Too Many Questions, Too Little Answers

Rating: 4/10 (14 July 2003)

The Ring had a chilling concept and much potential.
The Concept: A tape, filled with seemingly random and meaningless bits and peices of footage, is deadly. Once one watches it, they immediately recieve a phone call, with a voice that simply says, "Seven Days." Seven days after this phone call, you die. In what fashion do you die? How do you die? Who's behind it? Who kills you? How can anyone detect when you are watching a videotape? Etc.., are many of the hundreds of questions you will be asking while you watch this movie. The problem? By the time the credits have finished at the end of the movie, you still have many more questions than answers. And the answers you have don't make much sense, and don't satisfy at all.
This movie also does not deliver as many say or said it would in the are of being "scary" or a "horror." All of the shocks and scares of the movie are in the style of the Sixth Sense. Something scary doesn't necessarily happen, it just happens very quickly and loudly, and right in your face, usually proceeded by a silent build up. There are a couple of those types of scares in this movie. Most, however, come by anticipation. Most hear so much about how "freaky" and/or "scary" this movie is, so they watch on the edge of their seats waiting for a scare, and a lot of the time a quiet scene is followed by something very loud happening in the next scene, something that is not scary at all.
I give this movie ** out of ****, because it did have an entertaining idea, and wasn't total crap.