The Ring

     Let me take you back to 2003 when a young Leo Echeverria was watching cartoons in his room at night when his older brother suddenly decided to barge in, alert him to the fact that The Ring was playing on TV, put it on, and then promptly left the room. Now, for whatever reason, I did not change the channel after this exchange, and that is how I grew up terrified of The Ring for years before I finally decided to re-watch it to kick off my Halloween season of film reviews. Now, I will be honest, I was pretty worried heading into this because this movie did traumatize me as a kid, but in the interest of all of you, I decided to be an adult and conquer my fears, and I will be honest, it was not bad. The film is actually not as scary as I thought it would be, but it does have quite a bit of creepiness to it and the overall way it was shot and the color scheme used on it amplifies this.

            Naomi Watts is one of my favorite actresses, so I greatly enjoyed her in this. I thought she conveyed her fear well and her facial expressions help bring a feeling of suspense to the film. Whenever her character is scared, I can feel it. It comes across as genuine. David Dorfman also does fantastic in the stereotypical “creepy child” role that has become the norm for supernatural horror flicks. Martin Henderson, on the other hand, did not do so well. He looks genuinely disinterested throughout the film and his demeanor is more nonchalant than it is terrified. I had a difficult time relating to his character because he just felt so stiff. Acting aside, the film itself presents an excellent pace from the very beginning. From the first scene, the film lets you know what you are in for, and that is a creepy film clouded in mystery, which is honestly what makes it even scarier. The fact that the protagonist is on this wild journey to try to uncover the secret behind the tape and only has seven days to do so helps the film build a sense of suspense, and it does so without using an abundance of jump scares, which annoy me. Throughout the film you are constantly discovering new elements to the mystery that by the end of it you are just in desperate anticipation of how it all ties together, until the ending hits.

            The ending to this has to be one of the better endings to a horror film. It is bleak, unexpected, and fully capitalizes on everything that the film has built up to that point. I do not really have many issues with this film other than some of the acting, and the sequel which we will not hold against it because it has nothing to do with this film, but seriously, who thought that that was a good idea? Anyway, Watts gives a fine performance here and the supernatural and mystery elements really help drive this into good territory for a horror film. Solid Stuff. Official Rating: 4 Stars.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Fast and the Furious

                    With the latest installment hitting theaters, I figured now would be a good time to look at where the franchise began. This is a tale of humble beginnings when you consider where the franchise is at now, and what the plot has become. Imagine trying to explain to the younger generation who started out with Fast Five what the original film was all about. The first question they would ask you is, “where is The Rock?”. We need to keep in mind that the first film came out in 2001. After two decades, we knew that the franchise would change, but did we ever expect it to be this drastic? To fully understand, let us take a look back to the origins of the franchise, and give an honest review of the first installment.             The film starts off with a few cars pulling off a heist on a truck, which then leads to us getting introduced to LAPD officer Brian O’...
Read more

Searching

                    I love watching films that I go into blind that end up being one of the best films I end up seeing all year, and that was the case with the film Searching . I knew virtually nothing about this film, and basically just watched it off the recommendation of my sister-in-law; She did not disappoint with her recommendation. Let me start off by saying that this film will not be enjoyed by everyone for one very important reason, it is shot in a strange way. It utilizes that filming style where rather than looking like it is filmed on a traditional camera, everything that you see is on a computer screen, and you only see the film through a webcam, or found footage from sites such as YouTube, or other video sites. It takes a bit to get used to, and if you are someone that does not enjoy found footage films, you will probably have a hard time enjoying this film, especially since the entire film is seen through a compu...
Read more

Resident Evil

                    A good friend of mine was recently telling me about how much he loves the Resident Evil franchise, and it made me realize that I have never actually reviewed any of the films. Well, it is time to fix that and start at the beginning. While I was never a big fan of the games, I can wholeheartedly say that if you are a big fan of the games, you are probably going to hate the films. If you are not a fan of the games, you will probably enjoy the films slightly, but not much. This film is just not that good. Even if you go into it with an open mind, it is difficult to get into it with its screenplay, effects, and acting performances. Aside from that, you also have the unique and whacky directing style of Paul W. S. Anderson. Having directed films such as AVP , Mortal Kombat , and Event Horizon , you know to expect some zaniness and crazy effects in this film, and that is exactly what you get.    ...
Read more