"I think..., before you die, you see the ring."

Rating: 7/10 (11 April 2020)

This film had it's moments and had an excellent set up, but as I sit here and think about it after the fact, what exactly did the videotape and the phone calls have anything to do with the death of Samara Morgan (Daveigh Chase)? Think about it - who made the videotape? Who's making the phone calls? This would have been an effective horror flick without the video, simply by making a connection between the vindictive spirit of Samara seeking it's revenge by proxy on her adoptive parents, the father who didn't want her, and the mother who couldn't take a stand against her husband to protect the young girl. Samara, speaking as an entity to young Aidan (David Dorfman), was all that was needed to provide the supernatural link between the living and the dead. I did like the horror touches in the picture like the first victim Katie in the closet, and Samara herself crawling out of Noah's (Martin Henderson) television. There's decent suspense and a compelling back story, but I just don't see how it translates to the video. Someone had to make it, and that's just never forthcoming, as the two most likely candidates were already dead long before - Samara and Anna Morgan (Shannon Cochran).