Finally-maybe the first GREAT horror to come out of the last 10 years.

Rating: 8/10 (16 March 2004)

The Ring, which I almost didn't originally see, being that it looked so scary, turned out to be more then I bargained for. When I did see it, I had no idea I was about to view a horror flick that actually had depth and originality! Finally, Finally- a movie where the movie makers hit it spot on!
This movie blows away other supernatural thrillers like:"The Others", "stir of echos", "what lies beneath" and "gothica". It also blows away movies like "Scream". The ring is a heavily atmospheric, genuinely frightening film that relies almost NILL in the way of blood and gore and still manages to absolutely horrify-as well as haunt you.
The Ring reminds me of the movies I grew up loving, those atmospheric horrors of the 70's and early 80's, it seems nobody MAKES anymore, like "The Other"(NOT "The others!) and "Let's scare Jessica to death". I had kind of distanced myself from the horror genre in the last decade or more actually, because there were so few truly GOOD ones around-most horrors now rely on gore and cheap effects. And the supernatural ones, many times just bore me with their unoriginality. I was exhilarated at the end of The Ring because it threw me back in time to when horrors were actually good!
The acting was great. The scenes were vivid and surreal and stay with you. The photography,lighthouses, fog, scenery etc is haunting and has that air of quiet gloom where the movie is WAITING ,that is just perfectly reminisint of old school horrors. The makers of this should be proud. It also reminds one, how bad some of these other horrors can be. I actually rated "Gothica" about a 5 or so on here and after seeing ring as a rental(after I saw gothica) I wondered why. And really BAD movies like "what lies beneath" aren't even worth mentioning in the same breath.
A good horror has to have more then the ability to scare. It has to be well made, atmospheric and if it's haunting so much the better. It has to hook you in. And as far as the sequel to the ring, The ring2 goes, I am not nor have I ever been a sequel type of person yet I am looking forward to this. I have to see it. This movie got me, hooked me and I'm GLAD! It's about time!
I'm all grown up now but I bet if I'd seen The Ring as a kid, it would have scared me triple. The most frightening scene by far is :SPOILER When Samara comes walking out of the television set. Also when Aiden tells Naomi Watts :that she shouldn't have let "her" out. Also the pictures coming out distorted which really freaked me out and it didn't help when the phone rang right after the first murder and it was late at night. Scared the heck out of me but in a good way!
Only bad thing-there was a tiny bit of gore which was rather icky and not even necessary-could have lived without it-that and the horse scene which was more sad then scary. Go see The Ring-right now if you haven't. It rocks!