as a horror movie goes, The Ring is a blunt, but nonetheless creepy example. Losing some of the trappings of its predecessors helps simplify the story for faster flow and to create room for more visual creepiness, but also loses some of the complexity that helped the story have more depth. It's more of impressive frightfest than Ringu, but is a little weaker in story resonance. In the end, that makes The Ring just as effective overall: if you want more chills, catch this version. If you want more meat, catch Ringu. Decent entertainment. 7/10.

The Ring usually gets a bad rep for being "too slow" and some people even say that "nothing happens" in the movie. Unless you have ADD or something, you have to at least appreciate what Gore Verbinski achieved in 2002. What he did was he basically took the premise of Ringu, a good suspenseful Japanese horror flick and made it more suspenseful and filled with creepy visuals.

I am a huge horror fan, and this is one of the movies that unsettles me the most. The suspenseful pace, the incredible, beautiful but haunting visuals make this a unique experience. I love gory films, but this one relies a lot more on psychological horror and imagery to create scares. No jump scares, just good story telling.

The movie may not answer all the questions it creates, but the viewer, if he pays attention accordingly, will be able to figure them out for himself.

Unsettling to the bone, The Ring is one of my favorite horror films of all time. Truly underrated.

These last years, apart from the rendering of popular comic strips and the adaptation of TV series for the big screen, American cinema feels a vivacious interest for Oriental culture, especially the Japanese one. Quentin Tarantino's violent and hollow "Kill Bill" (2003/2004) was supposed to be an homage to the samurai movie (but I'm not a Tarantino buff by a long shot). In the derivative "the Last Samurai" (2003), Tom Cruise discovered the secrets and treasures of Japanese civilization while Sofia Coppola used the city of Tokyo as the backdrop for her triumphant "Lost in Translation" (2003). Gore Verbinski chose a more direct and easy way to get interested in Japanese culture: to make a remake of a Japanese movie which became a sleeper: "Ringu" (1998). Against all odds, he made a killing with it although he's an uneven director. "Mousehunt" (1997) was a formulaic but enjoyable comedy but "the Mexican" (2001) was a lame movie. Some friends had told me: "don't watch "the Ring", it's a hokey movie". I think they misjudged it and I found this supernatural thriller quite intriguing and gripping. It has enough commendable stuff in store to grab the audience. I haven't seen the original movie and so I will avoid any comparison.

The starting point promises great things and Verbinski will deliver them throughout his flick. The main character, Rachel wants to investigate about a mysterious and cursed videotape which causes the death of the viewer seven days after the latter watched it. What do these outlandish and eerie images mean? What lies beneath them? At her own risk, she and her son watch the video. She has one week to find out the meaning and the omen of the video. "The Ring" could well illustrate this famous premise: "to understand evil, we've got to go back to the sources...".

What distinguishes "the Ring" from other horror stuff of these last years is that there's a solid scenario which holds water until the very last minutes of Rachel's adventure and shelves quite an important number of formulaic ingredients. Special effects which have seemed to become the backbone for many horror flicks are used only when necessary and without flashy effects. Still better, Verbinski shows respect for the audience by clarifying as much as possible obscure points of the story. On an unhurried pace, Verbinski takes all his time to film Rachel's investigation. His directing is also worth the price of admission. It is well-crafted and set with clockwork precision for the schedule of spooky moments. Besides, what is notable in "the Ring" is that Verbinski delays as much as possible chilling sequences to better play with the viewer's nerves. This entails an unsettling aura which helps to convey a latent tension. Lighting and makeup shouldn't also be forgotten.

The thrust of "the Ring" isn't only to entertain and to make shiver. It is also doubled by a reflexion on the power of the image. One of the images of the film depicts a woman in front of a mirror looking at the camera. So, she's also looking at the viewer. This is unhealthy voyeurism that the movie denounces like the insensible media which expose to the mainstream, woes and sorrows of the victims and so manipulate the viewers' fears. The sequence during which Ann Morgan's husband is incensed by Rachel's will to learn more about Samara rings thoroughly true. Moreover, these seemingly maladjusted images embody symbols: the chair and the lighthouse illustrate loneliness, the figure at the window (a hint at "Psycho"?, 1960) might symbolize parental severity.

That said, Verbinski's genteel piece of work isn't exempted of drawbacks. Rachel's little boy is a cardboard character, a vague cousin of Haley Joel Osment in "the Sixth Sense" (1999). When Samara gets out of the well and the screen to kill Rachel's companion, it's nearly Punch and Judy and the first sequence with the two female students in their twenties something, all alone in a house in which strange phenomena and false alarms occur... well, you get the picture. But they're minor quibble and don't overflow too much on the thrill of the vision.

I repeat it: I haven't seen the Japanese ambassador but when a remake is able both to scare with reserve, without flashy special effects and to make the viewer think about what he watches, it can be gratifying. And in the case of "the Ring", rightly so...

A sequel "the Ring 2" opened last year. Is it worthwhile?

This movie makes you realize why so many other movies fail to be scary...not enough psychological elements. What this movie does right is that it skips the gore, and blood, and over-the-top overacting crazed lunatics that seem the norm in horror movies.

I saw this with a friend in the theater and 10 minutes in we were sinking into our chairs with fear. Not even the annoying teens making their phones ring to scare their friends (when you see the movie you will understand why) were a powerful enough distraction to undo the terror we felt.

Definitely see it, make sure you have as big a TV as you can get your hands on when you rent it, and that you watch it at night in the dark...if you want the full effect. Also, make sure you rent it on DVD and NOT cassette...you know, just to be safe ;)

I think Aiden is way more frightening than Samara.

I first watched this movie with a couple of friends. To be honest, I was expecting a teenage, slasher flick, I was proved wrong.

The film circles around a cursed videotape that causes it's viewers to die in seven days. Investigative journalist, Rachel Keller, begins to uncover the secrets of the videotape, and must race against the clock to save herself.

The movie was very unsettling and disturbing, which worked more effectively than some teens getting slashed with axes. The videotape was nightmarish and disturbing, and the images will stay with you long after the movie. The setting was gloomy and atmospheric, which enhanced the mood. Naomi Watts portrayed Rachel perfectly, her emotions are believable and haunting.

So if you are looking for a horror flick to watch on Friday night, be sure to watch The Ring, just make sure to watch it at night with the lights off.

I enjoyed watching this movie because of the story and the main character, but I cannot say this is horror because it wasn't scary, but it was dark and that is the reason i love this movie.

Before I saw The Ring, I used to think of horror movies as something about a supernatural (sometimes not supernatural) force that gobbles up people in bizarre series of deaths usually accompanied by blood and gore. Maybe I ought to blame it on my own selection of movies. But I realized that horror movies can have a deep and a decent story line after seeing The Ring.

The Ring is an adaptation of the Japanese movie Ringu. Ringu is a well respected horror movie. Rather than call The Ring as an adaptation I would prefer calling it as an improvisation of Ringu. For I have seen both movies and in my personal opinion the producers of The Ring have made the story a bit deeper and of course with the music and special effects scarier.

A particular thing worth mentioning is the work done by the child actor David Dorfman (playing the role of Aidan). My personal opinion is that he has done a very good job. And Ehren Kruger, in his script for the movie has given a major role to Aidan as opposed to lesser important role given to Aidan's Japanese counterpart.

Full credit to the Ring's makers for a very fine adaptation of the original Ringu. And yes, a small word of advice for those who have not seen the real Daveigh Chase (playing Samara). After seeing this movie, do look up on the net for a picture of hers and make the comparison! And do try and watch Ringu as well. A very respectable movie indeed.

A good story, nice scares, decent acting and smooth direction! Enjoy the movie!

"The Ring" is metaphorical and philosophical, scenically perfect, engaging thriller with horror elements. It's scary when you watch it, and even more scary when you understand it. Naomi Watts is crazily good in her leading role.

The Ring is a supernatural horror movie directed by Gore Verbinski and stars Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman and Brian Cox.

The movie is very creepy, disturbing for some viewers, dark and haunting. The plot is based on the Japanese movie named ring which is based on a Japanese novel by the same name.

Acting is good and screenplay is scary and gripping. The movie doesn't looses it's plot. The climax is good and unpredictable.

Without sharing much details in the review, I must say that this movie is a must watch.

The Ring did three things no film of late has done. It took the genre of Horror seriously without going over the top. It is derived from a superior story and translated to American film superbly, regardless of what the naysayers say. And, while it starts off typically, it ascends into a beautiful, darkling, twisted, genuinely creepy story, which holds you through to the end.

Gore Verbinski's style is unmistakable. He has left this work well marked with his stylistic shots, and suspenseful progression.

Actually, I found this far superior to most horrors done in the last thirty years or so. A lot has been said about Ringu, the work from which this was adapted for American cinema, and inevitable subsequent comparisons made, however, that is certainly NOT the case. That argument is moot, as this work was based on the novel, "The Ring" by Koji Suzuki, so if you want something to which an honest comparison may be made, I would suggest you read the book, and leave Ringu where it belongs. Personally, I found the American adaptation much more to my liking than Ringu.

This is one twisted little creep-fest! It rates an 8.7/10 from...

the Fiend :.

Despite some flaws and limpness in the middle of the movie, this is still a great horror movie. I have to think back when I first saw it and thought it was incredibly creepy. Samara is a great villain. It relies on some jump scares, but there's this air of discomfort that permeates throughout. The only time in the movie you feel part of the real world is the intro. As soon as that ends, you're pulled into this dreamlike series of scenes that paint a terrifying and hopeless story for the characters. The colors in the movie appear so washed out so as to remove you from reality so you question whether you just watched the tape....

If you've never seen, you're missing out.

The Ring, an American remake of the Japanese film "Ringu", is in my honest opinion a spectacular and enthralling film. The writing, directing, performances and replay value are amazing in and of themselves. I especially love the premise, and I will review this movie as it's own film, not a remake. What really makes it wonderful is the incredible performances and suspense. I really love all the actors' and actresses' dedication and believability, there being very memorable deliverances of lines and scenes after the film is over. The suspense is top-notch, because of how well the movie is played out and how creepy and fun the material is, that I was both eyes on the screen every second. Naomi Watts is radiant and brilliant; the scenes where she slowly puts the pieces of the puzzle together, or uncovers something dark and haunting are haunting themself because of how marvelous she makes this material.

Do not get me wrong, the material itself is great, but it would have been nothing were it not for the cast. The characters are all interesting, and the main story is quite saddening and effective when it is slowly revealed through many different aspects. While it seems as though the main threat, a "killer videotape", would be a ridiculous and stupid threat, hard to make convincing, it undoubtedly works to the fullest here and is entirely convincing, the videotape's images and the events themselves all being very interesting and entertaining. While the movie is not a masterpiece, it is not too short from it, having a great replay value and being one of the top 20 most effective horrors of the 00s, in my opinion. I am glad it receives a lot of positive reception, for it deserves every bit of it.

Cool plot, likable characters and creepy backstory to the spirit entity.

One of the horror movies that started a a interesting trend

This movie is great. Im on a bit of a revisit of horror this month... being stuck inside and all. This is one of my favorites.

I saw this in the cinema back when it released in 2002 and I haven't seen it since. I then saw this in a box set with the sequel at the charity shop for £2 and bought it.

I know this is a remake of the 1998 Japanese film I have yet to see.

The story is of a videotape that kills anyone that watches it a week after. A journalist's son watches the video and she has to figure out how to stop it.

The son is odd and has taken out of him in a Scary Movie film. The atmosphere is quite creepy and the long haired girl is quite scary to see. The only thing I hated was a well known TV scene was CGI'd and she crawled out too fast.

I would give this a watch.