After seeing “The Ring,” you’ll need a whole week to escape the nightmares, which is exactly how much time you have left.
In July, I got myself ready for an evening of killing, curses and creepy kids and went to see a “scary” movie. Unfortunately, that movie was “Signs,” definitely a disappointment in delivering the fear factor.
Dealing more with God than gore, “Signs” left me wondering, “that’s it?” for hours. What stuck with me most was actually a preview I’d seen before Mel and Joaquin took over for another freaky flick with a monosyllabic moniker: “The Ring.”
Ever since “Signs'” sub-par performance, I’d been craving a movie that might actually freak me out. And this psycho thriller definitely did it.
Although “The Ring” begins with a “Scream”-ish scene (teens and daunting phone calls), the cheesy rip-offs stop there. Director Gore Verbinski’s (“The Mexican”) remake of the recent Japanese blockbuster “Ringu” is a real roller-coaster ride–screams, suspense, spirals and clutching your neighbor for dear life.
It opens with adolescents Katie and Becca (newcomers Amber Tamblyn and Rachel Bella) gossiping about the latest local ghost story: an unmarked videotape causes its viewers to receive a phone call immediately after seeing it, scheduling their death exactly one week later.
This urban legend proves to be true when Katie and three friends suddenly die exactly one week after watching the video, a fact that sends journalist Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts, “Mulholland Drive”) on a researching rampage to uncover the tape’s secret. Rachel has other motives, though–Katie was her niece and six-year-old prodigy son Aidan’s (David Dorfman, “Bounce”) babysitter and best friend.
So, of course, she does the smart thing and watches it. And so do we.
Seemingly modeled after Spanish surrealist Luis Buñuel’s “Un Chien Andalou,” the film rapidly flashes disturbing randomness: a lone, burning tree, a sea of maggots, a drowned horse, a pricked finger, a ring of light on a black background with a tormenting ringing in your ears, and as soon as the tape stops, a ring from the phone.
It’s a little girl just calling to say, “Seven days.”
Luckily, Rachel has former flame and cinematography expert (how lucky!) Noah (Martin Henderson, “Windtalkers”) to help her uncover the movie’s mysteries and meaning. Ultimately, Noah and Aidan both watch the tape, leaving all three with death staring them in the face, haunting their dreams and whispering in their ears.
Most scary movies have trained us to expect that when Jennifer Love goes into the spa, she’ll never come out. But “The Ring” is anything but predictable, using hallucinations, inexplicable events, erratic cinematography and a little gore and guts to frighten in every way possible.
I don’t get scared at movies. Not even “Psycho.” But “The Ring” had me in the fetal position, sucking my thumb, covering my eyes and whimpering for several days.
The plot may have some holes, but Watts, the critic’s darling from down under, and her New Zealander cohort Henderson make the story believable. And with its release set for Oct. 18, it’ll make anyone feel the Halloween vibe.
Grade: A/B
