Very Scary, Worth Seeing, but too many questions unanswered

Rating: Null/10 (24 October 2002)

This movie is scary, there is no denying that. Gore verbinski does a great job of giving the audience a little of everything you could want from a scary/horror movie; dark, dank settings, creepy kids, a gloomy storyline, plenty of "jump" moments, and an overall plot that keeps you guessing. The characters do a good job not overacting, which is so often the norm in movies like this, and Naomi Watts is an absolute treat to watch on the screen not only because of her absolutely breathtaking beauty but also because of her obvious talent. There is no all looks and no talent, or as I like to call it Julia Roberts syndrom here. The girl can act. So if you are looking for a recommendation it is simple; GO AND SEE IT!!!!! It will creep you out, at least a little bit, and around Halloween time, as we all parade around to haunted house after haunted house, isn't that what it is all about?
But for those of you who did see it, doesn't the movie lose a bit by leaving so many questions unanswered? When I say questions I mean questions about plot holes which, after a night of thinking on it, there seem to be a plethera of. SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!
First, why does it seem that the video tape is, on one hand a documented recording of Samara's memory, and at other times it appears it is fortelling the future for the characters? At one point, upon leaving a building, Watt's character walks under a ladder and remembers the ladder from the video. Fortelling the future. But why does the video do nothing of the sort for the rest of movie? Wouldn't it have been better if it were simply a recorded memory?
Second, why is the father still alive? He obviously knows of the tape, has even seen it, knows what it can do, knows what his daughter does through the tape, and we know that Samara hated her father. So why does he live until he takes his own life? Why not go after him? Why not kill him?
Third, this is less of a plot hole then just an absolutely assinine thing, but why, when she goes up to the horse and it freaks out does she continue to stay near it/try and calm it down? Wouldn't you get the sense after, I don't know, the second full body convulsion the horse has that maybe you are not a horse person? Maybe you would walk away at that point but Watt's character keeps going as if some magic combination of "Shhsh" and "calm down boy" would put the horse into a deep sleep. Yes, we get it, the horses hated Samara because she hated them and killed them so they can sense her presence. We don't need a completely insane moment to prove it.
Fourth, why wouldn't Watts have picked up on the fact that the doctor asks Samara on the tape if she still wants to hurt people? How could she just gloss over that? It was pretty clear, doctor on the other side of a glass sheet, first bad indicator right there, asking a very creepy looking girl whether she wanted to hurt her mother anymore and very creepy girl answering no but she can't help it. Boy, not something I would soon forget. You would think that would have been a clue that the girl was just a bit off and that maybe it wasn't just about a mean old man making her live in a barn all the time.
Fifth, why does the father hit her? He doesn't try and kill her, she isn't taking evidence that could lead to some sort of harmful event for him, and she recovers pretty easily from it just to watch him kill himself. Why hit her? He was just pissed she used the VCR without asking? He decided it was either that or put off killing himself and heat up some coffee? Doesn't make much sense.
Sixth, if the kid, who gets all huffy when he finds out his parents helped out the girl, knew that Samara was evil and should not be helped or aided in any way, why not tell his mom? Why does he just sit back, draw some horrible painting, the kid has no talent, and make it seem as if the girl is a nice little ghost who comes to visit him? Why not have the " oh by the way, that girl that comes to me and shows me things, you know the girl who said she is gonna kill you, well she is pretty damn evil so be careful and for Goidsakes don't help her" conversation? That never crossed the kids mind?
Seventh, what is the point of finding out, so late in the game, that the guy, the random VCR geek guy, is in fact the father of the kid? Why are we told this in the middle of the movie? Why is this information so shocking that it requires a sudden, poignant moment of it's own in the MIDDLE of the movie? Does anyone really believe that people would have left thinking "Boy that was good, but I really wish they would have saved who the kids father was until right in the middle of the flick. That would have made it an Oscar contender."
Finally, what the hell good does it do the creepy evil girl to have been released from her well? Instead of killing people through the TV she now comes out of the TV and kills people. Wow, big freakin Wow. She still has to wait I guess, she still has to go through the tape, and she still, I assume, has to wait 7 days or she would have killed the guy that same day as when she was released. And in the end Watts and the kid beat the system by making copies and showing it to people. So thats all you have to do I guess, make a copy and sho it to someone else and your off. So why is thise so damn bad? Tell that person to make a copy, the next person the same, and on and on and on until poor little creepy evil girl can't kill anyone cause their all making copies. Of course she would have a huge comeback when VCR's are all replaced by DVDs and no one can make a copy anymore, but until then she is kinda up the creek. And this after doing so much to get herself freed from the well, she still has to live/kill by the same rules. Kinda kills the whole plot at the end, doesn't it.
But funny thing is I still recommend this movie. Go see it and don't think till you get out of the theatre. Then you can rip it to shreads of the course of a few days.