Ringu: As in hokey, a variation of hokey-pokey.

Rating: 1/10 (22 October 2002)

Just because Spielberg's DreamWorks made a horror movie (an American version of a Japanese hokey) doesn't mean it's better than the budget-challenged "Nightmare on Elm Street", "Halloween", the campy 1957 "Voodoo Island" or the maligned "Abandon". The most dreadful thing about "The Ring" is its characters' lack of belief in and respect for themselves. Thus, to me, this movie draws comparison to the equally-dreadful, boring and inane "Blair Witch Project".
My neurotic and droll mind actually thought that DreamWorks' marketing funds generated (a) the good buzz on this movie from the starving media, (b) the bad buzz from the media on "Abandon" (another inane thriller movie which opened at the same time as "The Ring" on 10/18/02) (Translation: No marketing funds from Paramount), and (c) the phony squeals, screams and applause from the Saturday night audience at Loews Cinema at Universal City in Los Angeles.
In the end, it's all about money and good old-fashioned ballyhoo. DreamWorks produced another profitable movie that the public wants. No argument there. But for the media to say and the adoring public to start believing that "The Ring" is an intelligent and a genuine horror movie, now, that's a lot of croak.