The Ring (2002)

Ringu was an international phenomenon pretty much from the beginning.  Based on a novel by Kôji Suzuki and already made once as a television movie, the 1998 theatrical version migrated over to the United States in the early 2000s.  By 2002 an American version, written by Ehren Kruger and directed by Gore Verbinski, was in the theaters.  Though a number of versions were made of this movie it seems like the U.S. and Japanese versions are the ones that stand out. 

The Ring, and the American version of The Grudge, both popularized the ônryu, a type of vengeful ghost whose spirit suffered a long, drawn-out death.  In movies they typically take the form of a young girl or woman with hair covering her decaying face.  For a number of years this became the go-to design for a number of Asia horror films even outside of Japan, and became the design that the American remakes typically used as well.  It got to the point of almost self parody, especially since most of the later Hollywood remakes weren't very good and were practically insults to the originals.  Still, the form stuck, and in the beginning it was a fresh addition. 

Rachel (Naomi Watts) is a newspaper reporter whose niece (Amber Tamblyn) suddenly dies under strange circumstances.  At the same time her boyfriend, and his circle of friends, all perish at exactly the same time on the same night, while her best friend Becca (Rachael Bella) is committed to psychiatric care.  It turns out that their death may be related to rumors about a video tape that, once watched, results in a phone call that warns the viewer that they now have only seven days to live. 

Rachel tracks down the tape and watches it and, afterward, shows it to her ex-boyfriend Noah (Martin Henderson), an audio-visual expert.  As the time of their impending death approaches they learn that the woman featured on the tape is former horse breeder Anna Morgan (Shannon Cochran) who, in the 1970s, had a daughter named Samara (Daveigh Chase).  Samara is believed by Morgan's widower Richard (Brian Cox) and the rest of the islanders to have been responsible for a number of disasters.  After Rachel's son Aidan (David Dorfman) views the film Samara begins communicating with him, leading to Rachel and Noah seeing if they can locate her body and end the curse. 

If the name Gore Verbinski is familiar it is because he is the one that directed the original run of the popular Pirates of the Caribbean series.  In contrast to those movies, which are filled with color and action, The Ring is largely atmospheric and purposely devoid of color.  The original Japanese version didn't take this tack, but was rather made quite normally and had more the look of an independent film.  The American version takes place in Seattle and was largely filmed there to take advantage of the frequent rains in the area as well as some of the more drab examples of the city's architecture.  Although there are sudden spurts of color - the Japanese maple that figures prominently on the tape - the overall oppressiveness creates a sense of uneasiness throughout.

This is important, especially in the years after it has been made when it doesn't frighten like it originally intended to.  It also seems a bit old-fashioned, typically with the use of video tape, which seemed a bit strange even in 2002 since most people were already switching over to DVDs.  It's a leftover of the Japanese original, since the novel and the original films would have still been at a time that the medium was popular.  Still, movies like V/H/S have been able to make effective stories around the format, and in many ways the inherent tracking errors and grunginess of the picture quality lend itself to ghost stories such as this.  

While I know that a lot of people enjoy Ringu a bit more, I find that The Ring keeps the story a bit tighter.  The original film had some mythology behind it that, culturally, works better with a Japanese audience, while this version leaves a lot of Samara's origin untold beyond how she died and the reason for her anger.  There are scenes in Ringu, like when Reiko and Ryuji are searching for the body of Sadako (the original Japanese version of Samara), that tend to drag even if they do lend themselves to character development.  In the U.S. version, though it is almost dreamlike in its pacing, a lot of the key scenes that are stripped down, and thus more effective.  Like the original it leaves the final, major twist and reveal for the end.

As for the cast Naomi Watts is known enough to be recognized but not to the point of someone like Angelina Jolie or Halle Berry who, at the time, would have made this more of an event film and probably increased the budget significantly.  David Dorfman definitely had the creepy kid vibe down at the time, while Martin Henderson, though playing a significant role as Noah, did not seem as integral to the story as Ryuji did in the 1998 version.  Brian Cox, though he is not in the movie long, plays one of the more memorable roles and allows the audience to see what kind of terror Samara brought during her brief life and the effects she still has on the island after her death. 

Although it is a remake The Ring is still one of the better American horror films made in the 2000s, a time filled with way too many remakes and reboots and self-reverential movies.  Few took the time to concentrate on atmosphere and building suspense.  In some ways it is like watching a movie about 30 years older than it is despite all the trappings being the early 2000s, and that's a good thing when considering a lot of these films used quick-cut editing and nu-metal soundtracks to bludgeon audiences rather than try to subtly get under their skin.  Times may have changed, but The Ring still remains effective where it counts. 

The Ring (2002)

Time: 115 minutes

Starring: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Brian Cox, Daveigh Chase

Director: Gore Verbinski