Frustrating but good.

Rating: Null/10 (31 March 2003)

*Possible spoilers* What can one truly say about the Ring? On the one hand it was frustrating. The relationship between the Samara, Aiden and Rachel is not explained well. Why did Samara choose to speak to Aiden? Why was it important for Rachel to pull the remains of Aiden from the well? Why does Noah get whacked? After all, he helped solve the mystery. I would think he would be on the inner track with Samara. And why does Rachel make copies of the tape for distribution? There is no indication that she is compelled to do this. The whole thing is not explained well enough in my view. I understand that we want to leave some of this to our own interpretations but there is always the possibility that by leaving too much we become frustrated. This film comes very close to that line.
On the other hand it was disturbing. I have to admit that as I went to bed after watching it I had a far-fetched tiny little fear that my TV set might suddenly pop on. If it had, I guarantee that I would they probably would have found me in the morning with that same twisted look of fear on my face as the people in the film. It was disturbing enough for me that it was just a little bit harder to feel completely comfortable in the dark. The whole sequence where Samara comes out of the well and walks towards the `camera' is totally creepy by any interpretation. If the goal was to leave images in the mind that continue to creep you out for days after you saw the film, then the filmmakers succeeded in that respect. I think for that reason you can forget about the frustration and have a good time with this one.