The Ring (2002)

'The Ring' is directed by Gore Verbinski and stars Naomi Watts as a young journalist investigating a local urban legend surrounding a mysterious video tape after her niece is found dead after watching it. The film is a remake of the 1998 Japanese film 'Ringu', which I reviewed back in October when the newest film 'Rings' was originally slated to release. With tomorrow being the official release date of the third film in the franchise, I decided to double team both of the U.S. films and go back to see how they held up.

'The Ring' is now fifteen years old as of this writing and surprisingly for the most part it holds up amazingly well. Naomi Watts is always a favorite of mine who's sadly seems to have all but vanished from the cinema scene. She really gives a human quality in what could have just been a standard horror film and her journey to discover this mysterious video's past and its deadly power really keeps you intrigued and on the edge of your seat, waiting for the next moment to come with high anticipation.

Accompanying the excellent performances are Verbinski's strong visual style and excellent makeup effects from Rick Baker, who has now sadly retired from the industry. We need more practical effects in horror today and Baker shows off some impressive positives to support that here. Samara looks absolutely gruesome and she is genuinely terrifying even to this day. The scene above comes from one of the film's final moments and it is the highlight of the whole picture. You have to see it to believe it, it's still great even in 2017.

Where some may find fault in 'The Ring' is that it may come off as slow for some, especially when looking at modern horror in which quick "MTV" style editing has dominated the industry, but I implore you if this is your first or even your first in a long time, keep with 'The Ring' until its conclusion and I promise you that you'll love it. Also, while I stated that a lot of the horror holds up to this day, it's impossible to ignore that pop culture has unfortunately taken away some of the power of 'The Ring' as time goes on, with many scenes being spoofed ad nauseum and it may turn off many who will just see it as just another J-Horror remake.

Overall though, I was happily surprised how much I still like 'The Ring'. Sure, the original will always be the superior film in my book but this film comes pretty damn close and seeing Gore Verbinski at his very best is well worth a watch.