Talk us through itJournalist Rachel is dragged into an urban myth after her niece dies in mysterious circumstances. Rachel eventually discovers that her niece's death is due to her watching a video tape. Catch the tape, received a scary phone call, seven days later you are deader than Danni's singing career. Naturally Rachel being both a chick and a journalist watches the tape for herself, receives a spooky phone call, and has seven days to find an out clause in the contract. She contacts her ex husband Noah, a film expert, who checks out the video and discovers that it isn't some sort of weird hoax, he also receives a phone call from the beyond. And to round out the festivities Rachel's strange and aloof son Aidan also catches the show. Talk about one busy Revenant folks. With time running out and all roads leading to the Morgan horse ranch of despair, can Rachel find out the truth behind the tape, and more importantly break the cycle before she becomes the next victim.
Review"She doesn't like it in the barn. The horses keep her up at night." - AidanWelcome to our Naomi Watts tribute horror movie marathon where the crew from ScaryMinds dig in big on the Watts back catalogue of dark genre movies. Okay we might not get through every horror movie Naomi has in her resume but we'll give it a go culminating in the big ape extravaganza from Peter Jackson. Hey what better place to start than with the chiller The Ring that gave everybody goose bumps back in 2002. Settle on in kids I'm going down the well of fear and intrigue. Like I would imagine a lot of horror fans of the time that didn't keep their nose to the dark genre press I had never heard of the movie and only ran across The Ring via picking it up from my local rental place on the strength of a cool looking DVD cover. Actually from memory, and this is pretty vague, one of the Rolling Stone Critics had a quote on the front cover that pretty much sold the film on it's own. That would be as opposed to say any quote on a DVD from that AICN website that guarantees I'll get something else. Anywise concurred at the time with the RS dude, you really do need to have a change of knickers on hand if you are breaking your "ring" cherry. One of the few horror movies that have managed to remind me exactly why I watch horror in the first place, that chill running down your back works like a brought thing kids. Director Videl Verbinski scores a major with The Ring, for true horror fans able to suspend their disbelief and rock on with the story this is the real deal. There are no prisoners being taken here as Verbinski hits that 1970s vibe and lets the atmosphere and movie blocking do his work for him. The Director films in a washed out look and almost goes black and white with his lack of colours, just like Hideo Nakata did with the original Ringu (1998). The movie is simply unrelenting, sombre, and able to sustain the dread atmosphere over two hours of the screws gradually being tightened on the Audience. It's almost a relief when we get towards the end till Verbinski delivers a knockout punch that will have you on your back begging for mercy. There is no mercy to be had here, this is a true horror movie for fans of the genre rather than the current crop of conveyor belt teen scares that have about as much fright factor as a particular insipid rom-com. For sure it's on my top ten list of most scary movies ever made! I noted a couple of scenes where Verbinski proved to Disney Execs that he should be handed the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and had me up applauding at the share artistry involved. It's not often we can talk art and horror in the same breath kids let me savour the moment, how sweet it is. Rachel goes out to stand on the small balcony of her apartment high up in one of those hive like apartment buildings while Noah checks out the tape and thus seals his fate. She looks out over the urban landscape that is pretty much just made up of apartment blocks like her own. Talk about depressing, maybe seven days left to live isn't such a bad thing given this environment. Rachel spies on her neighbours' apartments, in each a television is on and blaring away. It's a remarkable insight into the urban nightmare and the seductive nature of the idiot box in keeping the denizens of the concrete jungle unaware of their condition. Later in the movie when Rachel makes the Morgan ranch she doesn't have such a good time convincing Richard Morgan to help her out. As we find there's a secret involved there that ol' Dick is quietly trying to sweep under the carpet. Rachel naturally sneaks into Richard's house after dark to do some snooping. The scene is lit by the strobe like effect of a light house and we get this real cool noire style black and white effect going down. We know something is going to happen, Verbinski milks the scene for all it's worth, and the audience are left stunned at how simple it is to ramp up the tension without relying on a sudden jump scene. 
The Ring is framed by the seven days Rachel has to work out what is going down, what the video tape means, and how to get out of her fate before it also engulfs the inquisitive Aiden. Actually we're talking eight days as Noah viewed the tape a day after Rachel and Verbinski is keeping his ace card up his sleeve right to the end. Interestingly Writer Ehren Kruger and Verbinski shy away from the out and out nihilism of Nakata's original ending. If you haven't caught Ringu yet then check it out folks to see how tougher the Japanese are in their horror ideas than the sanitised U.S product. Don't get me wrong here Verbinski has pretty much made a horror classic that a lot of fans are going to give pride of place to in their collections. While the movie is a remake of an at times superior Japanese fright flick the American Director brings his own brand of mayhem to the crash test dummy party and won me over while doing so. There's a lot of striking images waiting to spear the unwary, besides the actual jamboree of experimental mind fracking on the actual tape the tree with the red leaves is simply outstanding, there's an effective use of subliminal images that keep the creeping feeling in the room, and the whole lighting going down will have you on the highway to hell before you realise you left home. I have to also applaud Ehren Kruger for putting some substance behind the whole seven days idea. That's just plain creepy and a pretty scary idea in and of it's self, imagine if you were down the well! Verbinski simply whips the hell out of his cast getting performance that match the strong stylised show he's putting on for the audience. Naomi Watts (Rachel) dominates the movie and lets her blue eyes do the talking. Watts is full on here, owns the role, and holds the movie together through the entire running time. Daveigh Chase (Samara) does okay with her limited exposure but isn't on the same level as Rie Inou's Sadako from the original movie. Martin Henderson (Noah) equally doesn't rate against Ryuji performance in Ringu but then again Henderson plays it wide eyed without all the Japanese machoism Ryuji injected. And finally David Dorfman (Aidan) was otherworldly and a strange casting choice. Guess Verbinski was after that connection between Aidan and Samara that adds another dimension to the chill factor, "she never sleeps". Hans Zimmer handed in an eerie and effective score that had me on edge throughout the movie, but he really let's it rock when he delivers on the incidental sounds. That noise when the video is being played works like a day labourer on a road gang.
Summary ExecutionWhile acknowledging Ringu is a more effective horror flick, The Ring still managed to rock my world and had me wondering if I shouldn't skip a couple of scenes. Been a while since a horror flick has made me want to do that. Director Verbinski does enough to differentiate his movie from the original, an additional polishing there, and perhaps makes a more Audience assessable film in the process. I was certainly caught up in the movie and had some fun times while an almost classic ghost story went down.The Ring was one of those dark genre movies that come along every so often to make a mockery of people stating the horror genre is in decline. While there's a limited overall presence on the box office charts, horror is not a big box office winner, every now and again something achieves hit status and raises it's hand for the fans. The Ring managed a solid $250 odd million World Wide as audiences flocked to see what the buzz was all about. Full recommendation, strip naked run around the streets, this is one ghost story you are going to want to ensure you have caught up with. There's a mystery to be solved, ghostly happenings, and a couple of scenes that will have you jumping like a wild night out up the cross. For best results add a darkened room and a bottle of Aussie red.
ScaryMinds Rates this movie as ... The mark would of been even higher if it was an original movie. People didn't get the horse huh?
|
