This is an old school horror film

Rating: 10/10 (27 October 2002)

Let's just get right to the point. The Ring is the scariest horror film I have seen in 20 years. Horror has been enjoying a healthy revival since 1996 when Scream got everyone interested in horror again. That is a good thing. What isn't so good is some of the cheap crap that has come out since then. For every film like The Sixth Sense and Blair Witch, you have a plethora of other films that have no idea what true horror is really about. Too many film makers think the best thing to do with horror is make a rockin' hardcore soundtrack and give us buckets of blood because this disguises the fact that most of them can't pace a film or invoke true chills. Gore Verbinski's The Ring returns to the roots of horror and pays homage to the early greats like Halloween and Psycho but almost goes a step past the greats, not quite but almost.
The Ring does something that only a handful of horror films have done, and that is it stays in your subconscious hours and days and weeks after you watch the film. Gore Verbinski and Ehren Krueger have combined to make a masterpiece of modern horror that goes beyond anything that has come out for the last twenty years. This film is that good. For a guy who grew up loving films like Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street, I have been yearning for a film like this. A film that not only is a great scary film but a film that is a pure kinetic experience, one that makes me look behind me at my silent television sitting in the corner of the room. Is Samara there? When my radio begins to go haywire and search for stations on its own, is that Samara? This film gets inside of you and stays there. But it eats away at you like the nightmares that Malcolm McDowell is forced to watch in A Clockwork Orange. It attacks your mind and berates your senses. Samara is one bad ass villain. The Ring is a masterpiece and as I have already stated, this is the best horror film to come out since 1984 when Freddy Krueger stalked us in our dreams. The Ring may have it's roots in Japanese horror, but it owes much of its pedigree to all horror greats of the past, whether they are American, Canadian, Japanese or Italian. There is a bit of it all in here and the results are kinetic.
When I watch a horror film, I know it is effective when that chill comes over you. Not the kind that makes you want to put a jacket on but the kind that literally starts from the nape of the neck and goes down the beginning of your butt. It's the chill that attacks your body and tells you that you are now at the mercy of the film and nothing you see from here on out is going to be expected. That is how The Ring is. The Ring had me scared. It had me nervous and it had me thrilled. Having fear envelop you is one of the most primal emotions you can experience. The Ring is a primal movie.
There are a myriad of reviews in here that will tell you how amazing this film is, you should listen to them. This is a year that has been blessed with brilliant horror. With superb efforts like Mothman Prophecies, Frailty and now The Ring, 2002 should be known as the best year for horror films since the early 80's. If you only see one horror film this year, please see The Ring. If you want to be scared, see The Ring. It is a guarantee that this film will frighten and maybe even traumatize you.
If films like The Changeling, The Shining and Halloween are synonymous with horror to you, then add The Ring to your vernacular.
Oh, and you will never look at your television set the same again.
And one final note. There is one infamous scene in this film, near the end, and I'm sure we all know what it is, and this is one of those scenes that will stand the test of time as one of the great images in horror films. I know horror aficionadoes will recall scenes like Hitchcock's shower scene, the bouncing ball in The Changeling, Michael Myers rising in the background at the end of Halloween, the head spinning scene in Exorcist, Freddy's tongue coming out of phone in Nightmare on Elm Street and Jason's first kill wearing his hockey mask in Friday the 13th Part III just to name a few. But *****************big spoiler here if you have not scene the movie********** when Samara comes out of the T.V., that is one of the most indefeasible and primal scenes I have seen in any horror film. It shocked me and thrilled me all at once. It is an image that will never leave my mind and it is just one of a plethora of scenarios that makes the Ring such an absolute masterpiece.