spooky and surprisingly well done....

Rating: 7/10 (14 May 2007)

I had heard mixed reviews about the film, with a silly premise about a videotape that kills you after you watch it. Hahahha...yeah that sounds real clever. However, this film isn't really a horror film in the first half, more of a psychological thriller. I found the story quite interesting about Samara, the disturbed girl with strange powers. All the performances are pretty good, especially from Naomi Watts. The cinematography is perfect, with a cold greyish tone for the film. I did feel that this deliberately made the film look like a horror flick - there was barely any real daylight in the film. I mean, even in horror films, you can have some sunny days, even though the characters are obviously trapped in a nightmare.
Its the ending that will scare you, especially when Samara comes out of the TV. The curse never ends, so you have to show the tape to someone in order for them to pay the price for the curse. The ending is a little bit unsatisfying, but luckily the sequel (though nowhere near as good as this) will solve most of your answers.
I think the Japanese version captures more of the scary elements, cuz they know how to do horror better -its in their culture in a way. So see the japenese one first if you want to.