Fails in Comparison to the original

Rating: Null/10 (22 October 2002)

I had high hopes for this movie. I had been reading about it for a while through other sites, and it intrigued me. When I learned that there was going to be an American re-make, I immediately wanted to see it. But, having read that the Japanese version is a great horror movie, I wanted to see the original first. So, I did. And I was blown away. The movie was almost perfect. It was scary, had a genius plot, good direction, and a spectacular ending. I went to see the "The Ring" on opening night, keeping in mind that some said it stayed true to the original. The opening scene was like the original, but then the movie heads off into something else. The screenplay for the U.S. version was terrible. They should've stayed along the lines of the original. I really do not like how the U.S. version had to explain everything, it left nothing to the imagination. Movies are much more frightening when the viewer has to imagine what happened, rather than throwing it right in their face. The Japanese version made the perfect setting, and it just gave that dark, eery, suspenseful feeling. "The Ring" Americanized the original, with cheap scares and typical "american suspense." Although the re-make was better than recent horror, it does not live up to original, and it threw too much different ideas in, i.e. horses, Samara's father, the extensive footage of the cursed video tape. If you want to see a true horror movie, watch "Ringu", and try thinking for yourself.