I didn't see "The Ring" in the theaters, but picked it up on DVD. I suppose -- to be really creepy -- I should have gotten it on VHS, but I'm a slave to technolust and letterboxing.
"The Ring" is a re-make of a Japanese film about a video tape that kills you seven days after you see it. I remember two things from the theatrical run of the movie: 1) Naomi Watts is an improbably hot mother and 2) The movie is rated PG-13. How scary could it be?
I learned the following from the DVD: 1) Watts is still unbelievably attractive and 2) This PG-13 movie actually gave me nightmares, something I haven't been able to say about a movie since I the age of 10.
Tough-but-beautiful, hard-nosed reporter Watts is seeking the answers behind a mysterious tape that kills people. Because Watts, her ex and her pointlessly clairvoyant son have all seen the tape, she's working on deadline.
Since "Scream" revitalized the genre, these movies have tried to go two ways: smart or stylish. "Scream" was refreshingly self-aware, but "The Ring" is reminiscent of an earlier class of suspense-horror ("The Changeling," "The Sentinel"). The movie relies on unraveling mystery rather than increasing body-count: Who produced the mysterious tape and what does it mean?
Director Gore Verbinski has come up with a movie where sheer atmosphere overcomes the occasional lack of logic. The highlight of the art direction is the tape itself, a film-school montage of disturbing images (dead horses, storm clouds, etc.) While most of them are explained in the film, some are just creepy for their own sake. The rest of film is shot in washed-out, "Saving Private Ryan" shades of blue, set in the perpetually rainy Pacific Northwest.
It's good that the setting is so well-developed, because the acting is merely serviceable. While Watts are okay as the Nancy Drew single mom, her son (played by David Dorfman) is a highly annoying Haley Joel wannabe.
"The Ring," while relatively low on gore, isn't above using boo!-shots to freak out the audience. Still, most of the tension is subtle, at least until the end when the film breaks down into a full-scale race against time.
With a movie like this, DVD extras have to be sparse. "The Ring" depends on setting a mood, one that would be disrupted by audio commentary or behind-the-scenes featurettes. The deleted scenes are nice and edited together well, but a preview for "Catch Me If You Can" is not an "extra." The only DVD bonus worth mentioning is an Easter egg, a hidden copy of the infamous video. Tres spooky, especially since the DVD "stop" button was somehow disabled.
"The Ring" isn't a masterpiece, but it's really scary without tons of blood. After seeing the DVD, this is one of the few films where it might be worthwhile to find a VHS copy.
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