Ring Rip-off (The Ring (DVD))

Member Name: SWSt

Product:	The Ring (DVD)
Date:	30/01/08 (98 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good makeup and special effects; interesting use of colours and camera angles

Disadvantages: Dull, predictable plot; underwritten characters; neither scary nor bloody

(Looking at the other reviews on site, I appear to be going very much against the grain with this review, but hey! Opinions is what Dooyoo is all about, right?!)

A few years ago, Hollywood, showing its usual lack of originality, turned its eyes east and started to remake a whole host of Japanese horror films. The logic was simple: Japan's penchant for psychological horror, combined with Hollywood's "superior" effects technology would revitalise the horror genre. A slew of "J-Horror" remakes followed: The Ring, The Ring 2, The Grudge, The Grudge 2... None of them were terribly successful.

The Ring's basic plot is scarily simple. You watch a video tape containing a series of disjointed images; seven days later, you die. When a reporter's niece dies, she begins to investigate, putting her whole family in danger.

The big problem with The Ring is that it's just not scary. Although I've not seen Ringu (the Japanese original), many people have said that it contains some really scary moments. If that's the case, then something has definitely been lost in translation. The Ring is never scary - in fact, it's even less scary than so-called "spoof" horror films, like Scream. Just occasionally, there's a faintly unsettling atmosphere to events, but nothing truly horrifying or unsettling. Veterans of horror films will sit there bored, wondering when the scares are going to start (answer: they don't), whilst newcomers to the genre will wonder what all the fuss is about. Neither psychological nor bloody, this film loses both the Japanese and American approach to horror.

Indeed, for most of the film, it doesn't feel like a horror film. It feels more like a detective/treasure hunt film, as lead character Rachel Keller and her allies run around, following a series of clues which they hope will help them find out what is going on and save their lives. Even without the horror angle, it could still have worked as an entertaining enough film. But here's the rub: even though the clock is ticking and the mystery has to be solved within 7 days, there's no feeling of tension, no sense that that the characters are running out of time. Instead, there's a ridiculously languid pace to events, with characters wandering around as if they have all the time in the world. Not scary, not tense, not exciting. The Ring has real problems.

This situation isn't helped by the plot which, to be honest, doesn't make a great deal of sense and is vaguely confusing at times. Sometimes, it's a little difficult to work out how Rachel decides what to do next - some of the events appear to be entirely random or are based on a whole series of unlikely co-incidences, which make the film a little difficult to accept.

The cast do their best with this confused material, but are really up against it. Naomi Watts is suitably convincing as the dogged, worried reporter Keller, whilst Martin Henderson is reasonable enough in an underwritten role as her estranged husband. David Dorfman takes the child in peril role in the same way most child actors do - i.e. by being totally wooden and unconvincing. Old ham Brian Cox crops up for a brief cameo, but again, this is underwritten and he struggles with the material he's given. Daveigh Chase turns up as Samara, the girl who needs to get out in the sun more. This should be an iconic image - the lank haired, pale-faced Samara is automatically an unsettling, disturbing image. Or it should be. As with the rest of the film, though there is no real sense of menace from the character.

On the plus side, the make-up effects are good - particularly on Samara's victims, although given that these are only on the screen for around 10 seconds in total, this really isn't saying much. Indeed, it seems a shame that an awful lot of effort has been put into something which scarcely features, whilst the parts that matter (plot, scares, characters) etc. appear to have been neglected.

Gore Verbinski (better known for the pomp and pantomime kitsch of the Pirates of the Caribbean films) actually does a surprisingly good job direction wise. Using washed out colours, distorted angles, flashbacks and fast editing he has some success where the rest of the film fails - in creating a slightly spooky, unsettling, other-wordly look and feel to the film. The trouble is, whilst this atmosphere could have worked, it's constantly held back by the turgid pace with which the plot progresses. He also manages to bungle the ending, opting for a closing shot which is hugely predictable. True, it was the ending I was expecting, but it would have been nice to get something a little less formulaic.

At the end of the day, The Ring is just boring. Lacking the visceral element that western horror fans are used to and failing to replicate the psychological horror represented by Japanese films, it ends up being nothing. A boring, slow-paced irrelevancy that just shows that marrying Hollywood technology with Japanese story telling doesn't automatically make for a successful film. Haunted video tapes that kill you? The only danger you're in from this remake is of being bored to death.

Basic Information
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The Ring
2002
Director: Gore Verbinski
Running time: approx. 115 minutes
Certificate: 15

Best bit: the look of horror on the faces of the victims

© Copyright SWSt 2008

Summary: I waited 5 years before I saw this. I could happily have waited longer!