Search - The Ring (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition) on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 10/18/2022...

The Ring - The first watch of this will put the creeps deep into you but thereafter, its not so bad when you watch it again. A must for horror and terror fans!

3 1/2 stars for The Ring

Joker | Michigan | 09/17/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I want to make my review short.

There are over 1,000 reviews of this movie so far, so read those for some really in-depth analysis of the plot. I just want to talk about a few things.

I generally like this movie. It's a good story, spooky, suspenseful, dark, and gloomy. I think the best thing this movie has going for it is the atmosphere. There is seemingly a never-ending overcast sky for the entire movie. I think this creates a consistent spooky atmosphere. The other thing this movie has going for it is that it's scary and suspenseful most of the time. Another thing - the music by Hans Zimmer is highly effective and fits in with what is on the screen. This music is not overpowering. Instead, it's very low volume, subtle, and delicate.

One thing that just jumped out at me was that this movie borrowed from The Omen (1976 & 2006) and The Changeling (1980). Watch the movie and you'll see what I mean. Also, the girl with the hair over her eyes who was thrown into the well looks a lot like Regan from The Exorcist (1973) did when she was possessed.

Overall, this is a pretty good flick that I rate at 3 1/2 stars."

All she wanted was to be heard!

Jim-Bob Koenig | Fergus Falls, MN USA | 07/27/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For the last couple of years I have been searching for a scary movie that can actually scare me, and this is that movie. This movie will be sure to have you clinging to the edge of your seat or buried in the arms of your partner. It has the perfect balance between being to gorey but still scaring the crap out of you.
The movie is based around a mysterious tape that has strange images on it that must be decoded to figure out why you die a week after watching the tape! Can she do it in time?
Overall this movie easily deserves five stars and I wish I could give it more! I highly recommend watching this movie and if you watch it at night in the dark it really adds to it."

Bringing Japanese Horror Stateside

Zachary Koenig | Forest Lake, MN | 07/28/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Here in the United States, our horror movie culture is defined by mask-wearing, knife-wielding psychos like Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees. Over in Japan, though, their horror is much more dark and symbolic. "The Ring" (an adaptation of the Japanese "Ringu") brings that cinematic style over here.

For a basic plot summary, "The Ring" introduces a video tape that, when watched, will result in the viewer getting a phone call telling them they will die in seven days...which is usually exactly what happens. However, when the tape is seen by a journalist (Naomi Watts) and inadvertently by her son, they become engaged in a race against the clock to try and decipher the tape's mysterious imagery and the real story behind the ring.

The dark, disturbing imagery in this film is really what makes it a horror stand-out. Since we are accustomed to more in-your-face scare scenes, this oblique style proves to be even more terrifying. The young girl with the straight hair over her eyes, the well, the dead horses, and the horrifying faces of the tape's victims all add up to a cornucopia of disturbing images.

"The Ring" is also an exercise in the cerebral. Not all the answers are given up front or thrown in the viewers' face. Instead, we are forced to evaluate all the imagery and subtle clues to piece things together. To paraphrase Hitchcock, what we don't know/see is often scarier than the obvious.

Overall, I consider "The Ring" to be a seminal horror film for fans of the genre (right up there with Halloween and Saw). Given the chance, I would have bumped the star-rating up to 4.5.
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