better than you've heard

Rating: 10/10 (15 July 2004)

I went into this film ignorant of it's history or the Japanese original. That may color my opinion that this film is much better than the original, which I felt was overwrought and not very scary. The Ring had me clutching my armrest at the theater, knuckles white and heart racing.
The movie builds suspense like no other film in recent memory, and doles out its "shock" moments wonderfully. Watts and Dorfman are excellent and Henderson is a great find. I have high hopes for Ring 2 and a better edition of the DVD.