Thank God someone still knows how to make good scary movies

Rating: 8/10 (17 April 2003)

Gore Verbinski... Before The Ring I had seen only one movie from this director. I must admit that I really enjoyed Mouse Hunt and its pure old-fashioned slapstick style. But still, Mouse Hunt wasn´t the kind of a movie that would make its director a top director in the world of cinema.
I´ve never bothered to watch the Mexican because it simply doesn´t interest me. I don´t remember when I first heard about the Ring, but when I read all the positive reviews I knew this was a film I didn´t want to miss. And when the movie opened in Finland some weeks ago I went to see it with my friends. And I was so glad that I catched the movie during its cinema run.
The Ring is a movie that shouldn´t be watched in daylight. The best place to see it is a theatre with lots of people. If you watch it home, wait until its dark and then play the movie. And if you have a home theatre system the experience will be even better. This is a creepy movie that will scare you at least a couple of times.
I´ve never been a fan of "horror" films like Friday the 13th or Nightmare On Elm Street. I enjoy creepy ghost stories like What Lies Beneath, the Sixth Sense, Poltergeist etc. Horror is a very difficult genre because you can easily cross the line between being scary and being funny. Take Thir13een Ghost, for example. I couldn´t even watch the whole movie because of its stupidity. That film didn´t give me any creeps at all. But luckily every now and then a good creepy movie comes out of Hollywood and the Ring is such a movie. I was very impressed by the movie´s autumnal style, dark atmosphere and performances. You rarely see memorable performances in this kind of movies.
It´ll be interesting to see what Gore Verbinski´s next movie will be like. Hopefully it´ll be something as memorable as the Ring.