Unraveling of mystery adds to appeal of film

Rating: Null/10 (23 December 2003)

One aspect of this film that I particularly liked was how the main character unravels the mystery: by studying the tape, going to the internet, newspapers, hospital records, the old farmhouse, etc. This was so well done so you felt these were real clippings, real records. The photos of the lighthouse, the horses, Ann Morgan, the snippets of text in the articles were haunting. The music adds to this. This reminds me a bit of "Blowup" where a photo is searched to find a killer. Another eerie investigation takes place in "Angel Heart". Also in The Shining, Nicholson discovers the history of the hotel by looking at old articles in the basement. The viewer becomes as obsessed with the history as the characters in the films do. In The Ring, one is left wanting to see more of the history to explain what has happened. I could have had another hour or so on this investigation side of the film. This was a really classy horror film.