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

Here's my review (no spoilers):
Best suspense/horror film of the year?
I don't like to give away much plot when I talk about a film, but I think the trailers at least give away this much:
An urban legend tells of a video cassette. If you watch it, you will die seven days later.
Creepy, or campy? The movie swings both ways, but with hindsight the "camp" almost seems intentional - but not in a Scream kind of way. The "cheese" and self referential humour serve more to lull the audience into a false sense of security, before something genuinely suspenseful/spooky comes along to darken the atmosphere and set the film on a more serious horror slant.
Typical horror film cliches are often set up, but the payoff either never materializes, or isn't what you expect. All this helps to keep the audience off-balance. You really aren't sure where the stoy is headed.
Although there is some gore, the movie isn't strictly visceral. There are enough plot details left unexplained, and a few loose ends to inspire a good conversation or two when the movie is over.
Given a choice between seeing The Ring or Red Dragon (a movie I enjoyed as well), I'd recommend The Ring hands down.

Are the professional reviews for this movie out yet? So far, the "review" offered on www.imdb.com is the only negative one I can think of.

There are 5 reviews up at Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheRing-1116705/

I'll be seeing the sneak preview this Saturday.

Sounds very interesting.

I will be seeing the sneak preview tomorrow as well. Hahahahahahha! The time has FINALLY come! Well, tomorrow anyway.

Just booked my tickets for the Austin preview at the Gateway!
4 tickets - $35
Being able to brag about seeing it when I'm in England next week - priceless

Just got back from the sneak preview. Loved it! Very eerie and VERY well made! I haven't seen the original, but I plan to after seeing this one. One of the things I liked about it is its concept:
The chain letter from hell! Make copies or die!
The audience that I saw it with were very active. A lot of screaming and jumping from the females in attendance. I definitly reccomend it.

Just got back, and damn that was one fine film

Yeah, I really liked it and so did everyone I went with. It was almost more of an experience than a movie, you just keep reacting to it!
The whole audience seemed really into it. Great movie

Travis,

I saw the sneak as well. I agree completely: extremely eerie. I wouldn't call it scary, per se, but it definitely has the elements to frighten.

I haven't seen the original yet (actually, I had ordered it but I haven't received it yet - still in transport) so I can't compare the two but I definitely enjoyed this version.

Okay, after all the anticipating, I finally saw it at the 7:30 sneak preview in Ft. Worth! Guess what.... It lived up to ALL of my expectations and then some! Great, great, great film, and definitely one of the finest remakes to ever be made!
The utterly gorgeous Naomi Watts is unsurprisingly spectacular in her role, and the rest of the cast, while paling in comparison, all do a great job as well!
This film has a much creepier overall atmosphere than the original, and like the original, is chilling to the bone. It also has much more stylistic shots than the original had, and the majority of this film's scenes were a joy just to look at. I also have to say that the horse scene on the ferry was quite disturbing, and I could hardly believe what I had seen.
Even though I knew what was coming at the end (having seen the original), when it came, it was still very frightening and shocking! The original's fantastic ending is perfectly redone here, and when Samara came out of the TV, I was shivering with both fear and delight!
In my opinion, this masterful remake is right up their with FRAILTY as the best film of 2002! I'm thinking that I loved this film even more than the original, and that is a wonderful accomplishment for any remake. THE RING= new classic, and 5 star masterpiece! Simply spectacular film! I can't wait to see it again, and I also can't wait to discuss it even more when more board members have seen it!

Hmm, I guess I'm not as excited and enthusiastic as others here, though overall I did like it. My problems with it can somewhat be summed up with the movie's incessant desire to EXPLAIN everything, to force rationality on something that's essentially irrational. Once I realized that everything would make sense, that Naomi Watts (and through her, the audience) had to simply put together a puzzle, it was far less scary.
I also think that the ending felt like a studio-ending -- too safe and far from the personal apocalypse that I felt the movie needed. Perhaps in Fincher's hands, or Lynch's, or somebody who understands the importance of doom and nightmare, this could have been realized. Instead, it felt convenient and a bit forced.
I liked the ambience, felt the film did a lot right, and I enjoyed it while I was watching it, but I won't be thinking about it much more.
A great horror film haunts you afterward. This doesn't. Decent and capably-made, for the most part, but really ended up reminding me of THE OTHERS crossed with DONNIE DARKO (two films which I felt delivered more than THE RING did).
Grade: B-, :star: :star: :star: /:star: :star: :star: :star: , 7/10

Saw it and loved it. As others, I hadn't seen the original and had blacked myself out to prevent spoiling it. An excellent film with some great atmosphere. There were three girls who entered into the movie trying hard to ruin it by laughing at the scares but even they were drawn in early on.

I'll be giving this another view when Friday rolls around, but I think this is an absolute must purchase for me.

Heck yeah, its definitely a must purhase for me as well! I will try my hardest to see this in the theater at least 19 more times too! I kid you not.

Why 19 more times?

Just got back from "The Ring". That is by far one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. I'm not the type to get freaked out or affected by things but that movie creaped the hell out of me.

I had a feeling I'd like this one and I'm glad went because I really did. I've been getting ready to give up on movies in general after all the absolute crap I've seen recently. I guess when your seeing 3-4 movies a week and over 100 this year alone then something has to give.

However, do yourself a favor and go see "The Ring" when it opens on Friday. You'll be glad you did

Man, I wish one of my local plexes had done a sneak peek.

Then again, I can just make my brother take me to see it this coming friday.

The thing is: I already had the Japanese version on order (hasn't arrived yet) but now I need to get Ring 2 and Ring 0!

I also can't wait to see it. I will be first in line on Friday, I got stuck in traffic trying to get to the sneak preview on saturday. It still bothers me that the original is being hid from the public. Most people I talk to don't even know it is a remake. I have no doubts that I will LOVE this movie, but I can't forsee it actually being as good as the original. As much as I want to see this movie, I would rather have had them release the original to the theaters and take the time and money that was spent on the remake and try to make something original instead of copying a superior film.