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

[Romier S]

Dome,

Was the rest of the face darkened out? Was the hair and one shiny eye showing?

so to speak here:
Link Removed
The background pic Sadako's stare.

 

[Patrick Sun]

How about looking at this film like this:
"The Ring" is the ultimate chain (e)mail, meaning, if you don't pass it along and let Samara be heard, you die in 7 days.

 

[Romier S]

By the way, for anyone that wants to see the crawling from the TV scene of the original, this page has that scene in quicktime format for viewing:
Link Removed

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Thanks!!! Or should I say, Thanks a lot mister. :frowning:
:p)

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Damnit!!! You should've told me to have my speakers turned off!!!

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

Romier,

Nice link. One thing in the original:They emphasize Sadako crawling out of the TV more, and also across the floor, highlighting her fingernail-less hands.

I actually thought the girl looked the best (or worst, depending) when showing neither the eye nor the face, just the hair.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Standard? Hardly. I'm far from a champion of women's rights but the "OH MY GOD WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!" female character still exists in farther greater numbers.

I find that a good rule of thumb for the horror genre is that if it has already been directly commented upon in Scream, it's no longer "refreshing." It seems to me that it has indeed been standard fare in the horror genre in the last quarter century to have a girl who kicks ass (or, at least, attempts to). It's been in as diverse horror films throughout the last 25 years as Halloween, Candyman, Scream, and the 1990 Night of the Living Dead remake; just about every post-Scream horror film seems to have a kick-ass girl character. While it may be a good thing for The Ring to have a strong female protagonist, it's nothing special.
DJ

 

[Dome Vongvises]

While it may be a good thing for The Ring to have a strong female protagonist, it's nothing special.

Fair enough.
I'll probably be watching it again this Friday with my sister. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. One things for certain, she's having nightmares for the weekend.

 

[Tim Raffey]

Strong female protagonist? Did the ending not seem end-of-the-world-pessimistic to anyone else? Just because she wasn't screaming, doesn't mean her weakness didn't damn us all...

(Though I will clarify that my attitude is that of a childless male.)

 

[Walt Williams]

I went to see it yesterday and I must say that I was impressed. I had already seen the original Japanese version and the Korean remake so I knew what was going to happen but it still managed to totally creep me out. I loved every minute of it. BTW - I can't believe nobody has mentioned that a Korean version exists. It's called 'The Ring Virus' and in my opinion was better than the original.

 

[Paul Richardson]

I’ve only seen the new American version and not any of the Japanese or Korean films. Doing some research on the earlier movies, I was surprised to learn that the scene I found to be the most effective was unique to the American film, namely:

the horse on the ferry

 

[Charles J P]

OK, I wasnt going to post, but after last night, I think I must. I have a love hate relationship with "horror" films. My parents would not let me watch them growing up, which I think has left me vulnerable to them in my adult life. I like watching them, but most of them really do scare the crap out of me. Haunting, House on Haunted Hill, Blair Witch I & II, Event Horizon, The Others... all scared the crap out of me. Leave me heart beating like mad. Anyway, to have just a movie elicit such a response is also an adreniline rush. My wife is the same way, she loves the genre, even though she seems so miserable while watching them because she's so scared.

So anyway, what made me decide to post my reaction? Well, let me give you a little background first. I ate McDonalds for lunch (quarter pounder w/ cheese and fries). I didnt have any problems throughout the day at all. Then I got home from work and we went to the movies. We had a soda, popcorn, and I had nachos with processed cheese (ie the kind that cant really spoil). Why in the hell am I telling you what I ate? Because twice last night, I woke up in a cold sweat with my body all tense, my teeth clenched, and the worst anxiety attack and then had to go vomit (both times). This probably sounds pretty weird, and kind of wussy, but I really think it was the movie. I havent turned my eyes away from a "scary" movie probably ever, but I did a couple times last night. I had to ask my wife "what did he see?" or "What was in there?" a couple times. I see a few people in this thread said the movie really scared them, but did anyone else really have it mess with them like me?

 

[Andres Munoz]

Great post Charles, You big wuss!
Glad you "liked" the movie. Join the club.

 

[Charles J P]

I am a big wuss My overall point was, my night made the whole experience seem that much more disturbing. Whether I got some bad nachos, or actually nightmare'd myself into a frenzy I guess we'll never know (I never remember my dreams, even my bad ones, I just wake up panicky) but it made the movie much more of an experience, if you get me.

 

[Brett_B]

This lead me to think that the tape just told people they would die and they believed it in their subconsious.

Interesting. The only thing I would suggest as evidence against this is the photographs (and video images) of the people who have seen the tape (distorted faces). Remember when Rachel was first telling her ex-husband about it, she had pictures of herself on the digital camera, and also when the guy saw himself in the convenience store security monitor.
I am just having a hard time trying to figure out how it all started (so to speak) and "what happens now". In regards to "how it all started", I "get" the idea that the little girl projected her thoughts onto the tape, but how did the tape end up in the main office at the Inn. I mean, wouldn't the people working there wonder what was on the tape? If so, wouldn't there be news stories about the deaths of employees? It seemed that no one there was aware of such a tape.
In regards to "what happens now?" they only made reference that after you view the tape, the only way to survive is to make a copy. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't believe they mentioned that after a person makes a copy that they have to pass it along. So wouldn't they be able to destroy both the original and the copy and still have nothing happen (since the copy was made)?
I felt that there was still too many questions proposed and not enough answers. I guess that is why there are talks of a sequel.

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

Brett,

Since the Inn is, in a sense, the epicenter of it all, perhaps that's why it began there. As for the employees, since it looked for all purposes to be a blank tape, why would they watch it?

Don't forget - the kids originally wanted to use the tape to record a football game and only watched it when that failed.

 

[Ross Williams]

Having seen the original, and getting the crap scared out of me in the process, I have to say that I really enjoyed the remake. I was really afraid that the film would lose a lot in it's Americanization. But I'm really happy with the final results.
I'm glad they changed up the way that she came out of the TV. I really liked the way she looked. The way she "jumped" at the boyfriend really got me, I wasn't expecting her to do that. The horse scene was a classic. I really thought they did an excellent job of explaining the right amount of things.
For fans of this and the original, you have to see Link Removed. Directed by the director of the original Ring. I thought it was freakier than that film, the scariest movie I've seen in my adult life. The sense of dread built up through the entire film is incredible.

 

[Brett_B]

Don't forget - the kids originally wanted to use the tape to record a football game and only watched it when that failed.

I agree with that, but the tape ended up in the main office on the rack with other movies. As seen in the movie, it stuck out like a sore thumb and as mentioned it wasn't labled. So the people working at the Inn just "take" customers' blank tapes and adds them to their movie collection?

Now if this was the epicenter (and I agree it was) how did the urban legend start? What I mean by that is at the beginning of the movie when the girl was telling the story, how did she know that the phone call stating they would die in 7 days and the videotape were related? How did they know this for certain if there weren't any other tapes? Now, we have to assume that maybe there are other tapes floating about, but if this reached a magnitude of an urban legend wouldn't there be some sort of investigation for the other tapes (or at least one of them)? I mean, if someone put two & two together (phone call & video are related) they had to have told someone about it otherwise there would not be an urban legend about it. Once the witness was told about the outcome, and the person that told them this legend dies when predicted wouldn't they inform someone about it (meaning more viewings of the tape)? I just can't see someone who witnessed this event holding onto the tape and saying "don't watch it or you will die in 7 days". More than likely (IMO) said witness would destroy the tape and treat the death as natural and not mention a word about the tape (unless they wanted a free trip to the nuthouse).

 

[Andres Munoz]

Jesus Brett, stop looking so much into the plot holes. You'll go crazy.

 

[Brett_B]

Andres,
Come on, I am only dealing with one .
Like I said previously:

I am just having a hard time trying to figure out how it all started (so to speak) and "what happens now".