borrowed tricks, unsatisfactory end

Rating: Null/10 (25 October 2002)

So I thought to myself after seeing this movie, wow I am kinda scared! And yet, I feel unsatisfied with my experience. Hmm. Why could that be?
The Ring (I have not seen the original Japanese version 'Ringu', but want to) steals terror tricks from every good horror movie I have ever seen. It steals the wonderfully frightening and macabre TV scenes from Poltergeist; it steals the backwoods myth/underground rumor fears from Blair Witch Project; it steals the loud animal (horse in this case) noises from everything I have ever seen from Cujo to The Omen to the hospital machines in The Exorcist; and most importantly it steals its visuals from Hitchcock (Rope, Psycho and North by Northwest come to mind). On top of all this, The Ring uses BUGS to creep us out. Yes, I am not kidding, centipedes and flies are used in this film to frighten us. Even this element is reminiscent of another film, Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom. Lastly, The Ring uses a run-of-the-mill Hollywood-hook punchline to grab us at the film's end. Who would have thunk it? Who could possibly have guessed it? Yes indeed, this entire time we the audience have been watching the very film that will curse us with a grueling and miserable week preceding our untimely demise! (In all fairness, despite the fact that this hook was so obvious to most intelligent viewers, it was still scary.)
I once heard that all good art is borrowed, and all great art is stolen. The Ring is indeed borrowed, and from a film I hear is far better. The acting is decent, the pacing is good, the effects are passable, and the horror tricks are well used. The film will scare you, this is true. But if you logically criticize the film, you will be left confused and unfulfilled. If you see the movie ask yourself this, at the end what are you really left with? An inexplicably evil video tape monster? Huh, I see scarier stuff on a daily basis in the Chicago Tribune's headlines.