(Review originally written at 27 September 2003)
...not completely successful as a movie.
"The Ring" really is one of the scariest movies ever. However it suffers from one mayor problem and that's the story. Even though it's original, hardly anything is explained and lot's of things are taken for granted, it also suffers from some plot holes. I don't know, maybe it was the creators intension to leave some things open and let the viewers themselves fill it up but to me it just seems that the story was an excuse just to make a movie with tons of scary moments. The fact that nothing really is explained maybe is what makes the movie scary but quite frankly I just don't buy it.
But for some reason it doesn't really harm the movie. The biggest strength of the movie are obviously the scary moments and not the story. It are not the images that are the scariest things, what scared me the most was the use of sound. Next to "Das Boot" I rank this as the movie with the best use of sound. The movie also has perfect timing and a perfect horror atmosphere.
An amusing things are that what I think we can already call the typical Gore Verbinski characters. There are some highly amusing and excentric characters in the movie. It's funny that after have seeing only 2 Gore Verbinski films I can already recognize his style. I think that says something about the director.
Best way to watch this movie is late at night, at home, alone with the lights of and the volume up and then you better hope that the phone doesn't ring. The movie is full with scary moments that will scare you in one way or another. I think it's safe to say that I can guarantee you will be scared. And be warned that you might have difficulties getting at sleep after you have seen the movie. It has a great ending that I will not and don't want to spoil.
See this movie if you want to see a completely different horror movie. I would have rated this movie "only" a 7 but since it actually gave me a nightmare (something that I hadn't had for at least 2 years), it obviously had an higher impact on me then I expected, so I rate this movie a:
8/10
I just hope that "The Ring 2" will clear up some things.
Watch trailer
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