The Ring (2002)

   
Directed by: Gore Verbinski

Written by: Ehren Krueger
Kôji Suzuki (Novel)

Starring:

Naomi Watts .... Rachel Keller
Martin Henderson .... Noah Clay
David Dorfman .... Aidan Keller

Special Appearance:


Brian Cox .... Richard Morgan

Release Dates: Hollywood Film Festival: October 2, 2002; Theatrical: October 18, 2002; Tokyo International Film Festival: October 28, 2002; Febio Film Festival: January 24, 2003; Gerardmenr Film Festival: February 1, 2003

*Images courtesy at: www.thefleshfarm.com

 

 

Rating:

 

A couple of teenage girls named Katie Embry (Amber Tamblyn) and Becca Kotler (Rachael Bella) spends the night at a cabin in the mountains and enjoying themselves but one of them tells the other about this mysterious legend on a tape that's played and after watching it as well as receiving a telephone call with a voice saying "you will die in seven days." Suddenly this incident happens to poor Katie as a journalist in Seattle named Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts), whom is the aunt of Katie, tries to investigate this mysterious videotape but somehow this videotape seems to effect her and her son Aidan (David Dorfman) as their lives are at stake so Rachel must find a way to try and cheat their death after spotting the deaths on the tapes to others who haven't yet been dead.
Rachel also experiences nose bleeds and terrible nightmares to top it all off which is the whole curse on what happens to anyone who has watched the tape before their fate.
The history on all this seemed to happen to a poor child named Samara Morgan (Daveigh Chase) whom was suffocated to death by her mother and apparently her body will never be put to rest.

 

We spot a nice beginning with two teenage friends Katie and Becca having fun and acting silly. There's a good shot on Katie speaking coldly and seriously about an incident watching a video and after watching it dying in a week which looked nice and still.
We have a nice shot on Becca walking by a hallway and spotting a fuzzy TV turning on with a nice close up shot on her looking nervous as well as a good shot on her running upstairs as well as a good shot on some water on the ground with her feet walking towards it and then spotting another TV activating in her room with her freaking out.
A good shot on Aidan Keller going near a staircase as if something was calling to him and a nice distant shot on the staircase with him looking up.
We spot a nice brief discussion between Rachel Keller talking to someone named Ruth with her getting emotional about it which looked strongly well done. We also spot a nice flashback scene on a corspe which almost makes you jump during this moment too.
A good closing in shot on Rachel as well as a shot on a shelf full of VHS tapes and her looking at them.
We spot a good moment with her going in a cabin and watching a VHS tape and her being glued to the set with good shots on the TV on some tragic events and her looking a little nervous while this is all happening. We also spot a nice shot on some sun and clouds zooming by near a tree with the tree changing color. A nice panicked reaction on her after watching the whole tape as well as a phone ringing with her getting freaked out about it all.
There's alot of energetic moments with her by trying to search for clues after what she saw on the VHS tape with good close up shots on papers she's reading and other types of informantion.
A nice discussion between Rachel and Becca with her holding her hand and softly trying to speak to her while Becca herself looking like a basket case and weakly tries to answer. The setting looked nice giving it a darkness type of feel to the scenario.
There's a good moment with Rachel starting to choke and cough with a nice close up shot on her coughing out some black string.
A nice shot on Aidan staring at the TV with the VHS tape playing and Rachel running in and screaming in fright for him and trying anything to prevent him from watching it as well as getting paranoid with her phone ringing.
We spot a nice shot with Rachel on a ferry ride and trying to pet a horse in the back kennel vehicle showing a nice close up on the horses face. There's many terrific shots on the horse panicking and escaping running around the ferry parking lot jumping over vehicles with Watts running near the edge of the ferry and the horse jumping over and into the water panicking which looked totally disturbing since the makers didn't miss a moment with his work on all of this. There's also a good close up shot on a girl on ferry screaming with a good terrified expression after what she spots.
A nice shot on a land near a lake with mist with a discussion between Rachel and a doctor giving out information on a certain subject and a good moment with her almost getting anxious after what she hears and asking about what was said.
Good shot on her looking at something in a house with a supporting character Richard Morgan coming up from behind her and knocking her down. Next we have a good twisted moment with him hooking himself to some plug and other kinds of electricity while a bathtub is overflown with water and him messing around with it and acting demented about everything. It really makes you wonder why he's doing all of this and looking believeably dangerous.
We spot a good distant shot between Noah Clay and Rachel on a top step of a barn and discovering something behind some wall paper with them tearing it off and using a hammer to smash through it as well as smashing open a brick ground. Then we have many good takes on them spotting a well and looking down which looked nicely done showing it dark and deep. A good close up shots on some nails from a wooden floor rising up and then a TV knocking her down the well as that was a great gasping moment with a shot on him screaming for her.
We spot a nice flashback moment with Anna Morgan coming up to her daughter and wrapping a plastic bag over her head which looked disturbing.
There's a good serious discussion between Aidan with Rachel and a good freaky serious expression telling her about the child and the dangers that are still happening.
There's a moment with Noah after spotting a TV turning on and then Samara walking from the TV screen and charging towards him and then good suspenseful shots on him backing up and crashing over things along with a nice close up shot on her showing an expressionless glance which looked even creepier.
Bottom line is that this film was very interesting as it was very much like those other supernatural ghostly type of horror flicks like White Noise and Pulse but however the story sometimes goes stale due to it's time lenght and seemeed a little overly long. What saves this flick from being just average was some of the jumping and haunting moments with the TV activating and the phone ringing knowing that something deadly will happen. Also a good creepy moment when the film is near it's end with the ghostly child coming out of the TV screen and ready to attack as it looks extremely chilling too.
Basically most of the cast members had small roles in the film except for three people but again most of these types of horror flicks centers around a small cast. The film became a horror classic and was very talked about. However, it didn't do a heck of alot for me since I've seen better like I mentioned before. It was still well done with the good effects taking place and definetely not a low budgeter by any means.

The acting was not too bad as lead actress Naomi Watts (Rachel Keller) really brought out her character and putting it all together on what she had to do with her anxious emotions and aggreassions too along with her demanding behavior to top it all off. She showed alot of good charisma into her role.
Martin Henderson
(Noah Clay) on the other hand didn't seem to pull so much of his weight as he seemed too wooden. He did show good expressions through certain parts of the story though but that's not saying a heck of alot. I can't see him going places. Yet he showed a good freaked out expression after spotting a TV turning on during a certain part of the story.
Child actor David Dorfman (Aidan Keller) showed alot of characteristics as the little boy in the flick showing the odd serious attitude and did it terrifically. He is a natural talent I must say and was a good key to the plot and made sure he stood out. He seemed like that type of role like in The Omen or a supernatural horror flick of that type.
The rest of the cast's roles weren't very big but I will try to review their talents as much as I can:
There's a great presence by child actress Daveigh Chase (Samara) with her long black hair and totally looking like a ghostly child and does well acting like she's dead. She did well throughout her performance.

We have many echoey cold sounding piano music for the silent moments in this film along with some windy sound effects for the spooky moments with the odd banging and thumping. Plus, we have some good deep violing playing too. The music was composed by Hans Zimmer

Harvey: You're fired.
Rachel Keller: No, I'm not.
Harvey: Yes, you are.
Rachel Keller: No, I'm not! I'm cooking too good a story.

Rachel Keller: He watched the tape.
Noah: Who? who watched it?
Rachel Keller: Our son

Cashier: You're gonna die.
Noah: Huh?
Cashier: My uncle smoked a pack a day for ten years, went on the patch, never looked back.

Aidan Keller: What happened to the girl?
Rachel Keller: Samara?
Aidan Keller: Is that her name?
Rachel Keller: Mm-hmm.
Aidan Keller: Is she still in the dark place?
Rachel Keller: No. We set her free.
Aidan Keller: You helped her?
Rachel Keller: Yeah.
Aidan Keller: Why did you do that?
Rachel Keller: What's wrong, honey?
Aidan Keller: You weren't supposed to help her.

Aidan Keller: [to Rachel] Don't you understand, Rachel?
[his nose starts bleeding]
Aidan Keller: She never sleeps.