It just wasn't all it should have been (***SPOILERS***)

Rating: 8/10 (17 September 2004)

According to a good many people, The Ring is one of the best horror movies ever made. I haven't seen a lot of horror movies, but I don't see how that could possibly be good news for the genre. My chief complaint with the movie is that it left far too many plot holes. I appreciate the thought-provoking open-endedness of REALLY GOOD FILMS, but when I find myself trying to stuff the cracks in the script as the credits are rolling, I think there's something wrong. Here are some, but not all, of the questions that should have been answered (spoilers):
1. What did the images in the video actually represent, other than as a means to let Rachel find out the story? Why was Anna brushing her hair in the mirror? Why the lighthouse? Why the bugs? I understand the hair theme and the water theme, but doesn't that seem to be st-re-tch-ing things a bit far?
2. How did Aidan know what was going to happen to his cousin? At the beginning of the movie, he was drawing pictures that predicted it. Shouldn't he just have been an innocent little kid at that point? And how did he find out all about Samara in order to make his smart little comments at the end of the film? Surely Rachel didn't tell him? Incidentally, another complaint I have is that the climax was far too weak. I completely missed the fact that it WAS the climax (when Samara kills Noah). In fact, I was sure that Aidan WAS Samara and that THAT was how the movie would end. That would have given the scriptwriters a chance to explain some things that they left out.
3. Why did Anna go crazy? Because the horses went crazy? Why did THEY go crazy???? This was never even TOUCHED upon. I don't even see why there were horses in the movie at all, except as some sort of filler, and there's nothing I hate more than a movie that has to resort to fillers.
4. What was Richard Morgan's role in the movie? Anna killed Samara, they were kind enough to show us that, but then why did Richard act like HE was responsible? Why did he kill himself?
5. How did Samara make the video? Why a video at all, for that matter? To give this movie some sort of PLOT? Couldn't somebody somewhere have come up with SOME explanation before they starting shooting?
6. Who was Becca? She was with Katie when she died, but there's no explanation for what happens to her afterward and why she ends up in a psych ward. She knew what would happen. Was SHE somehow Samara? They had the same color hair. I've already suggested how Aidan could have become Samara, but they couldn't both have been. And if Becca WAS Samara, why wasn't that pointed out cohesively in the movie? And if she was, that opens up the plot to even MORE holes than it had without that explanation. They're pretty self-evident, so I won't point them out.
7. Conceivably, every single other one of my questions could be left to the viewer's imagination to figure out, but there is one (at least, that I'VE thought of) gigantic glaring plot hole that simply can't be overlooked: Where did the tape of Samara in the psychiatrist's office come from? Not specifically where did it come from, but how did it even exist? Samara is talking about the things that she's doing, the pictures that just appeared and blah blah blah. Shouldn't she be dying in a well at that point? Or, if the psych tape was made before she was killed, why was she so bitter already? Did she know her mother would kill her? Was she just plain evil? In that case, why did the video include images from the well, specifically THE RING? Maybe I could sit here and invent an explanation, but as I said earlier, if I'm going to have to write the script myself I at least want my name to go in the credits.
In conclusion, The Ring is not a bad movie, just a tad misguided. There were things that could have been done and ought to have been done to eliminate at least some of the holes in the plot, and made a better movie. I give it 4 points for actually being scary (I'm not sure how well I'll sleep tonight) and 2 points for stringing a few plot elements together to come up with something. Some movies have no plot whatsoever and thankfully, this wasn't one of them. I really wanted to like the movie, but it just wasn't what it should have been. .............6/10