*** Official "THE RING" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Jason Wilcox]

did anyone notice...
that towards the end of the movie when naomi and the guy get home to find the boy sleeping on the ground there is a silohuette of someone in the backround moving around a bit?

 

[Matt Stone]

Will the PAL disc work on my NTSC machine? Thanks.

If you have a PAL to NTSC converter...

 

[Travis D]

What I don't get is that people don't get how the tape was made. I thought it was pretty obvious. And I've never seen the original to cheat with.

The girl says that the guys were having problems recording a football game and got the tape instead. Later on, we discover that the tape recorder was directly on top of the well. And that is after we found out that Samara has the ability to imprint images into film. That is also why the faces of people who have seen the tape are skewed on photographic film. They have been tainted by Samara's imprint. As for Samara's father recognizing what is on the tape without seeing it, I believe those were the same images that Samara forced upon her mother that drove her mad.

And onto another point...

Some of the images that Samara projected upon the tape were from the viewpoint of Naomi Watts in the future. Now if Samara could see the future, then she knew her mother would kill her. If she knew her mother would kill her, then she also knew when the time was right to unleash her power unto the populace when those teens arrived that night. She planned it all from the beginning or before birth. That only adds to the theory that she was a demon-seed or even a straight up demon. With her supernatural (as well as post-mortem) powers like the ability to "burn" things and telekenesis only futher validate the argument. She is the representation of enduring evil which spreads like a literal virus.

There were, however, three things I did not get.

How did the girl know about the tape before it existed? Was it perhaps spread by one of the other 3 teens at the lodge? I did not exist in anyform before that night. Or did it? Now that I think about it, her father asked if Naomi's copy was the only one. That leads me to think that there was one made previously. In the lab where she was questioned. It would still be the same images since she's a psychic. And that copy made it's way into the realm of urban legend. The second thing was why the 2nd girl was put into a mental institute. Was it from the mere presence of Samara killing the cousin or did she see Samara or the killing itself? We know that Samara chased the cousin into the closet where she was backed int a corner with "the face," so it was more than likey the witnessing of the killing that "tainted" her as well. We know she was "tainted" in a way since she could tell how many days until Naomi Watts died by touching her. And finally, why in the HELL did they remove the line, "Everyone must suffure..."? That would have been the great last line that Samara had in the movie.

Whew...

 

[EricHaas]

I saw it today and enjoyed it thoughout the better part of its running time. This filmmaker has a firm sense of the macabre. It owes quite a bit to the Shining, the Sixth Sense, and Videodrome, but not so much to any one that it became a self-conscious ripoff.

I agree with comments earlier in the thread that the weakness of the film was in trying to tie everything together at the end. If they were going to unravel the mystery, they needed to actually tie up the loose ends. Either leave it open to interpretation, or provide a satisfacory and logical explanation (and a more succinct one at that). This film did not do either, and thus was a bit frustrating by its conclusion.

This movie did NOT shoot for camp. That word is overused in discussion forums in describing horror films of every ilk. Very little about this film was intentionally funny. If you found parts of it unintentionally funny, then that is another thing. But "silly" or just plain "bad" are not the same thing as campy. This film wasn't any more an attempt at camp than any of the Shyamalan films (read: zero).

 

[JohnE]

Saw it today and really enjoyed it. I think someone said it was eerie but not scary and that summed it up nicely to me.

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

I for one didn't mind that they spelled out some things while leaving others mysterious. I enjoyed the middle investigation-phase of the film. It does have a seperate character from the beginning and ending of the film but I didn't feel any lapse while watching it.

While some of the loose ends are left open, I think they explained enough to arrive at a reasonable conclusion, taking into account the parameters of the situation. Also, given the limitations of the characters, they found out about as much as they could be expected to.

 

[Ryan FB]

Saw this yesterday and loved it. One of the things I noticed that (might) be an inconsistency is, at the end of the video that I believe the son watches, you see Samara's arm come up and over the well. I don't think this happens the other times the film is viewed except for when it comes on abruptly in the boyfriend's room before Samara comes out to kill him. Anyone going back for a repeat viewing might look into this...again, I'm not sure about it, but I didn't notice it the first time the video was shown, but did see the arm come out on a later time the video was shown, and then the video was shown a subsequent time and I didn't see the arm.

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

Ryan,

Perhaps that was because Rachel was there. Maybe the closer one is to the deadline, the more is shown of that sequence if one were to watch the tape over and over.

 

[Jason Wilcox]

another little thing i noticed (you guys probbaly noticed this one) is that...
in some part of the movie...maybe 3/4 through it.....right between two scenes you see that everpopular Ring image for a very very brief moment

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

Jason,

It got a good reaction from the audience I saw the film with.

 

[Josh Dial]

I think that the reason Aidan's viewing of the video featured samara's arm going back into the well, is that she is/has been showing him things in real life, or otherwise interacting with him.

cheers!

Josh

 

[Jason Wilcox]

a few people in the theater i was in also noticed that when the guy in the movie is digging through the mental institution you can see the little folder securing string towards the bottom of the screen....the one that was stuck in her throat...i think she finds it later on too....i'm just curious as to what that figure in the back of the one scene was...i guess it may have just been a shadow from one of the main characters...but it really didn't seem like it

 

[Jarrod_L]

I saw it last night & thought it was just okay. Not scary enough IMO. Lots of 'boo' moments, however. Great atmosphere, but unfortunately, I viewed the film with a room full of 14 year olds who thought it was the most horrifying thing they've ever witnessed--so that ruined some of the experience.

My basic reaction was that if they'd really wanted to make a killer (no pun intended) horror flick, they wouldn't have marketed this to teens, rated the thing R, & delved deeper into the psychological horror that the plot could/should have veered into...

 

[Damin J Toell]

My basic reaction was that if they'd really wanted to make a killer (no pun intended) horror flick, they wouldn't have marketed this to teens, rated the thing R, & delved deeper into the psychological horror that the plot could/should have veered into...

Ugh. Save it for the Lifetime Channel, please.
And why was Anna constantly wearing a 19th Century dress given that she died in 1978? Please. The attempt at evoking some manner of a fearful gothic backstory was laughable at best and downright appalling at worst.
DJ

 

[Benjamin_L]

Damin & All,
I'm suprised more didn't like it, but so far the discussion has been pretty diverse. Also... plenty of people here liked Moulin Rouge. To each his own indeed.
I did not notice that the parents in this film were ever married, did I miss something obvious? Granted their reconciliation was cliched, but in hindsight I found Aidan (the son) much more annoying. His poker-faced state of detatchment was a much more contrived and tired device than the relationship- though mayhap we can blame the recent release of the Sixth Sense for that. We could probably judge that a little more fairly if son's depiction was consistent with the one in Ringu (which came out a year before The Sixth Sense).

Then again, we musn't forget that line!
*Shiver*
All told the backstory may not hold up to close scrutiny. However... the kid may have died in '78, but seeing her in levis or k-mart duds and holding a cabbage patch kid would kind have ruined the mystique for me. Whose to say Samarra's "parents" weren't warped enough to clothe their daughter in the trappings of an anacrhonistic culture to make themselves feel... well... feel god knows what. They were freaks. On the other hand, if the entire 'video' was merely a projection of Samarra's evil powers, then the surreal montage to say she didn't purposefully spice things up and choose to depict herself (or her parents) however she wished?

Clearly the gothic elements of this film were undeniably far-fetched, though were they out of place? This is a movie about a videotape that kills people and immortal, largely incomprehensible evil, right?
And don't get me started on equestrians! (savin' that rant for another day!)
Peace out fellas.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Quote:

Yeah, and you don't need to be blatantly disingenuous by ripping off every possible horror cliche (i.e., that visions of dead women in 19th Century dresses are scary) and ignoring applicable logic in order to do a movie about a video that kills people. Cronenberg certainly didn't lower himself to such depths in Videodrome; no women in 1978 wearing ancient dresses were to be seen. One only wonders what someone like Cronenberg, who actually has a vision, could do with the material, unlike Verbinski, whose only apparent vision is to be the house director for random Dreamworks projects. Films should scare by being scary, not by aping that of which we've already had more than enough.
DJ

 

[Seth Paxton]

I loved it.
What I don't get is the complaints about the "investigation". This film follows The Changling rather closely in several key ways, yet people cite that as a classic horror film. In fact, knowning the Changling specifically sets you up MORE to be fooled at the end. If you have seen it you know what I mean.
Changling spoiler mild Devil's Backbone spoiler
In Changling the very point is for Scott to dig up the boy under the floorboards, again we have a body in water, and the ghost is satiated by being found and getting revenge on his killer. As the film draws closer to this point I'm thinking "yep, this is another spin on Changling" It made me far less scared when Watts went into the well because of this. However, it also strongly enhanced the effect of the little boy's reaction when mom comes home and says they took care of her because it is a twist on what The Changling (and The Devil's Backbone) is about.
"going for shock scares" - again, I saw a different film than you did. There were only a few of those that I saw.
I agree also with Eric about the film following MNSham. in style. Moody, with a twist on that mood to finish it. Sounds pretty familiar to me (though it didn't feel like a copycat or anything).
At the beginning of the film we had tons of teens (and a few older people) trying their hardest to laugh this film off. Long before it could be funny to anyone (like when the studio logo comes up) the laughs were rolling. They laughed at the mentally handicapped kid "ha ha, he's goofy." Yeah, that's funny. After a couple of the few "jump" moments they again laughed after screaming.
But by the end the film had shut everyone up.
Travis, I won't spoiler Ring stuff since this is the discussion thread which is now for people who SAW the film (since its released).
I thought one of the kids had said something at school and it got around. BUT would they believe the "kills you in 7 days" thing. Your idea that others had been created before and had become urban legend is an interesting idea too. Whichever, the one thing I didn't get was how comfortable the girl was about her 7th day, though she had to have been having some disturbing experiences. I would have expected the film to start with her a bit more on edge.
The 2nd girl must have seen the little girl. Remember she was also terrified of the TVs at that point (in the hospital).
Now my fiancee's question - how did the girl get to the 2 kids in their car? It seems that while a TV/film image was a big part of her powers, she was able to do more than that.
My opinion of what the little girl was about - demon seed. I think she just was evil first, but once she was thrown in the well she changed to the "Ring" imagery and the "Kill you in 7 days" thing. I think its safe to assume that before that she just had other things she was focused on. The mom wasn't meant to have a child, as if a higher power was trying to prevent it. Wonder how they came to finally have her (selling their soul perhaps, witchcraft).
Also, I think the final resolution is NOT HOLLYWOOD at all. Just because the kid lives? Come on. The film is all about an URBAN LEGEND, right. So the film ends with the resolution that each person that sees the tape must make a copy and show it to someone else, otherwise they will die in 7 days. That's your standard urban legend/chain mail type thing right there.
So it fits the rest of the film's angle perfectly, which to me was "What if this urban legend was totally real?" In the end we find that it is real and that it won't stop.
Of course our solution was for them to show the copy to some transient person or someone very old/close to death. End the chain there.
But then I said that the little girl was making up the rules as she went along anyway, so it would probably be best to just appease her and cross your fingers.
All I know is that I'd be getting a priest or 3 out to that well ASAP.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Wow, quite a lot of venom here.

I found it to be quite good. In watching it a second time, I thought that the first victim was a bit more jovial than I would have expected after the seven day ordeal. I can only guess that the "effect" is more pronounced if you investigate and get yourself closer to Samara than if you go on unaware of the story behind the tape.

Personally, I found the dress of both Anna and Samara to be right on target with those found in another wacky "family" movie, The People Under the Stairs. Considering all that Anna goes through, from the loss of her beloved horses to the visions (both from Samara), she went far off the deep end. She segregated herself and Samara from the world, first on the farm and then in the psychiatric hospital.

Do you really find it so unlikely that she would choose conservative clothing and simple white dresses for her little monster? Especially on an island that even today seems to be avoiding the influences of the times?

I found the movie to be pitch perfect with the perfect balance of atmosphere, suspense, tasteful effects, good pacing, and a very satisfying conclusion.

 

[Alex Spindler]

One more thing,
I found that they intentionally left several items open. Samara was adopted from somewhere, and the horses seemed to be very coincidental to Samara's time with the Morgans. Would I be correct in thinking that Ringu 0 and 2 covered these elements, or were they solved in the original and the sequel/prequel covered different ground.

 

[Benjamin_L]

At the beginning of the film we had tons of teens (and a few older people) trying their hardest to laugh this film off. Long before it could be funny to anyone (like when the studio logo comes up) the laughs were rolling. They laughed at the mentally handicapped kid "ha ha, he's goofy." Yeah, that's funny. After a couple of the few "jump" moments they again laughed after screaming... But by the end the film had shut everyone up.

Overall, I can't remember ever sitting with a quieter audience, which is kind of suprising for a 10pm showing. I remember the sixth sense having more loudmouths!
Spoilers!
The jump-cut to the shrivled body of Watts' niece really set the tone. By that point everyone had written off seeing anything "gory" in the film because of how the first murder was handled and it must've caught everyone completely off guard. After the shock sunk in, it sounded like every single person in my theatre was whispering to an expletive of choice to the person beside them. My friend and I just looked at each other and grinned. Great villans are hard to find nowadays.
Seth- Some of the hallucinations Watts felt occured when she was quite a good distance from a television, like when she 'x'ed out the child's face in her son's drawing. Clearly the powers of evil extend beyond your traditional analog television set.
Fun, fun, film.