Truly Terrifying

Rating: Null/10 (4 March 2004)

Gore Verbinski (The Mexican, Mouse Hunt) has run with his first opportunity at making a horror movie and, in the process, handed fans of the genre a taught, suspense filled thriller with brains and scares. The movie opens with what has become an obligatory `opening scare' that involves two girls, Katie and Becca, scaring each other with talk of a videotape. The tape, it seems, is cursed and after the viewer watches it, he or she receives a call explaining his or her fate: death will come in seven days. Kate admits that she has seen the tape. In a scene of brilliant tension, this opener takes us through Katie's final minutes; it has been exactly seven days to the hour since she has seen the tape.
We are then introduced to Katie's cousin, Aidan, and her aunt, Rachel Keller (played by Naomi Watts, Mulholland Dr.). Rachel is a newspaper reporter and, at Katie's wake, begins a search for the cause of Katie's death. Rachel learns of the cursed videotape and is quickly tangled in the mystery. Her detective work leads her to Shelter Mountain Inn where she watches the video tape and receives the legendary call. `Seven days,' she is told, and the count down begins.
Rachel and friend Noah (who also watches the tape) work together to discover the origins of the tape. The hints are many and varied and, at first, don't seem to add up to much. There are horses, a lighthouse and a family called the Morgans. How they are linked and what they have to do with the videotape, I will never tell. Midway through the film, the urgency the investigation carries is increased and the ramifications of the reality of the urban legend are amplified.
The movie is expertly directed. There's a drenching rain to many of the scenes and even when the weather clears up, their remains a wetness of dread. The colors are subdued except for a red that figures prominently into the story. Overall, Verbinski has shown his talent in droves here, successfully keeping the pace taught, the visuals interesting and the tensions paramount.
The acting is great across the board. Some mention was made of the performance of the young boy, but I found him to be quite charming and much better than many child actors. Naomi Watts does well (even if she is handed some questionable lines) and very much shows her versatility of the actress. Her work here is completely different than knockout performance in Mulholland Dr..
The only problem I found with the movie is that, taken in a series of unnerving parts, there are some moments that feel very familiar. The film borrows heavily from other popular horror films. Aside from this, however, the sum of the parts shines as an excellent horror film.

This film has a long history. It is a remake of a Japanese film, Ringu, which is an adaptation of a book. I have seen Ringu and find that film to be slightly scarier, though lacking in plot. The Ring fleshes out the story and accurately recreates the impending dread of the original film. This movie is a genre fan's dream: a suspenseful, smart horror movie that, as a whole, is highly original. The Ring make no attempt to spoon feed the audience and leaves the viewer to connect the dots.