HTF REVIEW: "The Ring" (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[Debbie E]

Yeah but for that I have to copy and paste the text I want quoted...

 

[Brett_B]

To save time, you can even just type "Q" or "q" and that works just as well.

 

[Brenton]

Wow... I never knew that... thanks...

 

[Felix Martinez]

About this whole VHS thang...

If the tape was "created" while the kids were in the cabin, how did they know they would die in 7 days? IIRC, the voice on the phone says "7 days." What does this mean without context? If I'm incorrect and the voice says "in 7 days you die," then forgive me - my memory's dismal.

In the beginning of the film, the girls are talking as if it's this well-known urban myth. Technically, if the girl in the beginning was unwittingly present at the tape's creation, then she would have no fear as to what the hell "7 days" meant. Who did she know that viewed the tape and died?

My take on it was that the tape was a popular urban myth, and that these "7 days" deaths have been happening for years. To say the tape was created recently means these girls know the myth without history, yet if the tape existed for years, there's the whole issue about VHS format, etc. and how that tape would have survived.

Now, if you play the movie *backwards*...

Felix

 

[Jenna]

Chet, I had a similar impression regarding the origin of the tape that the kids in the cabin were watching, except:

I don't think the kids were trying to videotape a show off of that TV due to the poor reception. Remember, the Inn's manager stated that "the reception in that area had never been any good". I got the impression that Sumara's "spirit" interfered with the over-the-air reception, and that her thoughts/memories were "telepathically" transferred to the tape media...thus the statement later in the recording studio that "the tape was not made on a machine."

 

[John Geelan]

Just watched in on a rental dvd from Blockbuster.

Worth a rental as it is atmospherically spooky but not absolutley terrifying.
It doesn't reach my "must own" threshold.

I enjoyed it while it was playing but there is no need to ever see t again, much like The Blair Witch.

Now The Exorcist, there's a movie I can watch over and over. Classic evil tale. My wife still refuses to have anything to do with that film. Now that's scary.

 

[Jeff Kohn]

Remember, the Inn's manager stated that "the reception in that area had never been any good".

I actually this movie had fewer plotholes than you normally get in a horror/thriller movie.

 

[LennyP]

Another movie that should have been Highly Recommended, along with Below, instead of the crap that "rating" is "awarded" to this week...

 

[Jeremy Anderson]

Just because THAT tape was created when the kids tried to tape a football game, that doesn't mean it was the first tape or even the only tape. In fact, here's an interesting bit from the original series that I'm sure we'll see in the eventual American sequel -- people who have seen the tape and have survived can actually create new versions of the tape just by coming in contact with a videotape, so there's no way they can end the curse (for example, by showing the tape to a terminally ill patient and then destroying it). The whole plot thread about the friend who witnessed the first girl's death and is now in the mental hospital was lifted from Ring 2, where we learn that she can reproduce the images from the tape by simply being near a television. In life, Samara was able to transfer images to x-ray film, and in death she is still transferring images -- the images of her death. Her victims are cursed with the same ability.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is this: There are NO plot holes... only things left for future exploration.

 

[Felix Martinez]

Basically, what I'm trying to say is this: There are NO plot holes... only things left for future exploration.

The more I think about it, the more I stand by my observation. How does the girl in the beginning of the film know about the urban legend of the tape? That opening conversation between the girls doesn't make much sense.

As for references to Ring 2 or info from the rest of the Ring series to fill in the blanks, Roger Ebert has a movie rule I actually agree with: "if it isn't shown (or discussed), it didn't happen" (I'm paraphrasing horribly).

I still enjoyed the film from an aesthetic standpoint.

Cheers,
Felix

 

[Jeremy Anderson]

The girl knows about it because it's an urban legend - a B.S. story that people were handing around, like alligators in the sewers... except that in the context of the movie, it's something that really happened. In other words, the 4 who went to the cabin weren't the first to see the images on the tape... they were just the latest, because there had been other tapes before that.

And I'm not saying that one should rely on Ring 2 to "fill in the blanks." I'm simply saying that these things were intentionally left open in The Ring because it's only part of the story. Like any good serial, you wrap it up with some revelations but leave other things open for later.

 

[George_W_K]

As for references to Ring 2 or info from the rest of the Ring series to fill in the blanks, Roger Ebert has a movie rule I actually agree with: "if it isn't shown (or discussed), it didn't happen" (I'm paraphrasing horribly).

What if the sequel finally clears up some of these issues, but leaves more questions for another sequel, how will you feel about this movie then?

Or what if it is a trilogy and twenty years later they decide to write a prequel to show the origin of The Ring and then make Special Special Editions of the original three to fix the plot holes? (suddenly this implausible scenario doesn't sound so implausible-ahem-Lucas)

 

[richardWI]

I rented it last night and was pretty disappointed. Ever since sixth sense, every spooky movie has to have the obligatory "spooky kid that knows stuff the adults don't" (tm). It's such a clique. Even M. Night had to keep doing it in his subsequent movies!

Now that I've seen it and will die in 7 days, I'm glad. Who wants to live in a world where this passes as scary? Can you really base an almost 2 hour movie on a silly urban legend? Why don't the characters watch the tape everyday and get another 7 days of life?

Can anyone else fall down a deep deep well like Naomi Watts did and not break anything? Sheesh.

 

[George_W_K]

In regards to the last spoiler, you saw it happen on film so it obviously happened, right? The director just filmed actual events. Oh, sorry that was Blair Witch.

 

[Jeremy Anderson]

Maybe it would help if people knew that this movie is based on a trilogy of novels... hence the reason the movie feels kind of anti-climactic. Or not... Either way, I thought it was excellent.

 

[Juan Castillo]

This movie was so scary... I don't think I have ever seen a scarier movie ever.. oh wait, there was Ghost ship..

 

[JeremyFr]

cliche` not clique but anyways the kids in Signs didn't know more than the adults did as you say yes they were open minded and were the ones to start figuring it out first as well as believe all of it but there was no I know more than you persona. And with the ring where do you even get that from. It was simply about 4 kids that die, a woman that finds the tape that led to there death, and then her discovery of the story behind the tape and figuring out how to survive watching it.
at anyrate I see no cliche` here except the I'm not giving any movie a chance cliche` that so many people have j/k but seriously its entertainment for christ's sake dont take it so seriously.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Actually, the whole thing with the kid knowing more than the mother had to do with a few things, most notably the fact that it was in the original movie (which was spawned from a mini-series on TV, which was spawned from a book series, which was made before the Sixth Sense). So, in fact, The Sixth Sense ripped something from the Ring.

Other than cheap scares (like fast cuts) no movie is really scary unless it's a documentary. It's a movie, it's FAKE, it's filled with ACTORS. Nothing is real. It CAN'T be scary. It's all about perception. Because of this convention of film, I can't find any movies to be actually scary.

And I don't know about the rest of you, but since when was a little girl swearing and throwing up pea soup, combined with a relatively fake looking head-spin effect scary? The whole movie (The Exorcist) was pretty lame, IMO. The scariest part (or rather, coolest) was with the little outline of Satan that pops up at one point (it's in the newer version, not sure about the old one).

 

[Chet_F]

Jenna,

Exactly!! In fact you just shed some light on something I hadn't even realized.

The scenes in the mental hospital where they discover the x-ray films from Samara. So she is obviously telepathically sending those images to the tape when it was in the vcr.


Thanks! Now the movie makes even more sense. For some reason I never put the two together.

 

[Alex Spindler]

My take is that Samara has been exerting her influence as soon as a cabin was built over her well. I would imagine she's been causing people nightmares, calling them on the phones, and projecting on their photographs for some time. When a VCR was added to the cabin (mid eighties?), she was probably given a tendril to reach out and influence even more people. I would bet that she's been creating video tapes for years, most of which never make it out of the hands of those who view it. However, enough did make it out to create the urban legend. I would imagine that the legend was pretty obscure because I don't think many (or any) had figured that copying the tape would break the curse.

Personally, I think most urban legends are pretty silly. But I think the film stays very consistent with the legend they create and really make great things out of the possibility.

I think this is a great film, and part of that is just how well it embraces its concept and remains true to itself. An example of a film that totally abandons the core concept is Darkness Falls, which is what a film like this could have turned into. I think it is both scary and creepy at the right time, as well as having a really good cast.

Onto the DVD itself, why oh why couldn't they have put the trailer on it. The trailer is one of the most creative and effective horror trailers in recent memory. We know that they can include the trailer because it is reportedly included on the Ringu disc. I'm almost thinking that they have started to exclude trailers out of malice.