I haven't covered my eyes at the movies in a long time...

Rating: 10/10 (18 October 2002)

...and I'm not saying that in a negative sense. The Ring, a remake of a popular Japanese horror film, is about a mother/reporter who looks into the mysterious death of her young cousin and four of her friends. Their deaths are rumored to be because they watched a video tape, after which they had seven days to live. Following their tracks, Rachel (played by Naomi Watts), comes upon the tape, and after watching it, begins to believe in its myth. Now she has seven days to solve the mystery behind the tape, before it claims her life.
There's more to it than this, of course. Rachel has a son who seems to have some semi-telepathic abilities. She also gets help from Noah, a photographer, and father of her child. Other than that, I don't want to give away any of the movie's secrets.
The Ring is quite good at making you jump. Some may call them cheap thrills, but there's more to it than that. The days seem to fly by so fast, you're really counting the time left when suddenly the next freaky thing occurs and makes you shift in your seat. At several points, I covered my eyes because, I knew I was going to jump, and I really didn't need more nightmares tonight. I haven't covered my eyes for a movie in a long time.
So, is it as good as the original? I think so. I love the original, but at the same time, there's just something cleaner about this version. Things not explained in the original are clarified here. The ending is not as creepy, but it is creepy in its own different sense. Go see it if you liked the original. Go see it if you like being scared. I'd go see it again, but not alone.