Great cinematographically; but uneven story

Rating: 8/10 (22 March 2003)

Stylish, yes, but trying too hard to copy "The Cell" in many ways. While this film was hyped as one of the scariest movies since "The Sixth Sense" (which wasn't actually "scary" as much as creepy, atmospheric and brilliant!) "The Ring" falls short on some levels.
****Major Plot Spoiler Ahead!!!****
With an excellent premise, "The Ring" pays off huge dividends in tension-building and raising many, many questions--and doing so fantastically. But. . ."The Ring" did a quick downward spiral to ridiculousness after the climactic scene in which the young murdered girl, who's supposedly doing all the killing somehow, crawls from a television set to murder one of the key characters, my belief...until then having held up well....crawled out of my body and went away.
The imagery and cinematography of "The Ring" is stunning and would've rated a "10" from me alone had it not been for that one crucial scene, and for the fact that the film leaves far too many questions unanswered at the end.