Ring it on

Rating: Null/10 (18 October 2002)

I know there will be some misguided souls who stumble into a showing of THE RING believing that it's either a film of Richard Wagner's famous operatic cycle, or has something to do with Hobbits. Needless to say, they will be in for a surprise.
Gore Verbinski's THE RING, based on an extremely popular Japanese film and novel, is a creepy and disturbing thriller that may do for VCRs what JAWS did for the ocean. After watching a recent sneak preview, I couldn't help but imagine people all across the nation going home and throwing out their videocassettes and players, in fear that they might accidentally watch the tape that's at the center of this movie.
The fast-paced suspense film begins in Seattle with an urban legend-type set up: two high school girls - Katie and Becca - are alone in Katie's home at night. Conversation turns to a videotape that has a horrifying effect. Moments after you watch it, the phone rings, and a voice tells you, "Seven days." And exactly a week later, you die. Katie reveals to her friend that she watched that tape at a cabin in the woods, seven days before. In a brilliantly edited sequence that is sure to make you drop your popcorn, Katie meets her fate, and we learn that the tale of the tape is no mere kids' story.
Katie's aunt, a newspaper reporter named Rachel (Naomi Watts), is asked by her sister Ruth (Lindsay Frost) to investigate the death, and she soon finds herself drawn into a world that's as dark and claustrophobic as the grave. Pulled in with her are former boyfriend Noah (Martin Henderson), and their son Aidan (David Dorfman).
We see the tape in question early on, and at first it appears to be just a random series of weird images - a ring of light that looks like a solar eclipse, dead horses floating in water, a woman leaping from a cliff, a fly buzzing, a stone wall that encloses a well - playing out like a home movie made by David Lynch and Luis Buñuel. As the film progresses, however, we learn that the eerie black-and-white vignettes are clues to who made the tape and why. I'd hate to give away too much, so I'll just say that the answer takes Noah and Rachel to an island where a horse breeder (marvelously played by Brian Cox, the original and best Hannibal Lecter) seems to be hiding a secret that's by turns sad, and horrifying.
The acting in THE RING is fabulous throughout, with the actors stretching well beyond the caricatures all-too-often found in horror films and creating realistic, intriguing people. I've met and interviewed Naomi, and yes, she really is that beautiful and charming in person, and here she proves once again that she's an outstanding actress. Martin Henderson, another actor from Down Under, is perfect as a videographer turned reluctant action hero, and young David Dorfman and Daveigh Chase are scary-good. Amber Tamblyn (daughter of multitalented actor/singer/dancer Russ Tamblyn) and the engaging Rachael Bella do a wonderful job of starting the movie off with a scream, Lindsay Frost shines in a small but important role, and Jane Alexander (an actor's actor) is fun to watch as a doctor who knows more than she wants to. The direction is crisp, stylish, and sure-handed (hard to believe that this is the same guy who helmed MOUSE TRAP and THE MEXICAN). Even the lighting and sound are beautifully worked out; those elements make a sequence with a horse on a ferry especially chilling. Hans Zimmer's soundtrack hits all the right notes, and the screenplay is smart, original, and pulls no punches. It's worth noting that unlike most modern horror films, you won't see people terrorized with knives or other conventional weapons, and there's very little actual gore. What you do see, however, as well as what's implied, may give you the worst case of the creeps you've ever had. I'm sure that some purists who've seen the original Japanese film (which spawned sequels and a TV series) will pick apart this version, but, for my money, this is one case where the remake of a foreign film can stand on its own merits.
If you love being scared, grab a hold of Verbinski's THE RING and hang on for the ride of your life.