Quite chilling, just avoid the Japanese film beforehand (SPOILERS)

Rating: Null/10 (22 February 2003)

My only advice to anyone going to see The Ring is NOT to see the original in advance. It sort of spoiled my enjoyment of this as I was constantly comparing it, in my head, to Hideo Nakata's version.
That said, The Ring is still a very interesting story and manages effectively to create a tense atmosphere- maybe not as tense as Nakata's, but certainly one of the most chilling US horror movies in recent years.
Gore Verbinski's take on the original Koji Suzuki novelette 'Ringu' is interesting in its own right- this is not a shot-for-shot remake (like Gus Van Sant's Psycho remake) and it was enjoyable to get another angle on the story. The opening scene, for example, is more subtle in the original, but I like what Verbinski did with it: he extended the scene a bit and ended it very well, I believe. The revelation near the end, delivered by Aidan was also a nice addition that didn't appear in the original.
While a bit heavy-handed (showing us a scene in the present then showing us the corresponding scene on the tape) I think Gore Verbinski's effort was quite good.
However (comparing it to the original) there were a few things I didn't like during the film (besides it stopping halfway through, the lights coming on and that awful, awful Avril Lavigne song Sk8er Boi starting to play!). They are as follows [MAJOR SPOILERS]: I didn't like Samara in this one- they shouldn't have shown the face and made us sympathise with her- Sadako was much creepier. And what the hell was with A) Rachel coughing up that long piece of lace and B) the scene with the horse running amok on the ferry? (it was good from a supernatural point of view, but it was bizarre!) Still though, the TV scene was very, very good and the well being under the cabin was a nice twist.
The Ring is definitely worth seeing- it delivers some good shock moments with an underlying tension throughout. Perhaps not as unnerving as Nakata's, but a good horror film in its own right.
(BTW: I didn't like that they tried to tie in the title with the film. The ring in the original (to the best of my knowledge) referred to the video tape getting passed from person to person not a ring of light like in this one. So I thought that was a bit stupid.)