The Ring [Blu-ray] |  | Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
This item is no longer available
Rating:  1068 reviews
Media: Blu-ray
Region: 1
ASIN: B001990LJG
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Amazon.com
Disturbing images and a few good shocks don't stop The Ring from being a hash of half-baked ideas. It's the kind of frightfest you'll watch to set a chilling mood or spook your susceptible friends, but when you try to sort it out, this well-mounted American remake (of the 1998 Japanese hit Ringu, based on Koji Suzuki's popular novel) collapses into a heap of incoherent parts. The negligible plot follows a Seattle reporter (Naomi Watts) as she investigates the death of her niece, the victim of a mysterious videotape that, according to vague urban legend, causes the viewer's death seven days later. (Fear Dot Com borrowed the same idea while avoiding this film's lofty pretensions.) The reporter, her son, and her estranged boyfriend view the tape, and the film's countdown structure follows them into deepening layers of terror--all quite effective until the movie attempts to explain itself. At that you're better off shutting down your brain and letting the creepy visuals take over. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1063 more reviews...
7DAYS July 1, 2009
M.R. Sigmund (Indiana, USA)
ok this movie is an ok movie. it is one of those japanese to english remakes. if i can compare it to anything it would be the grudge. the only reason why you would want to watch this movie more than once is when there are a bunch of people over who have never watched it and you wanna have a good time. i bought it only because it was the first ever horror movie i watched and it would be fun to relive what experiences i had with it. basically its an ok movie but i think someone should rent this movie not buy it.
 SAD PLOT, BUT WONDERFULLY CREEPY February 28, 2009
Geary A., Jones
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I always have problems with movies that require me to disconnect my brain to watch them, and THE RING, like THE GRUDGE, falls into that category. The acting is good, and there is plenty of creepiness, and shock value. It started out with an interesting premise, but was totally missing any semblance of a coherent plot to hold the genuine moments of thrills together. Still, it was far scarier than THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.
I still prefer the Japanese original February 5, 2009
Eric S. Kim (Southern California)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I watched both the original Japanese version and the American remake, and I must say that I still prefer the original. The American remake is pretty good, but the silent eeriness that's constant in the original works more for me rather than the high-voltage "jump" effects. Plus, eighteen-year old Sadako is much scarier than ten-year old Samara. But performance-wise, Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson are more believable. Plus, Brian Cox is in the film, so it brings my grade up a notch. Finally, there's the cursed videotape. The longer American version is all for disturbing images and shrieking sound effects, while the original is only forty seconds long and contains only one scary image. I do believe I like the tapes equally (though I definitely wouldn't want to die in seven days when I watch them).
All in all, The American Ring works for its shock effects and its horrifying climax. I just prefer the original Japanese Ring for its silent eeriness and steady pacing.
Grade: B-
 The Ring December 29, 2008
Forrest Williams
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I first saw this movie when I was 11 in theaters, it was the first horror movie I had ever seen, and it had me terrified for months.
For me it far surpassed the "borderline" from scary to too scary in a single leap.
Ever since then (6 years), however, no horror movies have been in the least bit frightening. I honestly marvel at the stuff that gets called "horror", and for the longest time I was searching for horror movies that were "actually scary", only to learn inevitably that there are very, very few.
Here is the distinguishing difference: there are movies that scare you while you watch them, and there are movies that scare you after you watch them. This is both. This is the kind of film that haunts you while you are awake in the middle of the day, or just walking around your house, or going to sleep. Your imagination (if you have one, which many people do not, and that is why they don't appreciate this film) will run wild with the imagery, sounds, and atmosphere The Ring creates, long after you have seen it.
There are plenty of problems with the film, many things that could have been done better in my opinion, but regardless there are some terrific moments in The Ring, and believe me when I say that you will create your own moments after you have seen it. It definitely is on par with its Japanese predecessor Ringu, and really stands on its own.
No gore, no cheesy slasher killers hiding in the closet, no teenagers getting chased around dark houses. This is some real psychological horror, and despite all its shortcomings, I love this film.
.... and then you die November 24, 2008
E. A Solinas (MD USA)
Every horror buff knows -- the horror that creeps up on you gradually is much, much scarier the one who bounces out and yells "boo" as it decapitates somebody with a machete.
And sadly, most current "horror" movies lack horror, because it's easier to substitute it with screaming blondes, blood, guts and sharp objects. But "The Ring" is soaked in foreboding, creepiness and horrific imagery. Director Gore Verbinski relies heavily on the original Japanese movie for a lot of his remake's flavor, and the result is a slow-building terror that keeps twisting right up to the end.
Single mum Rachel (Naomi Watts) is attending her niece's funeral, after she died under bizarre circumstances. Several of her friends died on the exact same day, at the same time, which (surprise surprise) makes Rachel think this isn't a coincidence. So she investigates the mountain cabin all the kids stayed at a week ago, and finds an unlabeled videotape with a series of bizarre images -- and a curse that will kill you one week afterwards.
She enlists the help of her ex-boyfriend Noah (Martin Henderson) to help her unravel and break the curse. The secret of the tape is wrapped up in a young girl, Samara, who vanished from her adoptive parents' horse farm years ago. Somehow Samara's evil rage has lived in on her curse, and it will destroy Rachel, Noah and their son unless Rachel can find a way to escape it.
Remaking Asian horror movies is one of those movie trends that is hanging on in Hollywood, with everything from "The Grudge" to "The Eye" to "Bangkok Dangerous" getting the A-list Hollywood treatment. Some are good, some are mediocre, most are wretched. But "The Ring" was the first of these, adapted from Hideo Nakata's adaptation of Koji Suzuki's novel (cue cries of "but the original was better). And it achieves the distinction of being almost as atmospheric and haunting as the original.
Most of its brilliance comes from director Gore Verbinski, who thankfully did not simply use the name and concept, and invent a teenybopper plot around that. This is actually rather similar to Nakata's adaptation -- Verbinski alters some few things from the original film, but keeps the same dark, murky atmosphere and many of the same scenes. Even the cinematography has a dark, overcast look, filled with forbidding symbolism -- lots of grey skies and overflowing water. It's as if Samara's influence is permeating everything.
And what about the horror? It comes from the building tension as Rachel's deadline creeps toward us, and brief flashes of Samara's influence -- for example, that poor horse going berserk on a ferry, or the blurred-out faces of the doomed. The entire movie is infused with the feeling that something invisible and ghastly is just waiting to attack you, and it's just waiting for the right moment.
The keystone of this movie is Naomi Watts. This talented actress is virtually perfect as the perpetually worried, perplexed Rachel; as the deadline approaches, her fear and grief are almost palpably overwhelming. Henderson is also good, whether as a flip carefree artist or as a caring ex-boyfriend. Dorfman is the one disappointment -- he seems less like a little boy than a pompous oracle, and he's almost creepier than Samara.
Which is saying something, because Daveigh Chase is utterly chilling as Samara Morgan, a creepy little devil-child with black weedy hair over her face, a white nightgown and "Omen" eyes. In keeping with the watery theme of the movie, she always seems vaguely damp.
"The Ring" is one of those rarest kinds of movies -- a remake with its own flavour, even as it sticks to the original story. Excellent direction, great acting, and the haunting determination to never, ever watch an unlabeled movie again.
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