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The Ring

Starring: Naomi Watts
Director: Gore Verbinski
Genre: Thriller
Year: 2002
Rating: 4 / 5

As far as this critic is concerned, The Exorcist is the standard by which all thrillers are judged. The horror classic features so many chilling moments, my skin still crawls when I watch – and I have seen the film over a dozen times! That being said, I am not often as excited by a present-day thriller as I was upon viewing The Ring. This remake of the 1998 Japanese film Ringu is gripping in its intensity, able to hold the viewer in its grasp for nearly two hours, to say nothing of its grip after the film ends. Full of numerous moments where viewers cannot help but jump from their seats, The Ring is the sort of film that proves haunting long after the closing credits.

Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) is a single mother raising a rather unusual child. Aidan (David Dorfman) has a rather distant air about him, seeming more mature than his years and conveying a quiet uneasiness in his demeanor. The child seems sapped of normal childlike zest, a fact likely exacerbated by the shocking death of his cousin. The teenage girl was found dead in her closet at about the same time that her boyfriend’s corpse was discovered on the other side of the city. The common thread uniting the two is a videotape that both had watched exactly seven days prior, one which foreshadowed their demise. When two friends who also watched the tape with them are also revealed to have died, the mystery deepens, and Rachel begins to investigate.

Actress Naomi Watts has received most of the publicity for this film, due in no small part to her recent breakthrough performance in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. That being said, David Dorfman’s performance is the film’s lasting image for this fan. His Aidan comes across as a child forced to grow up much too fast, one whose small stature belies a wealth of intelligence. We never see emotion from the young actor, not until a chilling scene in which he shocks both his mother and the audience. His efforts, combined with a solid display by Watts, give the film its emotional backbone, causing the viewer to be pulled in all the more.

Director Gore Verbinski should be applauded for two impressive facets of this film – its ability to retain its intensity for the duration of the film and its ability to evoke terror and fear while maintaining its PG-13 rating. From the opening sequence, where we see two teenagers discussing the videotape’s presence in urban myth all the way through the film’s haunting final images, The Ring is compelling viewing. In addition, through the images on the eerie tape itself, Verbinski is able to convey horror without ever resorting to blood and guts. The tape’s grainy images remain imprinted in the mind, conjuring up notions of much more terrifying events. This ability to transcend physical terror for the more lasting terrors of the mind is what elevates The Ring from the ordinary to the truly special.

Cast:

Certification: Rated PG-13.
Running Time: 115 minutes.

Additional Info: Internet Movie Database
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