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

[Bill J]

The doctor makes no mention of the quantity of tries, but I seriously doubt it would have been close to 66.

Yeah, 66 seems a little excessive.

 

[Bryant Trew]

It doesn't even matter - The point is that she wasn't supposed to have children, and after trying a certain number of times, she managed to somehow have a child. An evil child! [cue thunder and lighting].

 

[Bryant Trew]

Save your money - don't buy Ringu

The original version of The Ring is at best a C+ graded B movie. I'm quite astounded at the people who think that this film is better than the American remake.

The Japanese had:
1. Far, far, far less plot.
2. An abysmal level of character development
3. Pretty much no motivation for Samara
4. An ending monologue to explain what was going on
5. A strictly no-thinking, by the numbers sequence of events
6. Laughably poor acting
7. Totally weak horror
8. Really crap special effects (especially the final kill)
9. No real depth
10. Death scenes that were totally lame
11. Almost no tension at all - I mean really, none!

The only thing unintentially cool about this version was The scene where the father cracks Sadako in the back of the head
. That scene was so comical that I can say that there is a least one thing about the film I'm not soon to forget.

The Ring surpassed Ringu in just about every conceivable way. IMO of course

 

[Damin J Toell]

1. Far, far, far less plot.
2. An abysmal level of character development
3. Pretty much no motivation for Samara
4. An ending monologue to explain what was going on
5. A strictly no-thinking, by the numbers sequence of events
6. Laughably poor acting
7. Totally weak horror
8. Really crap special effects (especially the final kill)
9. No real depth
10. Death scenes that were totally lame
11. Almost no tension at all - I mean really, none!

Sounds like you're talking about the remake to me...

DJ

 

[Brendan Brown]

It's kinda funny, but I used to think they had their own strengths and weaknesses when I saw the original on VCD then The Ring in theatres.

But when I marathoned them back-to-back last week, I was surprised to find myself favouring the remake as the stronger film. I really didn't expect that to happen--as I usually tend to favour the original works over glossy hollywood remakes--but it did.

Of course there are very valid arguments on the superiority of the original, but I guess it's a taste thing.

 

[Paul D G]

I saw the original after the remake and I have to agree that I felt the remake was better made, much more gripping an tense. The original just seemed flat to me.

Had I seen the original first maybe my opinion would be different, but I don't think so. I have noticed tho that there seems to be a movement of fans of the original who were condemning the remake before they even saw it. If you're going to hate a movie before watching it, then of course you're not going to like the final results. In fact, you'd probably hate it more even if it turns out to be better.

-paul

 

[Bryant Trew]

Sounds like you're talking about the remake to me...

I'd like to see you back that up!

Just consider the mother. There was absolutely no development of her character in the first movie. Career, relationship with child, personality traits, regret about her relationship with the teacher - all of this was paper-thin in the original. She was practically a one-dimensional character on a singular mission.

The relationship between the father and the son was non-existent.

The visions had pretty much no connection to the story.

I could see the director in the background shouting to the actors, "No! Act scarrier! Be more frightened! Gaaarrrrr!"

The original was l a m e in just about every way

 

[Damin J Toell]

I could see the director in the background shouting to the actors, "No! Act scarrier! Be more frightened! Gaaarrrrr!"

And I could see Gore Verbinski saying, "Let's put Samara's mother in an old dress for no reason, because that's scary, right? And let's get a Sixth Sense kid in here, because that's scary, right? Let's turn a creepy little Japanese film into mindless American trash by adding nonsense, because that's scary, right?" Very scary indeed.

DJ

 

[James Reader]

Well, as I stated on another Ring thread, there is no doubt in my mind that my ideal Ring film would consist of elements from the Japanese original and the American 're-imagining' (I still refuse to call it a remake, because technically I don't think it is, so much was changed or added).

What I liked about the Japanese version - the fact that Sadako never spoke, Sadako's walk, the fact that the dead bodies didn't have elaborate make-up (the whole point was the deaths were supposed to be mysterious, not blatantly suspicious as the American deaths would be) and I liked how Sadako was given some 'motivation' in that we first saw some of her powers manifested when 'protecting' her mother at the press conference.

What I liked about the American version - the X-Rays in the hospital, the concept of Samara's family seperating her from the house and having her live in a barn, the well scene was much better than the Japanese film and I really, really liked the whole horses thread.

I feel in some respects I feel the American's dropped the ball in places: I wasn't keen on how the now cliched 'spooky child' strand was played up and I felt that, yes, some aspects of the story appeared to be included just to justify later points (such as removing the fly from the tape) and Samara's final walk was very poor. Ironic that when they do have the chance to improve on the Japanese version with effects (imagine how unnerving a CGI generated Samara's walk could be) they didn't bother. And the complete absence of the final 'sting' from the Japanese version is perplexing - this was perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the Japanese film.

 

[Zen Butler]

I steered clear of this movie forever. I rented it last night. I have to admit, I was given the chills several times during this movie. I heard Ron-P say that he felt Signs was scarier, for which it did absolutely nothing for me. Just goes to show, yes, people find different things scary. Very few movies that I have watched in my lifetime have truly got under my skin like The Ring did. A few:
Exorcist (1st viewing)
Sixth Sense
Stigmata
Hatchet for a Honeymoon(hey, I was young)

Great Review Ron, although, I will be purchasing this title.

 

[Bryant Trew]

The audience was given a chance to think and react instead of being constantly bombared with lowest-common-demonator garbage.

Eh? You've read waaay too much into The Ring - especially the alleged commentary on single mothers with careers. Ringu could have been a 30-40 minute short story and delivered the same impact. That's how empty, singular and utterly shallow it was. Add to that the poor directing, acting and sfx and you have a DVD begging to be traded or trashed.

 

[Jeff Kohn]

And the complete absence of the final 'sting' from the Japanese version is perplexing - this was perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the Japanese film.

Could somebody describe the ending of the Japanese version in spoiler text? From what I've seen and read about the original, I don't really think I would like it compared to the remake, but I am a bit curious about this aspect.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Ringu could have been a 30-40 minute short story and delivered the same impact. That's how empty, singular and utterly shallow it was. Add to that the poor directing, acting and sfx and you have a DVD begging to be traded or trashed.

So a film is "empty" unless it contains unnecessary absurd, trite, insulting, and illogical Americanized trash? Then give me more empty films, please!

DJ

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Damin, your more than welcome to dispute this.

It's become clear that you have an ax to grind, and you're using this movie as an example.

I don't exactly know what you expect from most or all films, but it's clearly evident that you expected this film to be some sort of philosophical or social treatise. You're attaching an awful lot of social significance/symbolism to the way the characters and the story handle themselves.

There's no doubt IMHO that The Ring is far from being this philosophically/socially deep film. The film is indeed very simplistic on that account. It's just supposed to be a solid, simple entertainment experience.

It's obvious you weren't entertained by it. So why do you continue on bashing it? The Ring is nothing more than a horror film's take on an urban legend. Why is that so hard to accept?

The way I see it, you're attaching an awful lot of significance to things that really aren't, and you're basing your criticism of the film on that respect. IMHO, that simply doesn't work because you're being dismissive of the simple idea behind things. Is the father's suicide absurdly elaborate? Of course, but why should that necessarily detract from the fact that he can't handle Samara anymore, and he makes the decision to end his life? Is the murder of Samara by her mother in 18th century garb anachronistic? Sure, but does that change the fact that a mother just threw her only child down a well?

And what exactly is your fixation on the whole "the film is trying to say that single mothers can't raise their children"? Again, you make it sound like the film is trying to make some sort of statement on that, when it really isn't. I don't understand why you continue to base your criticism on things that don't exist in the first place.

Wow. 10 pages of people being told to use their intellect when considering The Ring, and when I actually do it, I'm told I'm reading too much into it.

It's obvious we're using two different paradigms of thought here (damnit, that's the third time this week I've used paradigm in a sentence. ).

We're confusing two very different definitions/ideas of what constitutes complexity. On one hand, complexity is attributed to the unraveling of the story and plot elements into a one cohesive whole. I believe this to be what the majority is refering to and have been discussing the entire time.

On the other hand, the idea of complexity deals with philosophy and social ideas. I think this is the camp that Damin (and anybody else if I'm missing them) is in.

If I may make a suggestion to Ron Epstein, use your mighty powers and cut and paste the vast majority of this thread into The Ring discussion in the movies section.

 

[Bryant Trew]

Quite simply, Ringu could have been a 30-40 minute short story.

Here is a simple challenge for you - Tell us all you can about Sada. Then tell us all you can about Samara. Let's compare the two and see how long it takes us to get through each description

I'll help get you started with Sada: Sada was a young girl with ESP born to a mother who had ESP. One day, her mother was being tested at a press conference, and Sada killed a reporter who got hostile with her mother. Then one day Sada was hanging out near a well and her father clobbered her in the head. Sada was dropped in the well and tried to get out breaking some fingernails. Sada cursed a videotape for the heck of it and makes crank calls (sound effect breathing) to the people who watch that tape. She then kills them in a week by visiting them through a tv set.

Did I miss anything?


I'd love to know what films you think Ringu was in the same league as (horror or otherwise).

Not withstanding the above, Ringu had bad:
Character Development
Storytelling
Acting
Directing
Cinematography
SFX

Give it a rest. You are going to vast extremes to dismiss The Ring.

* It wasn't 18th century garb. She constantly wore black dresses.
* It wasn't a commentary on single motherhood - there was a strained parent/child relationship.
* It wasn't a sixth sense formula - every spooky child movie would be using your rule of thumb. Not a single person I know mentioned the kid in the Sixth Sense.
* So what if the suicide was elaborate - people who begin to lose it do weird things. This was hardly a stretch.

PS: I bet the fly drove you bonkers

 

[Damin J Toell]

Again, you make it sound like the film is trying to make some sort of statement on that, when it really isn't. I don't understand why you continue to base your criticism on things that don't exist in the first place.

Whether the message was intentional doesn't affect whether it was present. Many, many have unintentionally presented a vision of society that still presents a problematic view.

DJ

 

[Damin J Toell]

PS: I bet the fly drove you bonkers

Not particularly.

DJ

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Fixation? I think I said it once in this thread.

Don't forget, you also said something about it in the Movie Discussion thread.

 

[Bryant Trew]

It also could've been a 5 minute movie or a 3-day movie. So what?

comment removed by owner - do not repost

 

[Dave Mack]

and in this corner.....!