This is how you make a horror movie!

Rating: 10/10 (25 October 2004)

There's nothing scary about vampires. Or werewolves. (I've never seen one, so why be scared?) There's nothing scary about blood and gore. (I've seen plenty, so why be scared?) What's scary is the situation--when your TV turns itself on and you see something that makes you wet your pants. That's scary.
And that's "The Ring". You could call "The Ring" a ghost story, and that would be fair, but instead of starting out showing us the ghost, the movie builds up suspense by first showing us what the ghost is capable of, then why the ghost is so angry. After we understand this, then and only then do we see the ghost. This creates an understanding in our mind of what this thing is going to do. So when we see it, we scare ourselves.
You see, the scariest stories involve the mundane (like televisions and video tapes). They take the things we see everyday and ask, "What if..." This bypasses our rationality because we accept the plausibility of the scenario. And when a person can't think rationally, it doesn't take much to terrify them.
Psychology 101. It'd be nice if more filmmakers would take a refresher course.