Overview
A movie that kills you? Sounds like Fear Dot Com all over again doesn’t it? We all know how big of a disaster that film was. The Ring follows the “murderous inanimate object” formula once again but does a much better job. This film incorporates more suspense, fear, and a deeper plot than Fear Dot Com. Originally a Japanese book, The Ring is well worth seeing. It was so successful there the author Koji Suzuki licensed it out for three movies. Now it is finally in the United States to scare the pants off moviegoers.

Review
Filmed on the soggy Northwest coast of America, The Ring immediately has the audience on the edge of their seats. Following a puzzling murder at her sister’s house, Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) sets out on a quest to find out what really happened to her niece. It turns out that everyone that she was with at a cabin up north also died that night at approximately the same. Rachel decides to head up to the cabin to see if anything was amiss. At the cabin she figures that the movie is just a fraud until she watches it. Then the phone rings . . .

She and her friend Noah (Martin Henderson) spend the next 7 days on a maddening trip of terror as the pieces of the puzzle slowly start to fit together. It turns out that the film holds a terrible secret; not even the dead can survive unscathed. The stakes has been raised when Rachel’s son Aidan watches the movie. This kid screams The Sixth Sense. Throughout the film he sputters cryptic one liners and eerie warnings to drive this creep show deep into the crowd.

Despite what other people have said about this movie, it is definitely high on the creepy scale. I found the hair on the back of my neck standing outright more than once. The scene where a mysterious girl slowly climbs out of a well and walks toward the television screen and slowly comes through the glass! That was really creepy, mostly because of the editing. The Ring is full of spooky music, spooky scenes, and sure as hell a spooky plot line. Watch it alone and at night, if you dare.

Acting
Needless to say the acting in this movie is much better than Fear Dot Com. The cast was well assembled and flowed smoothly. The Ring wasn’t a movie about relationships and values so a totally fleshed out family wasn’t necessary. However the relationship between the three main characters makes for interesting circumstances other than that between mere companions. Naomi Watts brings her natural realistic acting skills to the table. Her smooth style gives the movie an almost too natural feel given the circumstances. On the other hand David Dorfman’s character Aiden has an almost too surreal disposition. Claiming to know everything behind the plot makes for a good scare but why him? Regardless I appreciated his character with frightening enjoyment.

Directing
Gore Verbinski does an excellent job with The Ring. It is frightening and entertaining at the same time. Mr. Verbinski had a good mixture of horror, mystery and suspense. With a trash heap of movies under his belt like Mouse Hunt and The Time Machine it is good to see a well executed movie come from a less remarkable director. Honestly Gore does a good job with the visual aspect of his films. He has little trouble getting the point across with stunning landscapes or terrifying images.

Final Thoughts
I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I continue to think back about the creepy movie that made you die. There were all kinds of weird things going that I would rather forget about until I buy it. Regardless I liked watching the movie with an audience full of freaked out ticket holders. People were shivering and nervously laughing while they held on the person next to them. I give this movie 4 Planets for a good plot, a good setting and a good scare. Make The Ring your next movie to see and prepare to be creeped out!

Jameson Rating: 4 out of 5 Planets


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