Chilling to the core *spoilers*

Rating: Null/10 (4 November 2002)

Initially, after seeing the vague previews for The Ring, I had no desire to see the movie. After all, the trailers simply showed a random bunch of clips from the movie muddled together with various noises and movie dialogue instead of directly telling me what the movie was about.
After the movie opened, however, I heard all of the buzz about the film and decided that it was worth a try. What a treat this movie was. It seems that finally Hollywood is getting the suspenseful movie down pat for this day and age. After years of silly teen horror flicks that managed not to chill the spine but tickle the funny bone, the filmmakers of today are turning to older, more subtle methods of finding ways to scare its audiences. Any classic filmmaker, such as Hitchcock, one of the masters of suspense, can tell you that less is more; you don't have to show a massive amount of blood and gore to induce fear. All you have to do is create a thoughtful movie with an engaging plot that meanders its way through the movie, building on our fears until the ultimate climax.
This is what The Ring aimed to do and succeeded greatly. I went into this movie on pins and needles and was like that all the way through until the end. The opening sequence grabbed at my attention through its mystery and imagery. I like the fact that the movie shows you the tape when Rachel views it, the first chronological movie time that it is viewed, instead of making you wait until closer to the end. I really liked how all of the elements of the tape are explained somewhere throughout the film, and a brief flashback of the tape is shown in order to remind you where you saw it first. At first I was annoyed by the presence of a young boy in the film, seeing as it might be another clone of Haley Joel Osment from The Sixth Sense, but David Dorfman is not overused; he is in the right number of scenes, and his importance is still felt. Naomi Watts did a terrific job as the mother who learns her lesson about listening to her child the hard way. When Rachel and Noah found Samara's body in the well, I thought that this was the end of the movie, so the demise of Noah in a later scene gave me a satisfying jolt.
There are so many people that have been posting negative comments about this movie, saying that the ending is ambiguous and that there are plot holes in the movie. Well, honestly think about it... do the best movies lay everything out on the table, completely clear-cut, that you understand it immediately? Perhaps for some people, but for me... I like a good thinker. I like a movie that gets in your head and makes you think about it long after you've left the theater, movies that you argue with your friends about, that you debate the meanings of. The Ring is one of these movies. Sure, there are questions that I have about this movie that I would love to have answered. But I prefer to make up my own theories about them for now... at least until the sequel comes out (which hopefully will be just as good). Isn't that half the fun of watching a movie?
9/10