Creepy Midget-Boy With Too Much Purple Blush

Rating: Null/10 (22 November 2002)

I saw The Ring yesterday. Pretty scary. I'm glad I hadn't listened to the numerous voices saying it wasn't that great. It wasn't great - at least, not in the same way as a perfect movie like The Sixth Sense, to which this film owes some debt, such as in the creepy-boy-harbingering-evil-spirits department. It was jumbled and contained some story threads that had you analyzing whether the plot truly made sense, or whether it was a product of kitchen-sink horror-moviemaking. And sometimes, you feel a bit like Atlas trying to keep all your disbelief suspended. Like when that creepy midget-boy is talking, and you can't decide whether to be creeped out, or whether the makeup artist should be censured for having put way too much purple blush around his eyes. Still, at its core this is a scary flick which I'm glad I saw. Especially enthralling is the videotape which, according to the plot of the film, causes you to die if you watch it. Modeled after early 20th Century Surrealist films, it definitely grabs. It kinda makes you wish the whole movie were filmed like that.