The Ring (2002)
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor 115m
Director: Gore Verbinski
Cast: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Brian Cox, Jane Alexander
Synopsis:
A videotape carries a curse which confers death on those who view it, to be visited on them a week later. Gradually the aunt of one of the victims, with the help of her paranormally sensitive son and technophone ex, pieces together the dreadful truth behind the apparent coincidence of their deaths. In so doing she unwittingly perpetuates the curse.
Review:
Unfortunately this remake of the Japanese masterpiece is at such pains to explain and supplement its predecessor's plot that it becomes the victim of its own ring imagery: one asks oneself how the urban legend established itself if its origins lie way up in the hills, undisturbed until the teenagers' fateful visit. The opening scene is also uncomfortably close to Scream's at times. But gradually the cold, metallic images take hold and Watts's performance saves the film from the incredibility factor so that it is a well-sustained chiller and not at all a bad cover job on the original.
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor 115m
Director: Gore Verbinski
Cast: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Brian Cox, Jane Alexander
Synopsis:
A videotape carries a curse which confers death on those who view it, to be visited on them a week later. Gradually the aunt of one of the victims, with the help of her paranormally sensitive son and technophone ex, pieces together the dreadful truth behind the apparent coincidence of their deaths. In so doing she unwittingly perpetuates the curse.
Review:
Unfortunately this remake of the Japanese masterpiece is at such pains to explain and supplement its predecessor's plot that it becomes the victim of its own ring imagery: one asks oneself how the urban legend established itself if its origins lie way up in the hills, undisturbed until the teenagers' fateful visit. The opening scene is also uncomfortably close to Scream's at times. But gradually the cold, metallic images take hold and Watts's performance saves the film from the incredibility factor so that it is a well-sustained chiller and not at all a bad cover job on the original.
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor 115m
Director: Gore Verbinski
Cast: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Brian Cox, Jane Alexander
Synopsis:
A videotape carries a curse which confers death on those who view it, to be visited on them a week later. Gradually the aunt of one of the victims, with the help of her paranormally sensitive son and technophone ex, pieces together the dreadful truth behind the apparent coincidence of their deaths. In so doing she unwittingly perpetuates the curse.
Review:
Unfortunately this remake of the Japanese masterpiece is at such pains to explain and supplement its predecessor's plot that it becomes the victim of its own ring imagery: one asks oneself how the urban legend established itself if its origins lie way up in the hills, undisturbed until the teenagers' fateful visit. The opening scene is also uncomfortably close to Scream's at times. But gradually the cold, metallic images take hold and Watts's performance saves the film from the incredibility factor so that it is a well-sustained chiller and not at all a bad cover job on the original.