Back again. It is hard to believe it is a year since my last review. Using iPhone to browse the sit...
Back again. It is hard to believe it is a year since my last review. Using iPhone to browse the site is also very different
Member since:11.10.2006
Reviews:79
Members who trust:6
My experience of the ring before I got it from my DVD rental list was I had heard of it but never bothered to watch it. I have never been very impressed with horror films and I must say this one has not changed my mind. The film is intended to be a supernatural thriller but in fact it is more a physcological detective type thriller. The story is told on 2 levels, one as a journalist investigating a crime and the other as a supernatural folk tale. Suspense is created by clever use of surreal scenes and gloomy light re-enforced with moments of physcological drama involving the people effected by the events. The film opens with 2 young girls discussing a creepy video that kills anyone who watches it within 7 days. One of the girls mysteriously dies and the other is locked up in a mental asylum as a result. The girl's death inspires her aunt to investigate and she discovers a number of her nieces friends have also died mysteriously. She gets her hands on the mysterious video which is linked to the deaths and begins to investigate using her journalistic skills. At this stage the story becomes a detective thriller as she tracks down the people in the video to a remote farm where all of the horses went mad and the girl in the video was murdered. There are some tense scenes like when a horse goes mad and throws itself in to the sea and also when the girl's uncle comitts suicide. The story culminates in the journalist finding the girls body in a well(the ring). There is then a supernatural twist in the tale when the man helping her investigation is seemingly attacked by the video .( The girl in it comes to life). The journalist finds his body and decides to make a copy of the tape to pass the curse on. The cinematography is excellent throughout, in particular the scene on the boat when the horse throws itself overboard. The physcological plot plays on the fears and suspisions of the characters involved. Hallucigonic type experiences are strong elements of the video deaths and it is this clash between the supernatural and reality that brings the story to life. The horror is the moment where reality meets the supernatural and suspicions and fears come to life. What really makes it a horror is that the realistic events in the plot merge with the supernatural (impossible events) to create an overall surreal creepy feeling. This is rare in a horror film, the more events become believable the more frightening the story becomes. To summarise I was not one bit scared and as I said this was a good physcological thriller with a good detective work plot thrown in. Once is enough to see this one, rent not buy.
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Re-rated based on Ciao's insistence that such reviews are no longer considered "Off Topic"
Soho_Black 27.01.2008 10:49
I see you've posted this as a DVD review, but you've not mentioned the DVD features. Are there any extras? If so, what are they and are they any good? If you add to this, or if you change it to be posted as a "Film Only" review, which can be done by accessing "edit review" above the review and changing the drop down menu under the "Which format are you reviewing?" question at the bottom, please let me know and I'll re-rate.
Dudo_Perudo 08.09.2007 15:23
Good review. Enjoyed it...though the film...not my cuppa. Terry
An unexpected marriage of big-budget production values and low-budget instincts,The ... more
Ringoffers chills to be savoured. Usually when Hollywood indulges its cash-hungry game of remaking foreign films the result sacrifices much of what made the original so...
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An unexpected marriage of big-budget production values and low-budget instincts,The ... more
Ringoffers chills to be savoured. Usually when Hollywood indulges its cash-hungry game of remaking foreign films the result sacrifices much of what made the original so...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
![The Ring [DVD] [2003]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78523730.jpg "The Ring [DVD] [2003]")
Sep 6th, 2007
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