Finally something that is actually scary.

Rating: 9/10 (15 April 2006)

A lot of horror movies make three very common mistakes.
Mistake #1: The suspenseful approach.
With this approach, the filmmakers basically have a character- or characters- wander around in a decidedly "creepy" location. The location is made "creepy" by various, mysterious sounds, poor lighting, and ominous music. The ominous music and creepy sounds all slowly rise in volume until they reach a climax. We sit on the edge of our seats, waiting for something to happen. They tease us a little, having the character(s) jump at harmless shadows for a little while. Finally, the "evil thing" comes out and gets somebody.
The problem with this approach, is that they're not really scaring us. By forcing us to wait so long to see "the evil thing" and by taking advantage of the natural reactions that occur in our brains when we hear certain sounds, they make us "edgy." Edginess does not constitute fear.
Mistake #2: "Let's startle them."
I guess some filmmakers started realizing that several viewers are now able to tell the difference between suspense and fear, so they've decided to try and startle us in the theaters. They cut the music, the lighting and the jumping at shadows. Now, they just have things pop out at us with nearly no warning.
The entire audience gasps, and you might even hear a few shrieks here and there. I can almost see the filmmakers smiling triumphantly.
The problem with this approach? Again, that's not fear- it's a natural human reaction to react violently at sudden, loud noises. So for a few minutes, we actually believe we are in danger, drawing us into the film- but then, soon enough the feeling vanishes.
Mistake #3: They try to gross us out.
This is an ages old mistake, and still hasn't been remedied. When all else fails, the filmmakers load their movie down with blood and gore.
Too bad more of us aren't afflicted with hemophobia.
Oh, and let's not forget the hideous, misshapen, occasionally-vomitting creatures. We turn away in horrified disgust. Of course, because I don't want to see some slimy, decaying thing ripping the head off a screaming victim I must be just terrified by your movie.
That's not the only problem with that, though. It- like the first approach- has become predictable, as the more disgusting things they show us the more desensitized we become.
...
Now you -probably- want to know what my whole point was, besides that I am immune to "fear" so incorrectly named. My point really was that one movie rose above the sea of monotony and crowned itself king in the world of horror.
That movie was The Ring.
The movie starts off with showing us "the film." The film itself, instead of being overly gruesome, is instead rather mysterious, disturbing, and strange. This film inadvertently causes the death of Rachel (played by Naomi Watts)'s young niece. Yet even that death was done nicely. Though we do understand something ominous is going to happen, we don't understand what or why. This gives a sense of eeriness to the film that would not have been possible otherwise. In fact, they don't even actually show the young girl's death. They skip straight to the funeral, where we're given clues of the horror of the whole thing- yet we still have no idea what's going on.
A favorite author said, "There is nothing more powerful as what is left to the imagination." The Ring proves this with increasing cleverness as the film goes on. Journalistic Rachel tries to discover what happened to the young girl. The only one who witnessed her death was confined in a mental institution- but we see that later.
Meanwhile, Rachel goes to the place where her niece was the week before her death, after discovering that all of her friends that had been there died in the exact moment that she did. Rachel had heard about "the film" from two acquaintances of her niece at the funeral, and decided to go to the cabin where it was located and watch it.
After she watches it, she is visibly frightened. Then she receives that ominous phone call around which the film is based.
"You have 7 days left to live." So that is the core of the movie. Rachel tries to find out what the movie is about and what it is, at the same time trying to save her own life. Eerily, one the scenes in the movie become manifested in reality for everyday that passes. First, Rachel walks under a ladder. Next, as she's making a copy of the film for study purposes, the fly from the film becomes real. Next, nosebleeds- and it goes on and on.
This is meanwhile building suspense as well as mystery, without utilizing the "characters jumping at shadows" stereotype. To our surprise, also, it starts to frighten us.
Fear...that ominous pain that fills our stomachs at the thought of the unknown; that shiver in your skin. For me, it's not manifested by seeing hideous things, perhaps more suited to scaring a young child than a well-informed adult (or adolescent). For me, it is an intellectual experience. The more the fear makes sense or feels "real" the more afraid we feel inside. The Ring forces us to use our imagination again, to think beyond what we are used to experiencing. It touches the fear inside us all.
In order for a movie to feel scary, it must haunt me long after the pictures have finished showing. The Ring does that excellently, by forcing us to watch the movie Rachel does before the actual movie starts. We see what she has seen, and so, we fear that what she has feared may come upon us.
To this day, when a fly flies near any electronic screen- whether computer or television- I cannot suppress a shudder.